Cruise West - Day 6

9/2/2010


Since today is an all sailing day, and I earlier promised to share our Cruise West-provided map, here goes. You can click and enlarge this map and see that we started at Portland and sailed east towards Bonneville day 1. We spent the night anchored somewhere on the Columbia River, east of Portland. We pulled anchor the next morning and saw Multnomah Falls in the distance as the sun was just rising. Day 2 we went ashore at Bonneville Dam and visited it as well as Multnomah Falls.

Then we continued sailing east on the Columbia River. We sailed all night. In the morning, we docked at Umatilla, Oregon. That day, we took buses to Pendleton, OR (which is not on the map!). The boat sailed on while we were ashore and we met back up with Spirit of '98 at Burbank, WA. The name Burbank appears in a fold on the map, sorry! But it is near the right hand side here, by the brown tent. That puts it just past the intersection of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, on the Snake River.

We sailed all night again tonight up the Snake River and docked in the morning at Clarkston, WA. We could see Lewiston, ID across the river and the border. Today we took 2 jet boats all day (80 miles) down Hell's Canyon and back to Clarkston, WA. We set sail as soon as we were back aboard that evening and sailed west all night back to the Columbia River.

The next day we were docking in Richland, WA as the sun rose. You will have to go back to 2nd map posted above to find that. I'll wait. It is the section of the Columbia River to the North of the split where the Snake River joins the Columbia.  Confused yet? OK... well then, go back up to the map directly above to find Walla Walla, WA which is where we rode on the buses and spent the day today off the boat. We rejoined Spirit of '98 back at Richland, WA and sailed at 10pm. This is the only opportunity we have had to wander ashore in a town where we were docked! We sailed all night again and all day the next day. We sailed into the night and at some point anchored between Portland and Rainer. Rainer, OR is where we docked the next day. People had the option here of busing to Astoria for an included tour or busing to Mt. St. Helens for an included tour. Both options included a boxed picnic lunch. We went to Mt. St. Helens. I'll let you find it on the map. No? Oh, it's not on the map! OK, if you cross the river at Rainer, OR into Washington and head up Interstate 5, you'll find it just off the map. We all reboarded the ship by about 6pm and set sail west. We sailed until about 8pm until we could see the Astoria Bridge and then we turned around and sailed back to Portland overnight. We docked there around sunrise for a morning disembarkation.



OK. My onboard map insertion is complete. I return you to the day-by-day reporting continued below... where we left off last night in Richland, WA on the North Fork of the Columbia River...

Sunrise over the Columbia River

So, we set sail last night around 10pm and headed back towards the intersection of the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the dark again! We slept through until just before sunrise again! I have no idea how we are sleeping so soundly through all the docking bumps and thrusters. Every day we eat meals with people who tell us how bad it was the previous night and here we are sleeping on deck 1 right on top of the thrusters and sleeping right through it! Good for us anyway!

Today is an all sailing day after sailing all night! We got a half-hour later wakeup call and a half-hour later breakfast. We woke up just above the John Day Dam. We went through The Dalles right after lunch. Since it is all about the boat today here, I will list the Adventure Update listing of events. They set up tables in the lounge for an up to 75% discounted Cruise West logoed gifts sale. At 8:30am they showed a 30 minute documentary on “York” the slave of William Clark on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Clay and I worked on a Lewis & Clark map jigsaw puzzle during this. From about 10:15am until about noon, Captain Peter Kay gave a talk in the lounge and took questions. 12:30pm Lunch followed by Practical Knot-Tying. 4pm Team Trivia in the lounge. 5:30pm Social Hour and Quyana Presentation, Daily Recap and Today's Highlights. 6:30pm Dinner is served. Evening enrichment program by Don Popejoy in the lounge. This afternoon they have taken several groups on bridge tours.



Entering lock with Mt. Hood in the background



one of thousands of wind farms



Mt. Hood from the Columbia River

 



More wind farms!

