An outstanding cruise that took us to the rugged Pacific Ocean coast, through the lush green Cascade Mountains and finished in the dry river valleys of Eastern Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Side trips to see dramatic waterfalls, watched wildlife on a still river, navigated through several locks and dams and enjoyed an exciting jet boat ride through Hells Canyon.
The service on the National Geographic Sea Lion was exceptional with great meals and clean cabins. Learned so much from the knowledgeable naturalists on board. Followed the last leg of the Lewis and Clark expedition and learned a lot about their incredible journey. A great trip!
Wednesday October 4, 2023
Drove to St. Paul to have lunch with Mom and Brianna, who both will be celebrating birthdays next week.
Watched Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 to win their first playoff series since 2002.
Checked into our hotel, Embassy Suites in Bloomington. Good price for a park sleep fly hotel. Watched the Brewers lose to Arizona at the hotel bar.
Thursday October 5, 2023
Taxi picked us up at 8:30, he avoided the traffic back up in the departure area and took us to arrivals just one floor below. Smart move. No problem at TSA. At the gate at 9:00. Smooth flight. Clear day, we flew past Mount Adams before landing in Portland.
Read most of the National Geographic travel guide on Lewis and Clark, especially the last section on the Snake and Columbia Rivers.
Great Uber driver told us about a lot of things to do in Portland. Marriott Waterfront is a very nice hotel right on the Willamette River. Room on 14th floor was great. Opened up the curtain and starred at snow capped Mount Hood. Beautiful!
Took a walk along the river. Sunny blue skies and 72 degrees. Walked up towards the famous Powell Bookstore, but found the Deschutes Brewery instead.
Walked back to the river and met step sister Chrissy McConnell at the IL Terrazzo Italian restaurant. Got a table outside overlooking the river. Very nice. Good food and great conversation. 6.5 miles walked.
Adjusting to the two hour time difference and went to bed early.
Friday October 6, 2023
Another beautiful sunny morning! Walked along the waterfront before heading up to the famous Powell book store. Huge place.
Continued up Burnside Street to see the Japanese Garden. A pretty steep hill. 450 feet. Beautiful area. The Rose Garden was past peak, the garden was cool and calming on a sunny warm day.
Took the shuttle to the Zoo, where we took an elevator down 320 feet to get on the light rail. Got off the train near a Nordstrom store. Linda bought some better socks for inside her new shoes.
Walked to the Backwoods Brewery. Oktoberfest was excellent! Shared a big pretzel. Good spot.
Walked back to the hotel. 7.3 total miles. Our new knees are holding up pretty well. Gas is $4.79 per gallon in Portland!
Saturday October 7, 2023
Walked to a huge farmers market along the river. Lots of nice stuff, but no room in our luggage.
Found a Migrant Brewing booth. Hazy IPA was tasty. Love the sign.
Lunch at the historic Oyster Bar. Fish tacos were excellent. Linda enjoyed the salmon chowder.
Sunny and 80 as we walked along the river towards the ship. Found a sports bar to watch the Twins lose to the Astros. Got to the meeting room at the Marriott for introductions before walking across the street to the ship.
Expedition leader Jim is a big fan of Aldo Leopold. Patrick is our historian. Paul was the photographer. 3 other naturalists. Good group.
Small group of just 21 guests moved to the bow to watch the bridges open for the ship.
A nice dinner chicken and salmon. Cocktails in the lounge before bed.
Sunday October 8, 2023
Ship arrived in Astoria OR in the morning. Awoke to the smooth voice of our expedition leader Jim at 7:00. Coffee and breakfast was nice. Foggy and cloudy.
Astoria was where the movie Goonies was filmed. The kids watched that movie over and over.
Took bus up to the Astoria Column at the top of the tallest hill in town. Tells the stories of the different explorers who found this place. Gray’s ship the Columbia entered the dangerous mouth of the river in 1792. Lewis and Clark wintered just south of Astoria in 1805-6 at Fort Clatsop.
Beautiful view of the town and the mouth of the Columbia River.
Bus broke down. Waited for a different bus to take us to the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Tells the history of the most dangerous waters at the “bar” at the mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean. Over 2,000 ships have been lost in this area.
Learned about how the Coast Guard trains for water rescues in any kind of weather.
Experienced bar pilots board every ship to navigate the dangerous waters of the bar. They reach the ship by jumping from a small speedboat on to ladder at the side of the ship. Now they often use helicopters to drop bar pilots on board.
New bus took us back to the ship for lunch. Saw an otter in the water from the side of the ship.
Took a bus to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center on Cape Disappointment. Very informative. Sun broke through the clouds.
Waikiki Beach is a smooth black sand beach with beautiful views of the Cape Disappointment lighthouse.
Bus back to ship for dinner and cocktails.
Monday October 9, 2023
Up at sunrise. The Bonneville Lock has a 70’ rise. Produces 1,200 megawatts of electricity. 670 long 86’ wide.
Viewshed ordinance meant that there is no new housing along the river valley. Older existing houses have to follow color and shape restrictions.
Got on a bus to Stevenson WA.
Saw the impact of the big Eagle Creek Fire in 2017. Cascade Mountains are beautiful. Leaves are changing in places.
Passed Beacon point. An old volcano silo in the middle of river. Doesn’t wash away.
Muthma Falls was spectacular! Tremendous virtual drop.
Bonneville Fish Hatchery has all 6 species of salmon. Also has a large Sturgeon exhibit. Herman the Sturgeon. The Hatchery started in 1909.
Crag Rat Hut for lunch. Headquarters for a mountain rescue team. Cloud camp. Clouds covered the top of Mt Hood.
