Cruise West - Day 8

9/4/2010

Disembarkation! Enough said, right? Well, today we get to visit Portland. But, first we have to part company with Cruise West. Not as easily said as done!

Early Riser breakfast buffet was in the lounge again from 6 to 9am. Wake up call at 7am. Sit down breakfast in the Dining Room at 7:30am as usual with 2 specials of the day. The only real difference this morning was that when you left the cabin for breakfast, you were to put your colored tag suitcases in the hall outside your door and leave everything you want to hand carry off the boat on your bed. Easy enough.

The Captain and all crew lined up down the sidewalk of the park where we embarked a week ago and every one of them shook hands and said goodbye and thanks as we filed off to the buses. Things broke down a bit there. Hopefully, everyone made it to where they needed to be ontime. All luggage was stowed on both buses and they told us to get on either one and when we got off they would reunite us with our luggage. So it was a bit stressful for many. We were in no hurry, and were among the last to lay hands on our bags since we hung back to let those with a deadline rush ahead. Fortunately, our bags did get left behind for us and we were soon on our way to Avis Rental Car at PDX. We got assigned a Mercury Grand Marquis and it feels like driving a boat to me. Hopefully, I will soon get used to it, but driving in Portland with streets going every which way and avoiding the railcars that share the road has had its moments. We are staying at the Red Lion Inn at the Convention Center. It is across the street from 3 of the Max Lines so once we parked it was free public transit and walking for tourism for us. We are just across the river from Chinatown/Skidmore. So 3 stops away and we were at the Portland Saturday Street Market.

I didn't do that!

Massive bed, spacious room, yeah!

But first the hotel, Red Lion Inn/Convention Center has 6 floors and we are on 5. The rooms are clean, large and nicely furnished with king-sized bed. It is fairly quiet, there were some little kids down the hall and they ran and screamed for a bit before 10pm. Down the hall, there is a guest laundry and a fitness center. There is a fridge, a tv, a fan, a heater (in addition to central HVAC), an ironing board, an iron, a coffee maker with supplies, a shower in tub, a sink with a vanity. It seems downright palatial after getting off Spirit of ’98! We are very pleased with our choice here and look forward to trying a different Red Lion Inn the night before flying home. Oh, and free wi-fi Internet!



Portland Saturday Market



Fancy



Street Market at the waterfront park in Portland



line at Voodoo Doughnuts, downtown Portland

So, I think that covers the hotel. We checked some maps and the Fodor’s Portland guide I had photocopied out before leaving home and set off. So, we took Max and shortly after noon we were in the middle of a giant street fair. http://portlandsaturdaymarket.com/ I found a Polish food stand and ate pierogies that were yummy. Clay had an Italian sausage sandwich from a neighboring stand. Then we had delicious local ice cream. Smooth English Toffee for me (I was expecting some crunchies!) and Peanut Butter cup for Clay. We walked from the Paddle wheeler, to the Japanese American Park and then up Burnside to the Pearl District where they were having an annual Art Fair in the streets and parks. We ate snow cones there with local fruits! I had Willamette Valley raspberry and Clay had Oregon peach. The raspberry was infinitely better, we both agreed. Between the 2 street fairs, we found Voodoo Doughnuts but we were full and deemed the line too long. We would come back before returning to the hotel! On the way walking between the 2 fairs we passed a man getting a blow job next to an artisitic fountain and right on a street corner as we awaited the light change. When the light changed, we hurried along pondering the wisdom of returning this way after dark and decided we wouldn’t. In 2 blocks from there we crossed a street and found ourselves in yuppie heaven! We wandered the enormous and crowded Powell’s books and used their restrooms. We went in to Sur La Table for a quick, small purchase.


Chinatown



the infamous fountain



First Regiment Armory, 1891



ice and power plant, 1906

fancy!



Cool!



Dinner!