  
 We, of course, looked at scenery without commentary this time, since we cruised this our first full day aboard. They had a guessing contest on who could come closest to the amount of time from lock close to lock open at The Dalles lock. Neither Clay nor I entered. The winner will be announced during predinner Social Hour. Alison promises it is a “substantial” prize. Lunch was supposed to be topside but due to expected wind, they had it split instead between the lounge as a hamburger buffet and same food plus minestrone soup and chicken Parmesan in the dining room. The lounge was already crazy packed and hot and stuffy from the long Captain’s talk. We went with only a couple dozen others to the dining room. The people we sat with said that they had asked and been told Spirit of ’98 could only accommodate 96 passengers and that all cabins were full on this sailing, but that there were 2 singles and that Nancy and Alison were also taking a passenger cabin. So, the jury is still out on exactly how many passengers are onboard, other than that it is a full ship. At 12:30pm there was a practical knot-tying demonstration in the lounge while souvenir sales continue. At 5:30pm will be Social Hour & Quyana presentation. I guess we will have to go to the lounge again soon for that to find out what they do or say. (It was a sales pitch; live with Q&A, and also with a pre-recorded video.) Dinner is at 6:30pm again. We are just starting back through the last lock, Bonneville again. It is 4:45pm.

Maryhill area - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryhill,_Washington

Mt. Hood and Indian fishing platform

It has been a brilliantly sunny day today, even more beautiful and clear than our first day through here! Mt. Hood has been spectacularly visible. We continue right on sailing, I believe because we are supposed to be in Astoria tomorrow. We confirmed today that we will take the tour to Mt. St. Helens. So, after dinner, it just says evening enrichment program by Don Popejoy. I believe he said he would speak about the extraordinary life of Pomp. Pomp was the infant son of Sacajawea, the Indian woman who guided the Lewis and Clark expedition. It should be interesting if we can stay awake. Clay has napped for hours today, so I would hope he can make it, but I wouldn't bet on it! Time to go for now. More later. Man, I hate short cruises. It seems too much bother and fuss to me for so little reward. It is exhausting. We barely get settled in and tomorrow is the last day!

Indian fishing platforms

Another Indian fishing platform

I realize now that I have failed to write about the Indian fishing platforms. We have seen these all up and down both rivers but this is the first time we got good photos of them. Evidently, Lewis and Clark described these platforms in their journals. Not these same exact ones, of course, they have to build replacements from time to time. But, they are grandfathered in and passed down from one generation to the next. They are used for catching salmon.

I wanted to make a point here about how very casual Cruise West is. There is no changing required for dinner. Shorts, jeans and T-shirts are seen in abundance at every meal. Even pajama bottoms at breakfast. Anything evidently goes. It makes things very easy! Had we realized, we would have packed even lighter and better.

Beacon Rock, again but with afternoon sunlight

We went to Social Hour and I had a $2 Thomas Kepner Root Beer brewed with honey in Portland, OR. It was very sweet and tasted of honey! Clay had a local Portland beer called Sessions and I think it was $3. We did stay up for Don's talk about Pomp, or Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau. It was interesting. Oh, the winner of the time guessing through The Dalles lock was Carole Beaulieu with a guess of 17 minutes, I think I have all of that right!

Multnomah Falls from the Columbia River

Oh, last passenger count I heard from a bus driver was 92. So, I have heard from Cruise West employees or contractors that we are a full sailing at 92, 96 and 100. You can pick whichever one you like! That has raised the question of the number of staff/crew. They put out a list of them so, I can answer it. Crew of Captain through Asst. Eng, the number is 9. Guest Programs is 3. Deck Hands is 5. Guest Service Representatives, who wait tables and service our cabins is 6. Galley staff is 6. Bartender is 1. A total of people working on Spirit of '98 of 30.

Misty Falls - notice the bottom fall is only mist!

Cruise West - Day 5

9/1/2010

Back on the Columbia River in Washington?

We were right IN this park!

