Columbia & Snake River
We awoke to a most chilly, but clear morning, the clouds from the west threatening to catch up to us, on this drier eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. We navigated our third lock of the trip at John Day Dam. The lock is presently the largest single lift lock in the world. The geology of the area is of striking black rock with the brown tones of Fall grass and leaves progressing into Winter. After our mandatory fire and abandon ship drills, we listened to our historian tell of Thomas Jefferson’s idea of a land expedition exploring across the country to the Pacific Ocean. This was later to become known as the Lewis and Clark expedition. He then related the story of the expedition travels to the Fort Mandan and promised to finish the exploits of the expedition to the Pacific coast and back at a later date.
Late morning found a good number of folks bundled up and on the deck to see the large concentration of ducks and geese, some deer and a couple of bald eagles. We looked at some of the vineyards of the Columbia Valley wine industry. We saw some of the large irrigated circles that are used for raising row crops such as peas, carrots, potatoes and corn. Water is an issue in these areas as it is all over the country.
The afternoon was filled with deck time and a short geology talk. The geology presentation showed us what to look for on the rest of our trip. It showed the formation of the Northwest, as we know it today, and further pointed out the everyday processes that we may see in our travels to other locations. Our afternoon ended with a sampling of the local foods and drink of the area—not only did we sample the white, red and dessert wines of the Columbia and Yakima region, but could also take a taste of the fine microbrews and locally produced soft drinks as shown into today’s picture. On the food end of the tasting experience was smoked seafood of all types, pickled vegetables, jams, jellies, candy, cheese and chocolates produced in the regions. This leaves us passing through Ice harbor Dam and upriver in the Wake of Lewis and Clark.
We awoke to a most chilly, but clear morning, the clouds from the west threatening to catch up to us, on this drier eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. We navigated our third lock of the trip at John Day Dam. The lock is presently the largest single lift lock in the world. The geology of the area is of striking black rock with the brown tones of Fall grass and leaves progressing into Winter. After our mandatory fire and abandon ship drills, we listened to our historian tell of Thomas Jefferson’s idea of a land expedition exploring across the country to the Pacific Ocean. This was later to become known as the Lewis and Clark expedition. He then related the story of the expedition travels to the Fort Mandan and promised to finish the exploits of the expedition to the Pacific coast and back at a later date.
Late morning found a good number of folks bundled up and on the deck to see the large concentration of ducks and geese, some deer and a couple of bald eagles. We looked at some of the vineyards of the Columbia Valley wine industry. We saw some of the large irrigated circles that are used for raising row crops such as peas, carrots, potatoes and corn. Water is an issue in these areas as it is all over the country.
The afternoon was filled with deck time and a short geology talk. The geology presentation showed us what to look for on the rest of our trip. It showed the formation of the Northwest, as we know it today, and further pointed out the everyday processes that we may see in our travels to other locations. Our afternoon ended with a sampling of the local foods and drink of the area—not only did we sample the white, red and dessert wines of the Columbia and Yakima region, but could also take a taste of the fine microbrews and locally produced soft drinks as shown into today’s picture. On the food end of the tasting experience was smoked seafood of all types, pickled vegetables, jams, jellies, candy, cheese and chocolates produced in the regions. This leaves us passing through Ice harbor Dam and upriver in the Wake of Lewis and Clark.