We wandered around a bit more looking at the great architecture and killing time until nearly 4 to have an early dinner at Jake's Famous Crawfish. It is the second oldest restaurant in Portland. The first oldest evidently serves Thanksgiving Dinner every single day! Clay had a half-dozen Little Creek Oregon oysters on the half shell and he enjoyed them. Then he had the grilled salmon and said it was delicious and the size portion he had hoped for on Cruise West. People that had the seafood onboard that spoke to us about it were uniformly disappointed in the quality and other than the day of Dungeness Crab clusters, disappointed in the size of the servings too. Oh well, I guess all lines are cutting back on food expenses. But back to Jake’s, I had spaghetti with marinara and sausage meatballs. So, we were back on the street and headed back to Voodoo Donuts with the thought of picking up a boxful for dessert and breakfast tomorrow. We got in line about a block away. We could see our Max stop from there, so we were no longer worried about being out at night, though sunset was probably 2 hours off by then. We were in line about 15 minutes when an employee came out and told us we would be delayed because they were getting ready to have a wedding. The bride and groom came by, and we continued waiting because they said they would keep selling doughnuts during the wedding! The line though stopped moving, so we left. We got on Max and were back at the hotel within 20 minutes.

Oysters! Bob is back in business!

Oh, yeah...

I checked the phone book while Clay walked a few blocks to Walgreen's for Diet Coke. I found Voodoo Doughnuts Too on our side of the Willamette River and only a short distance away. Too far to walk, but close enough to take a chance driving again. So off we went. There was about a 15 to 20 minute line there, and it was interrupted for a wedding too! Who knew it was so popular! There were 3 weddings listed on the menu board there (we could park in a lot and wait inside here!). There was a $25 Informal Commitment, a $225 Formal Commitment and a $5000 Voodoo Shebang that included airfare, so evidently Portland's Voodoo Doughntus is a destination wedding location! Soon, it was our turn at the display case and the doughnut names were so whimsical it was difficult to choose. We got 2 Voodoos, of course, the namesake!

pretzel-staked namesake - Voodoo Doughnut

It is a little chocolate iced man with cherry filling and a pretzel stick impaling him. Too funny! Sorry the photo of the little guy ogling the removed cherry-stained stake was too blurry to post. This was not my favorite however, I don’t know why I don’t like chocolate and cherry together. Clay gets those 2! We got 2 maple bars (without the bacon!). OK. We got a Portland Crème iced with maple. Delicious! We got a McMinnville cream iced with chocolate (haven’t tasted it yet!) We got a Dirty Old Bastard, chocolate iced with Oreos and peanut butter. A Butterfingering, chocolate iced with Rice Krispies and peanut butter. A Triple Chocolate Penetration, chocolate cake donut with chocolate icing and covered with CocoPuffs! Amazing! A Grape Ape, cake donut with vanilla icing dipped in Grape Kool-Aid and then purple sprinkles. My favorite, tied with Portland Crème. Clay worked out on the treadmill and I got caught up on here. Then by 10pm it was lights out. Tomorrow is Astoria!

Tommorow's breakfast and a snack!

Some final thoughts on Cruise West. I had given high praise on their handling of my dietary restrictions, but they pretty much dropped all effort and concern after the day we went to Pendleton. After that when I would ask about salt in something, they would act bothered by it and I may or may not ever get an answer. I got some big salt doses a couple of days and then I stopped asking, figuring that as soon as we hit the road alone that is how it would be anyway.

We have decided that this type of vacation is not really in our comfort zone. It was just way too much summer camp for adults for us. You could never find a moment to spend alone with your spouse or your thoughts without some other company intruded. There just was not enough space to get a little to yourself. If you wanted to be alone, you had to close yourself in your cabin with your No Knock Knot out and content yourself with the little window view. It was just way too much closeness for us and not enough luxury of silence. So, after a brief consideration of a May 28, 2011 12-day Jacksonville, VA to Alexandria, MD Intracoastal Waterway sailing that was on special pricing if booked and paid in full onboard, we declined to return. Alison basically talked us out of it by convincing us that we would only be happy by upgrading to the next to highest or highest priced category cabin. For the same reasons that we didn’t go to one of the highest level cabins for this cruise we declined. The boat doesn’t get any bigger with that extra money, the food no better, the cabin only slightly bigger, but mostly you are paying for a slightly bigger window. We decided that after having been onboard, we would not have been happy paying a substantially higher fare for a few more square feet and a bigger window. So, we don’t plan to return to Cruise West.

