All day we have benefited from the clear skies! At sunrise on the ship, we saw Mount Hood covered in what looked like pink snow. Everything was pink as the rising sun shone on the hills around the river, the mountain, and the basaltic rock at the edge of the river. I felt lucky to wake up in such a beautiful part of the country.

During the day, we split into two groups. My group went to the Mount Hood Scenic Railroad. We enjoyed some delicious homemade pies made by local women and served at the Grange. Then we boarded the train and watched out the window as we passed through a transitional forest with western red cedars, ponderosa pines, Douglas-firs, and other plants like snowberry, which were first described by Lewis and Clark.

This evening the sky was still clear, and I was excited to have a great view in the spotting scope of two planets and the moon! When one of the guests looked at the rings around Saturn, she exclaimed, "It looks fake!" It was hard to believe we could be looking at a huge planet hundreds of millions of miles away. Many people in the group had never seen either the four largest moons of Jupiter or the rings around Saturn. It was quite cold out on deck as people waited for their turn, but the views of the planets and the moon were definitely worth the wait. We were continually grateful throughout the day for the beautiful sunshine and clear skies.