We slept all through the night last night. Not sure how with them using the side thrusters to go through 2 locks, but we did it. We woke up to a very overcast morning. Today we are to dock in Richland, WA. So, we still have no idea what it looks like where the boat turns from the Columbia to the Snake, or vice versa because it happened in the dark while we slept. Too bad. We woke up on the Columbia as far as we know because it was very populous again. Anyway, after 7am breakfast we disembarked in Richland at Howard Amon Park and boarded buses for an hour-long bus ride to Walla Walla. (I love saying that over and over. And so must they!) By the way, we learned during our bus ride this morning that in the language of the natives who were found living here that walla means water. They called this place Walla Walla, which meant "land of many waters". Now you know.



a short walk past the beach and into the parking lot

Whoa! Walla Walla!

We visited Ft. Walla Walla museum, had lunch at Backstage Bistro, wine tasting at area vintners or shopping in Walla Walla, then bus back. All aboard is 10pm. So we stayed docked at Richland and we are free to wander Richland for our evening activity. This is the first place we have docked since we started that is a nice accessible port. What I am trying to say is that evidently this is a city park- with a dock area (like where we boarded in Portland) and not a commercial shipping port like all the rest we have used thus far. It should be nice. It has been a little too much of a herding experience for us so far! We could use some independent time to roam free at will. Of course, with the jet lag, it is not certain that we would have taken much advantage of the freedom to come and go independently ashore, but we prefer to have the option!

So, it turns out that we sailed North on the Columbia River from the Snake and so we are beyond where we left the Columbia last, if that makes any sense. (I have a map that they handed out to everyone on day 1 and told us to keep on us to follow our progress. I will see if I can scan it and post it at some point to illustrate our progress.) Alison told Debbie when she asked about where we were this morning that they had negative feedback about the crushed car port at Burbank/Pasco and decided since they could go a bit out of their way and spend a day dock docked in front of a pretty public park they would do it. Nice. Anyway, this is known as the Tri-City area of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco. We spent all day away though and got back aboard at 5:30pm, dinner is at 6:30pm and all aboard and sailing is 10pm. The park is not well lit at night, so still not much to see, but we did walk up to the Community Center and use their free wi-fi. There were locals right down on the dock at the gangway the whole time we sat and watched. When we walked off after dinner, a family approached and asked how much it costs to have dinner. I tried to explain that it is a weeklong cruise and the cost, but English was not their first language and I’m not sure if they ever understood.

Walla Walla Vintners

It has been another long day. We spent the morning at Ft. Walla Walla Museum. It was a collection of restored historic buildings and farm equipment. There were some amazing quilts made from cigar lining material, which I had never even heard of, but they were spectacular. Frankly, it was the best done museum of its type I have ever been in. The most extensive antique agricultural equipment display I have ever seen. It was very impressive and kudos to them. We then drove to Walla Walla Vintners and saw some vines and wandered. They only make reds and then even though our population was permanently spilt evenly in 2 today, the tasting room was really too small for all of us, and since we don't even really like reds, I left right away. Clay stayed and said he tasted 3 bad wines there! They did not sell many bottles at any rate.

Statue of Marcus Whitman

Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla, Washington

Then we drove to Klickers Fruit Stand where people got fruit, candy, ice cream, etc. Clay had a pistachio cone. Finally, we got word that the first group had left the Backstage Bistro restaurant in downtown Walla Walla and we headed there. Don had pointed out the 1928 Marcus Whitman Hotel as a destination for wandering while we were driving around killing time. It was about 6 blocks away. We had lunch and they freely poured white wine from the Bergevin Lane winery we had yet to visit and it was very good. They also poured a Reserve red from this morning's winery that was better than anything they poured Clay in their tasting room. You have to wonder what the thinking is in not offering your best as sales samples. The food was quite good as well.