Here I am inserting some thoughts about road trips. Historically, Clay has driven and I have navigated. This always worked very well. Since the onset of my Meniere's Disease, I am rarely a passenger if I can help it. In my opinion, we are equally good drivers. However, I am an excellent navigator and I have just learned this because of comparing my abilities to those displayed by Clay today and in coming days. I hope I do not hurt his feelings by this, but What the h***? How did he ever become an Eagle Scout? Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but shouldn't an Eagle Scout be able to read a map and find North, in the afternoon!?! Was it the '60s? OK, I lived through the '60s too, but I was 6 when Clay was 16. Was it acid? I mean LSD usage... not by the scouts perhaps but by the leaders handing out badges. Did Eagle Scouts not have to earn a badge in orienteering? (I know Clay is going to ask!) How many times have I heard the story of 13-year old Clay's hiking trip to Cimmaron, NM. What was that about then? Honestly, how is it possible for a man to have the highest honor bestowed by a group whose motto is Be Prepared, not be able to find his way around, or read a map? I am really appalled by the dumbing down of society that I see, especially as evidenced, in my opinion, by GPS usage. But I swear, Clay has latched onto those GPSs like a drowning man on a life ring and I guess that imagery is apt because he would be a lost soul without a GPS. We originally started planning this trip to mark our 25th Wedding Anniversary. I guess after 25 years together, I can safely say that you can still learn something new about your partner...and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way.

Cruise West - Day 7

9/3/2010

Where we'll dock in Rainer, OR

Docked in Rainer - lumber industry is huge here!

We sailed past Portland last night and sometime around 10pm we dropped anchor and spent the night. We pulled up anchor around 6am and docked in Rainier, OR in time for breakfast. Coaches departed at 8:30am for both Astoria and Mt. St. Helens.











Mt. St. Helens from Johnston Ridge Observatory



For the past 2 days, they kept calling for people to sign up until they got the parties evened out and could use only the same 2 buses/drivers we have had for the week. Evidently, we were originally too many for Mt. St. Helens, so they told people that the weather had been bad for the past 2 weeks and it was a miserable, wasted trip. That may have been true. In any event, the argument convinced enough people to switch to Astoria and after they heard all our reports of our visit to Mt. St. Helens, they were pretty unhappy. Compounding their grief was the fact that for the first time I am aware on this trip, a passenger was about 20 minutes late back to the bus and unapologetic. I guess this cut into some quality time elsewhere during the day for the Astoria group as well as delaying their return to the boat. Anyway, the Astoria group was about as displeased with their day as the Mt. St. Helens group was pleased. I guess it could easily have gone the other way, but happy for us that it didn't.





mud field below Mt. St. Helens



Mt St. Helens' new lava dome

Clay at Mt. St.

We had a 2 hour drive to Mt. St. Helens and arrived about 10:30am. We had an absolutely stunningly clear bright day that was just on the warm side of comfortable. The views were just amazing. The scale, the enormity of the volcano and the crater and the mud field are all just incomprehensible. The Johnston Ridge Observatory was the closest we could get and we were told that it was 5 miles away. You would not believe it could be that far as it looked so huge. The ranger there told us that if we were standing there on May 18, 1980 at the time of the blast, we would have 40 seconds to live before being obliterated by 700 degree F ash and steam and the top 1000 feet of the mountain traveling just under the speed of sound. It was incredible and beautiful. The Johnston Ridge Observatory was very well done. They have a theater with a short film and then the screen rises and the red curtains behind that rise uncovering a wall of windows with Mt. St. Helens in front of you! Very dramatic! There is a path you can walk to see Spirit Lake at the foot of Mt. St. Helens and the top of the next volcano, Mt. Adams. Make sure to take your binoculars here to get a good look at the lava dome as well as look for elk grazing on the mud field below. There was a small herd down there while we were there. That really gives you an idea of the scale when a herd of elk are invisible to the naked eye! Clay and I have found ourselves visiting a lot of volcanoes over the years, whenever we had the opportunity to do so we would visit a volcano. So, we have seen more than a few, from afar and up-close and personal, BUT we have never seen anything close to Mt. St. Helens in sheer size and grandeur. Mt. St. Helens is to volcanoes what Iguazu Falls is to waterfalls. They may have the same word applied to them, but their is no comparison when it comes to the enormous difference in size. Very impressive! http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/
Gotta love it! Volcano cam! http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/



