This morning the Sea Bird entered the scenic and historic Columbia River Gorge. Here, the powerful waters of the Columbia River dissect through the Cascade Mountains as the river nears the end of its long journey to the Pacific Ocean. We began our passage through the gorge at the town of The Dalles, Oregon, which lies in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains and therefore receives a scant 11 inches of rain a year. A mere 40 miles down river from The Dalles, at Bonneville Dam, average precipitation increases rapidly to an average of 75 to 80 inches a year.

Two options were available to us this morning. One group visited the Columbia River Gorge Discovery Center, a wonderful new facility near The Dalles that interprets the cultural and natural history of the gorge. Meanwhile, the rest of our compatriots traveled by coach to the town of Parkdale, Oregon, where we then boarded the Mount Hood Railroad for a scenic trip by rail through some of the 14,000 acres of orchards in the Hood River Valley. In 1919 a devastating freeze killed many of the apple trees originally planted in the valley. Most of the orchards were subsequently replanted with cold hardy pear varieties, which today constitute 80 percent of the harvest. We had an opportunity to sample some of this fresh local fruit just before embarking on our train ride.