After lunch, we loaded the bus again and went to Bergevin Lane Winery right near downtown, which meant no vines like this morning, they just process there. So, they walked us through metal vats and oak barrel rooms, etc. They only poured one white in their tasting and several reds. We bought a bottle of $16 Calico, a blended white that we had for lunch. Alison told us to give whites to Benedict the bartender and he would have them iced for dinner and Cruise West charges no corkage fee. Woohoo, because we finally saw a wine list last night and the Firesteed Pinot Gris we have been drinking and not much liking is $28/bottle. (BTW, Oregon has no sales tax. Washington does. Also, mentioning that Cruise West charges no corkage fee reminds me that they do not charge postage if you drop their post cards in the mail box by Ali’s office. I mailed a couple to Mom and Grandpa, so we’ll see! I picked up some extras for Clay to address, but he hasn’t done it yet, so if you are reading this because of your relationship to Clay, you shouldn't get your hopes up for a Cruise West Spirit of ’98 postcard arriving in the mail ever!) We then took the bus back to within a couple of blocks of Backstage Bistro where we had to be back in 45 minutes to meet the bus back to the boat an hour away.

So on our own for a bit, we walked down to the old Marcus Whitman hotel, walked through the lobby and gift shop, walked in and out of a few more shops, made a few more purchases, Clay had a peanut butter cup ice cream cone and I had a sliced up Washington caramel apple and then back on the bus. (There was a sweet shop called Bright’s mid-way down the block and across the street from Starbucks. They were making caramel apples and must have had hundreds of them made. It was amazing. We were wondering how much demand they had or what the deal was. Then at lunch the next day some people on the first bus told us that they were making cotton candy the same way when they went it earlier and they asked and they were building such huge supplies of goodies for their annual Fair and Rodeo this weekend!) We had Alison in the afternoon again and she again showed a video. This one was about the Ice Age flood that carved out the Columbia River Gorge. It was interesting. We got back on the boat at 5:30pm. Almost time for dinner and then we hope to walk up to the Richland Community Center after dinner to get on the Internet and hopefully post this. I am afraid photos may have to wait for another time. Sorry!

I'm back in my favorite spot!

So, we’re back from Richland Community Center. Other Internet business took precedence in the short time we had allotted and we only got a rough draft of day one posted. The rest and photos will have to wait 'til either the road trip portion or more likely after we get back home. Sorry!

Here I am, in the dark, by a Sturgeon!

On the walk through the park in the dark, I noticed some fish statues in the children’s play area. They appeared to be life-sized adult salmon and a life-sized full-grown sturgeon. We’ll have to see how they look in flash photos because we could barely see them in the dark. Now, Clay had walked through this play area at least twice in daylight, finding the free wi-fi zone. BUT, he never noticed gigantic fish!?! Honestly! We couldn’t tell if they were funny, or impressive or artistic, or realistic. We do think they were probably about life-size based on what Alison told us on the bus ride past the fish hatchery at Bonneville that we didn’t have time to visit. Too bad, that would have made a nice bracketed set of photos with giant live fish and like-sized fake fish. Oh well. Hmm, you be the judge, I still can't tell: funny, artistic or realistic? All of the above!

In the dark, Clay says "sit down"... on a Salmon!





Cruise West - Day 4

8/31/2010

Fjord-like sunrise

Hot Air Balloon over Clarkson, WA

We were up before sunrise again this morning. It looks like we are in a fjord! We saw a hot air balloon. The scenery is just so dramatic! We docked this morning at Clarkston, WA. It is right at the border with Idaho. Lewiston, ID is right there, just across the river. We were told that Lewiston is Idaho's only seaport! This is our furthest port. This evening we start back downstream.

Wake up call today was 6:30am. Breakfast was at 7am. At 8am we had a presentation by a woman from the Nez Perce Nation and her 4 children.




We sat in that raised last row before the back door.

Around 9am we took a 5 minute or less bus ride to another nearby dock to board two 50-passenger jet boats for a full day with lunch into Hell's Canyon. I was pretty apprehensive about this since people kept talking about wild rides and getting wet. But, it was better than the flight from Chicago to Portland. It was way better than a helicopter! So, overall it was a good day. I used Motion-Ease, Relief Band and an extra dose of Meclizine and did OK.

More basalt tube formations

Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep

Today was more amazing scenery, but this time with lots of wildlife, some petroglyphs and a mediocre buffet lunch. It was good to get off that LOUD boat for an hour or so mid-day and stretch our legs and use the restroom. Sadly, today we did not technically get to set foot in Idaho! Boo! But, I am counting it as a state visited, because that boat blew up sideways within inches of the Idaho ground numerous times and Clay pointed out the border is probably right in the middle of the river. Also, to see the petroglyphs, the boat edged right up with the bow ashore and we could walk out on the front in order to see the petroglyphs. If I had known that was as close as I'd get, I would have insisted on sticking one leg off and putting a foot ashore! Oh well, I’m still counting Idaho as a visited state!