Mt. Adams in the distance



Eek! Wildlife!



Blast devastation stretches for miles



Map for scale

Coldwater Lake

At about 12:30 we left to go have our box lunches for a picnic at Clearwater Lake. It was quite scenic with another short trail, picnic tables and restrooms that were quite nice. The Johnston Ridge Observatory also had restrooms, gift shop, exhibits, etc. Clearwater Lake was just more of a rest stop area.

Mt. St. Helens in the distance with mud field below

After that we made one more stop at the Weyerhaeuser Forest Learning Center. Make sure to see the film in their theater as it is actual footage of the events of May 18, 1980 and much more dramatic than the film at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. I should note that we were told most of the park of Mt. St. Helens closes down after Labor Day, so we were the last group that had the option of visiting. So, glad we made it and in good weather. We had a 2 hour drive back to the boat. We were running late, but not as late as the group from Astoria. We left as soon as the last bunch reboarded and sailed on west as far as the bridge at Astoria by about 8pm. Then turned around and sailed back east. We sailed all night long as far as we could tell and when it was about sunrise and we woke up and looked out, we were docking in Portland on the Willamette River again.

Parasailers on the Columbia River near Astoria, OR

Last Dinner - chefs walk through the Dining Room

So, anyway our last evening. At 5:30 or 6pm there was a Disembarkation Talk that was supposedly mandatory. But, they were a little confused and told us just to get the right color tag for Airport, Hotel, or Special Handling and they would work it out in the morning. Not sure they really worked it out as they had too many people to split the buses, so all luggage and all passengers were mixed on both buses the next day. The only exception was that our bus had 2 couples going to Amtrack and their luggage. Everyone else had to just check both buses for their suitcases as they dropped people downtown at the Embassy Suites or at the airport. The airport was the last stop, so a tense time for those with flights before noon, as they did not arrive before the 2 hour window. They told us to settle up our onboard bills with Benedict the bartender by 10pm. At 6:30 was the Captain’s Dinner. It was considered by many to be the best meal of the cruise. That wasn’t going very far though as the quality was pretty mediocre over the course of the cruise. The Captain came in to the Dining Room for the first time and introduced all the staff and crew and we applauded them all. They poured everyone 1 complimentary glass of champagne for a Captain’s toast. Then they poured everyone a complimentary glass of white or red wine. We had at least one glass of white wine left in our bottle from the previous night and asked to have the bottle delivered to the table, but it never happened. We did not see anyone else get their requested bottles either, so guess there was a party in the crew mess that night with all the leftovers! There is no dessert served at the Captain’s dinner. After you finish your main course you go back up to the lounge for a dessert buffet. They served bananas Foster. It was very good. Clay had 2 plus bowls! They also had a selection of cheeses and pastries. The pastries were mostly not very tasty, but looked pretty. After everyone had dessert, they showed a 300 photo slideshow with music they put together with the photos of Don, Alison, Nancy and one passenger. They were selling the photo CDs with that slideshow plus more photos for $15 (I think!). We did not buy one, though we enjoyed it, they had a few shots of us and I loved the music they had playing on it, James Taylor's Terra Nova.  Then it was time to go to bed for the last time onboard! Tomorrow we are footloose and on our own after the bus ride to the airport to pick up our rental car.