Draper girls farm. 40 acres of apples, pears, plums, peaches and other fruits. Great cider. Sampled 6 different hard ciders. The plum was my favorite. Linda liked the pear cider with cinnamon.
Western Antique Aeroplane and Auto museum was huge and very impressive! The first passenger plane and the Wright Brothers plane were very impressive.
Meet ship at The Dalles via the zodiacs. After dinner Patrick told the story of Lewis and Clark journey and the many obstacles that they faced.
Tuesday October 10, 2023
50 and light rain.
Bus to hike the twin tunnels from Hood River to Mosier. Cool tunnels built in 1921 to finish US highway 30, but replaced by a new wider highway. Made for a nice smooth hiking trail with a modest grade. Rain stopped shortly after we started our hike. Beautiful scenery views of the river and the surrounding bluffs. Learned about poison oak. A 4.75 mile hike.
Saw a private island in the middle of the river.
Bus back to ship for lunch and a shower.
Zodiac back to the bus to go to the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. Interesting exhibits, but the raptor show was really cool.
Sun broke through a we walked around the Discovery Center buildings along the river. Nice picture of the Oregon cliffs over the pond.
Stopped at the Rock Fort where Lewis and Clark prepared for an attack that never came. Pretty place high above the river.
Back on the bus. Took Zodiacs to our ship. The sister ship, the Sea Bird arrived in the same port, following a day behind us.
Ship entered the Dalles lock. Rise 90’
Cocktails and dinner. Julia talked about how the geology of the Pacific Northwest and specifically the Columbia River was formed.
Wednesday October 11, 2023
Woke up in the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge. 50 cloudy a drizzle. A large 23,000 acre wildfire refuge built to regain some of the lost wetlands lost after building the dam. Very effective stop over place for mitigating birds.
After breakfast, I put on my rain gear to kayak around an island in the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge. Not much rain, fun to get out on the water. They gave me a tandem kayak and moved a seat to the middle. It worked great! A nice rainbow appeared.
After a less than smooth transfer from the kayak into the Zodiac I came back to the ship excited about the morning paddle.
After the crew collected all the kayaks and hoisted them onto the top of the ship, Linda joined me to take the zodiacs out on a bird watching tour. Saw lots of geese, ducks (mostly Mallards), coots, great blue herons, bald eagle, red tail hawk, flickers and a coopers hawk.
The scenery changes dramatically on the drier East side of the Cascade Mountains.
Back to the ship for lunch and a nap.
Went through the McNary Locks. 70’ lift 1,000 megawatt hydropower plant. The last dam we will see on the Columbia River. We headed north into Washington before splitting off on the Snake River.
Excellent lecture on how the reduction in the number of Salmon coming out of the Columbia River has impacted the Orca/killer whales that live near the mouth of the river. The push to remove hydroelectric dams on the Snake River will likely not change the outcome for these whales.
Great dinner and conversation.
Twins lose game 4 and the series 1-3 to Houston. A very exciting postseason gives Twins fans hope for the future.
Thursday October 12, 2023
Mom’s 86th birthday!
Up early for breakfast before taking the zodiacs up the Palouse River. Saw a mink, bard owl (very cool), rooster pheasant, coyote, red tailed hawk , bald eagle and a few ravens. Beautiful cool morning as the sun crept over the canyon walls. The water was like glass. Great reflections of the canyon walls.
Bus to the Palouse Falls. Beautiful!
Took Zodiacs through the Little Goose Lock and Dam. 800 megawatt. Very cool to be on the Zodiac next to the ship as the water rises.
Friday October 13, 2023
The Sea Lion docked in Clarkson Washington. Boarded a large jet boat equipped with three 400hp jet motors. Boat draws just 16”. Amazing how maneuverable the boat is through the rapids of the Snake River as it weaves through the narrow Hells Canyon.
Saw Mallards, Geese, Coot, herons, hawks, and Mule Deer running along the river bank. Just 20’ wide in spots. The rapids were rough in places.
Made a bathroom stop at an old ranch that was converted to a National Recreational Area. I hiked to the top of an old small plane landing area.
54 miles to the high mountain sheep copper mine.
Saw a herd of mountain sheep on a steep slope. Very cool!
Lunch at Garden Creek Ranch. Chinese gold miners planted fruit trees in 1860. I picked an Apple from the tree. Saw deer and wild turkey in the orchard.
Skipped stones into the river.
Passed a small waterfall.
Nez Perce elder JR explained his ancestry.
Had a wine tasting and presentation by a local winery owner.
Paul put together an excellent slide show presentation with the pictures provided by the guests.
Ship covered 551 river miles.
Saturday October 14, 2023
35th anniversary of our engagement and Brianna’s 25th birthday.
Up early to pack up. Placed our luggage outside for the crew to take to the hotel hospitality room. Said goodbye to the excellent staff and the other guests that we enjoyed the week with.
Walked over 5 miles around Lewiston with a stop at a brewery waiting for our hotel room to be ready.
Lewiston is a nice place on the Idaho side of the Snake River.
Checked into our Hells Canyon Grand Hotel. Listened to a band called Tost. Great guitar player.
Sunday October 15, 2023
Slept in. Had lunch before taking the hotel shuttle to the small airport in Lewiston for our flight to Salt Lake City and then to Minneapolis. Our flight leaving Lewiston was delayed :(. Missed our connecting flight to Minneapolis. Found a red eye flight through Los Angeles to MSP.
A rough ending to a wonderful trip and a great experience!
Steve Pelton 