Petroglyphs!

View from our lunch spot

I don't know how far we went on the jet boats; we heard variously, 20, 40, 60 and 90 miles. Who knows? Maybe all are correct depending on how you count it, as the crow flies, or with all the twists and curves. There were places it was only 3 feet of water, there were places where the rapids were at least 3 foot high waves, there were places it was 100 feet deep, there were places where there were 2-3 foot steps, or mini-falls, we had to leap up or jump down.

typical!

A whole herd of Big Horn Sheep

We went as far as a visible abandoned mine entrance just south of the Imnaha rapids where the Imnaha River joins the Snake and there we turned around. We actually sat there a while and drifted in a circle so people could stretch, move around, and get water or snacks. I was taking a picture back the way we came once we had spun all the way around. It looked like a dead end, but it looked like one when we looped in there too! Clay looked where I was shooting the camera and said, Oh I guess that is why we are turning back there is no further to go. I laughed and told him, no that is where we just came from! He looked so shocked and said how in the world did we do that? The young deck hand just cracked up when he overheard it.

Abandoned Mine Entrance - Our turnaround point

The view heading back...

Hell's Canyon is supposedly the deepest river gorge in North America. Interestingly, while they keep telling us this is high desert and it looks like it, it has been only 300 to 700 above sea level! That seems unreal! Of course, the tops of the river gorges may be over a thousand feet taller.

famous rock formation

mini-falls, or step down

view from Cache Creek

On the way back we stopped at Cache Creek, a National Forest Service site. It was an abandoned fruit orchard of some early rancher. It was interesting too.
http://www.fs.fed.us/hellscanyon/things_to_see_and_do/snake_river/floating/Float-Guide.pdf

Huckleberries!

Mule deer in Hell's Canyon

Today we saw lots of Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep, Mule Deer, turkeys, ospreys, blue herons, pheasants, swallows and not sure what else. The sun was bright all the way upstream and if it had been a river in NC the banks would have been lined up with turtles sunning but we never saw a single one, so we think they must not have any! The jet boat driver also delivers mail by jet boat 3 days a week here and he said that sometimes for weeks to months the river is iced solid. So we think it is just too cold for turtles to live here. The jet boat driver described winters in the area as moderate with only a few weeks at 0 degrees F and seldom much below! That surely does not sound moderate to us! The wind kicked up and chilled and it started raining as soon as we got back to the jet boat dock. So the short walk and bus ride were a little uncomfortable. Plus, we were all rattled and deafened by the jet boat. They should hand out ear protection, like on helicopters, on those things. It was still sprinkling before dinner and cloudy.

A note here for future travelers: on the wheelhouse tour a woman asked about seeing stars at night. The answer was that they keep the bow pretty dark to maintain their night vision, and they keep the bow mostly open so passengers can go out there almost any time. There is little life, hence little ambient light on the Snake River portion. It turns out both directions are sailed at night, so you have 2 chances to stargaze. We forgot the first night and then last night it was really cloudy so we never got up to go look! So, anyway, Clarkston was at mile 145 on our Snake River map. It looks like we have sailed inland about 465 miles. As soon as we were all back onboard, we pulled away from the dock, swung around and headed back downriver toward the Pacific. So, it is nearly time for me to go out for the evening's activities. At 5:30pm we have social hour in the lounge with the day's recap and tomorrow's highlights. Dinner is at 6:30pm and followed by light-hearted, fun-filled entertainment. I am quoting from the Adventure Update! I hope to make it to the lounge after dinner tonight. It will be my first time if I do. I don't think Clay will make it. He is sleeping over 8 hours every night and napping every day. Hey, he is on vacation.

