Okay! When something tangible arrives it is a little hard NOT to get a little excited! While we were out at a movie on Friday (Sorcerer's Apprentice. I liked it. Clay slept through the first hour until his snoring had people turning to look and I had to pinch and poke him awake.) the USPS left a delivery notice with our mail. This morning we drove to our zip's Post Office and picked up a Priority Mail envelope from Cruise West in Seattle. A heads up email beforehand would have been a nice touch. Anyway... Inside the USPS cardboard envelope was what should have been a very nice and classy, navy blue leather zippered case. Should have been because it is nice, compact (about 10"x 7"), useful, etc. but the logo is printed on it upside down to the pockets inside! So, when it is zipped up, there is a logo and the words Cruise West embossed on the lower right of the what you think is the front of like a sealed book. When you unzip it, the insides are upside down and back to front. So, to keep things in the pockets and the nice lined notepad on the back from falling out, you have to turn it over. Now, the embossed logo and company name are upside down at the top of the back of the binder. I hope that Cruise West got this batch of defective, manufacturing error binders at either a great discount or free, but they should have returned them and demanded correct ones. I realize that I shouldn't let little things bother me, but even Clay agreed that it was an unpleasant surprise that would have lasting consequences if we actually use the thing and carry it along with us as it was intended. So, what could have been a really good first impression is conditionally so-so. Too bad. Fingers crossed that will be the only sour taste we get!
The rest of the package was very detailed. Four nice looking luggage tags. Downside is that they are very brittle plastic and got stress fractures just from me taking out the paper inserts to fill them in with our required information. That does not bode well for luggage handling and arrival intact to be used by Cruise West crew. Maybe heavy paper and elastic strings are not such a bad idea! 2 polar bear pins we are supposed to wear on arrival at the airport for them to find us. Umm... Not too sure we are actually liking this but, trying to give the benefit of the doubt for now. The only 2 items in the documents that were questionable were, one it says there are binoculars available in your cabin for your use onboard. Then on the day of the jet boat trip to Hells Canyon, it says bring your binoculars. But, binoculars are not on the packing list, so do they mean bring "your" binoculars if you brought them, or do they mean you can borrow theirs off the ship that day? The other question is actually the packing list along with the suggested luggage limits. They request that you only bring one small suitcase and one carryon item. Then, they give you a packing list of stuff that includes a day pack and 3 different kinds of head coverings and would never fit into that small amount of luggage. Which makes the binoculars question all the more intriguing. Oh, well. We'll sort it out. We are flying Southwest, so there are no worries about luggage allowances/up charges, etc. But, right now were are still planning to fly within the carryon allowances only to minimize the risk of lost luggage with connections on such a short cruise. Good thing it is an all casual trip!
Try saying Walla Walla a bunch of times! It is written about 8 times on one of the itinerary pages. I was trying to read it to Clay and started sneezing! An allergic reaction? I hope not. But, anyway, I sneezed about 30-50 times in the next 10 minutes or so and my eyes and nose ran for the next several hours. Go figure! On second thought, maybe you better not try saying Walla Walla a bunch of times. Hah! Walla Walla Washington! What does that even mean, Walla Walla? Ah, according to Wikipedia: Walla Walla is a Native American name that means "Place of Many Waters." So, there you go.
Below are some cool factoids about our Columbia & Snake Rivers cruise.
We will go through 3 states, 3 rivers and 8 locks and dams.
Bonneville Lock is 60 feet tall.
Beacon Rock is one of the largest basalt formations of its kind at 846 feet (port side before Bonneville).
Multnomah Falls is the largest waterfall in Oregon.
Columbia River Gorge is the only low-level crossing of the Cascade Mountain Range between California and British Columbia.
Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge on earth with a maximum depth of 7,900 feet.