Lewiston, Idaho from the Clarkson, WA side of the Snake River

You may have noticed that I don't talk much about food. First, it is me typing this and not Clay. Second, the food, while adequate has not really been worth writing home about so to speak! It hasn't been particularly bad; it has been OK, just not really noteworthy.

The before dinner recap and notes are completely miss-worthy. Miss them and you haven't missed anything except the lineup for heavy hors’d'oeuvres. Also, finally made it to the after dinner program tonight. It was ok, but probably unique. It was a 30-minute video called Sagebrush Sailors from 1990 produced by Oregon PBS. It was billed as a PJ party. We were invited to get comfortable and have popcorn. I went for the popcorn! We enjoyed the video about the invention and history of the barge business on the Upper Columbia River before the dams/locks. It was interesting since we had been all those places and could compare it with their historic photos and film. Popcorn was not fresh popped, but hit the spot.

I am adding a scanned copy of a map I picked up. I think it was at Beamer's Heller Bar Lodge at lunchtime. I have handwrittened in an X marks the turnaround spot.

Snake River Map - X marks our turnaround point





Cruise West - Day 3

8/30/2010

Above McNary Dam

Today we woke up right before we docked at a small grain and container port just above the McNary Dam at the port at Umatilla.

We had wakeup call at 6:30am and breakfast at 7:00am and buses departed for Pendleton, Oregon at 8:30am. We did not get back to the boat today until after 4:30pm. We were scheduled to be back by 4pm and sailing immediately. But we did not sail until 5:10pm. I think we drove for about an hour to get to Pendleton. Oh, so we started sailing yesterday morning at about river mile 140. Bonneville Dam is at mile 145. The Dalles Dam at about mile 195. We woke up this morning at about mile 295. When we got back on the ship this evening, the boat was in Washington State, on the Snake River and at mile 5 on it. It is clearly a different river! There seems like no current, while the Columbia's was strong and rough. We are no longer in a gorge, so the scenery is very different. So, we don't know what we missed on that piece of sailing from mile 295 to mile 325 on the Columbia River and the turn onto the Snake River. Hopefully, it will be sailed on the return in daylight! (Follow up note: No, what is sailed in the dark one way is pretty much sailed in the dark on the return as well. So, nothing to report.)

Anyway, back to today. Pendleton, OR was an adorable little historic town. It is the home of the Pendleton Woolen Mills. Also, it is home to the World Famous Pendleton Round-Up, a rodeo. They are celebrating their centennial this year September 15-18 and they were really gearing up. Clay got a special T-shirt by a local artist with a pun on their logo. It is a bucking horse with the rider on top and the words “Let 'er Buck!” His shirt has the rider on the ground below the horse and ”Better Luck”. It was not a cheap shirt, but it was so much less than the official logo shirt, that he balked at paying that much and didn't get one.

Oldest section of Pendleton Underground

There was some confusion here and we were told that we could take the included tour of the Pendleton Underground or we could take a shuttle from there to the Pendleton Woolen Mills. It turned out that if you really wanted to do both you could with no free time to wander around the downtown historic district. But, by then we had started our tour and we just stayed with it. It was fascinating seeing the different historical uses of the underground tunnels. Chinese people were subject to curfew and it may have started with them. Then they were big in Prohibition. Prostitution was not discontinued in Pendleton until the 1950s. Basically, a 4 block area of historic downtown that we visited was a red light district, with booze, women, gambling, gaming, and opium dens. Who da thought? Oh, they had several plaster Chinese baby statues; I have one that I inherited from my Grandmother, who inherited it from someone else herself. We had never seen any others! The Executive Director of the museum did not know much about them except that it is the thing people always want to buy from her. Weird!

It looked like this!

We went into a used stuff store next door on our ambling walk to lunch. I spotted a Pendleton Woolens black blazer with a brands pattern. It was about 1 size too big, but I like my clothes loose. I bought it for $65. It needs to be dry cleaned. But, later we saw a vest of the same fabric pattern and it was priced at about $170 and Pendleton jackets were $280 and over. I am very pleased with my purchase especially since we only got to see the Pendleton Woolens Mills on a drive by. (UPDATE: I took the blazer to Brothers Cleaners at North Hills here in Raleigh. That was on the 17th of September. Today is the 30th and I have not gotten it back. There are various stories and theories from various Brothers Cleaners employees and managers, but the bottom line is that my Pendleton Blazer is gone! I have negotiated a payment for my loss, but I am told it will be 2 to 3 weeks before I receive it. Will come back to keep the outcome posted here... The check arrived in the mail on October 5, 2010, so that whole sad ordeal is now closed.)

Oregon Trail visible as dark area to right

Anyway, the town was delightful and the surrounding landscape was dramatic. Near here are places where you can see the remnants of the Oregon Trail.

We had a delicious lunch at Hamley's. It is now in its 5th generation, and over 127 years. The first Hamley to come over to the US was a leatherworker to English royalty and they are still world famous saddle makers. The place is enormous with shops and saddles and boots and art and clothes and restaurants and saloons. We dined upstairs in a large saloon with a pressed tin ceiling, red chandeliers, a really cool set of belt-driven 2-bladed ceiling fans and a huge ornately carved wooden bar. There were some funny photos in the hall to restrooms with a series of photos of Hamley's employees holding their Thanksgiving turkeys from the 1930s and 1940s. I want to give props to Cruise West for taking my dietary restriction of no salt very seriously. Hamley's served me a special salad with special salad dressing and a specially made roast pork plate. Clay and I had the same thing and he could taste both my special serving and compare it to his. In a couple of cases, mine was tastier! Anyway, many times I have seen tour companies and cruise lines just blow off and pay lip service to dietary restrictions but I am not seeing that here. Good job, Cruise West and Hamley's. (Follow up note here: Sadly, this did not hold as a pattern. The other lunches we had off ship, I either ate what everyone else ate, or skipped the meal! I also got one server on the boat later who couldn't be bothered and so I got a couple of big salt doses onboard too.)

Huckleberries!

After lunch, we reboarded the buses for a quick drive to just outside town with a view of the Oregon Trail. Don our guest speaker on the bus, told us about our next stop and huckleberries! He was funny. I got some raw huckleberries from the cafe at the museum we went to and brought them back out to the bus so people could see them. Don could not explain what a huckleberry was, just that we should get some ice cream or something else they make with them there. We did get huckleberry ice cream cones and it was delicious. In case you are curious about huckleberries, they look like a blueberry with an innie instead of an outie, they are purple instead of blue and they are tangier-tasting than blueberries. Delicious. It is huckleberry season right now!

Tamastslikt Cultural Institute

Anyway, I got carried away; all of this was at the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute. (Pronounced: tum lust licked. It means interpreter.) It is the only museum along the Oregon Trail devoted to the Indian point of view. It is 10 years old this year. It was very well done and very attractive. There was a short outdoor path that we walked and saw some nesting hawks of some kind as well as startling out a pair of bobwhites! We were there about an hour or so. We got back on the bus for a strange bus ride of about another hour to rejoin the boat as described above. We swapped guides this afternoon and had Alison. A funny story is that Alison in the morning told the people on her bus to go wild when they saw a cow in the afternoon. So, when Don moved to that bus on the return to the boat, he was freaked out before he realized the joke was on him! Anyway, it carried on for the entire cruise whenever a cow appeared half of the boat's population that had been on that bus that morning went gaga. It was a funny runny joke! Anyway, Alison showed a video of the first couple of years of the Pendleton Round-Up since this is its centennial. Then she spoke about geology, agriculture and the Ice Age Flood.

Some of the interesting area geology on view

Ugliest Port! Cliff, our bus driver seeing us off...

When we arrived back at the boat, it was docked at Pasco/Burbank in one of the world's ugliest ports. It happens. Goa still wins the ugliest port prize though just barely and mainly as a result of sheer size and scale. This port ships out scrapped and crushed cars and wood chips. Alison told us it is also home to a blind beaver, but he did not make an appearance for us. Too bad, I would have liked to see that. Why would even a blind beaver choose to live there? The Snake River is widening but still much more placid than the Columbia and the sides are rising, though not as gorge-like. It is still quite scenic. Dinner is in 45 minutes or so, so more later!

We returned to the first table we had dinner at onboard. We like that waiter, Frank, and we had 2 couples to sit with that we had dined with both before. The dining room is on our deck, 1. It has 6 large round tables in 2 rows of 3 in the center of the room. We always sit at one of the tables, so we can sit beside one another with Debbie facing forward. The window seats on both sides are booths that sit 6 people. They end up passing plates back and forth, etc., because the booths are too deep. So anyway, we had an enjoyable time. Luis came during dinner and told me he had a surprise for me if I finished my vegetables. First of all, it was roasted peppers and onions and eggplant, so I wasn't eating it anyway. Second of all, I really hate surprises! Anyway, after dinner Clay told him I ate all my vegetables and the other people at the table all confirmed while I shook my head. Luis said that I should be very impressed because the kitchen had on such short notice prepared a huckleberry pie with huckleberry ice cream and Don Popejoy from our bus was going to serve it. I think maybe it was a joke. Because I ordered, along with the rest of the table the molten chocolate cake and we all enjoyed it very much. (Follow up note: Clay says this was the best and only really good dessert served on the entire cruise!) Don and Luis never came back, so I think it was supposed to be a joke. It was amusing that they were still running with my fascination of huckleberries not being fictional.




Scary! And wet!

 Right before dinner we locked through at Ice Harbor Dam. This is the first one we saw with gates that raised and lowered instead of swinging. Luckily, we were not on the top deck because it was still dripping wet from being underwater for its last use and rained all down the boat. The water was kind of stinky!

Ice Harbor Dam - Lock next to spillway

Also, this was the first one we saw that had the navigational lock directly next to the dam and you could view the spillway on approach and once the boat reached the top of the lock. Fun. After dinner, Don was going to do a presentation in the lounge about a woman journal writer and what she wrote about her trip to Portland on the Oregon Trail. We went to the cabin because we were tired and you can hear it on the Narration Box in the cabins. Right after he started we reached the Lower Monumental Dam and lock. The Captain broke in and announced that we were going to share this lock with a tug and barge and that this only happened rarely and everyone should come out on deck to watch. So the talk was postponed. On the bus earlier in the day, my Cruise West pen had a problem. The plug at the dull end of the pen pulled out and lodged in the cap, so you could no longer cap the pen. I had a pair of tweezers in my bathroom bag and meant to use them to pull that plug out of the cap and throw it away! I reached in and got a bad surprise. The protective cap on my razor had come off and I cut a dime-sized chunk of flesh off the top of the first knuckle on my left middle finger. Man, was it ever bleeding. It turned out that I had packed nothing to stop bleeding or any antibiotic ointment. I had a Band-Aid and put that on and rapidly bled through it. Clay and I got dressed again and I went to find the first person I could for a first aid kit. The dining room doors were open at the end of the hall and I went there. Alison and Luis were standing there together and instantly mobilized. They took good care of me and like me, the first dressing bled through too rapidly and we all had to relocate and try again. The second one was really bulky, but saw me through the night. The best thing was that they had antibiotic ointment and some small condom-looking finger protectors so it didn't matter about bleeding through, it wouldn't get on anything else. They made sure I had enough supplies for 4-5 days. Thoughtful.( A follow-up note here, the lock sharing incident must have been impressive, passengers have been talking about it for days. Apparently, Tugboat Captain Bob had 3 huge Tidewater grain barges. He had 2 side-by-sides with one behind and him next to that one. The 2 lead side-by-side barges evidently just fit with about 3 inches to spare on each side. Then we pulled in next to the back barge, behind the tugboat. It was a full lock and filled much more quickly by all accounts. Loving everything about the locks, I am very sorry to have missed it.) Don started his talk again after about an hour and I must confess that I fell asleep before the end of it! I slept through the night the best yet, even with the throbbing raised left hand. We woke up at a lock. According to the map, it must have been Lower Granite Dam. That means that we went through Little Goose Dam during the night without hearing a thing!

Tidewater grain barge at loading dock