Wednesday June 14

Cruising / Maryhill Winery

Today's "first excursion" was much like yesterday's as we cruised through the amazing Columbia River Gorge all morning.  It was especially cool because we've been told that by day's end the topography of the land will change from this lush, evergreen setting to a nearly all brown, barren desert like vista.  And as you scroll down to see the photos from our visit to Maryhill Winery you will see this is indeed what's happening.  One of the best experiences of the photo shoot this morning was when another American Cruise Lines paddle-wheeler came into view and we could virtually "see ourselves" cruising up the Columbia.

After lunch we had docked at Hood River and were off to Maryhill Winery.  It was about a 40 minute drive and only twelve of us were on the excursion so we had a small passenger bus.  The driver knew of a ranch where the twin brothers collected exotic animals so we made a quick detour and drove around where we saw zebras, giraffes, yaks, deer, and camels among other animals.  Once we got to the winery it was set up on a cliff overlooking the river and they have an amphitheater where they bring in big name talent all summer long.  The next show is this coming week featuring Carlos Santana, the rock guitar player.  We didn't spend nearly as much time as we'd have liked in the winery but were taken to their unique museum.  For people who like museums it was really something, but for Kim and I, not so much interest.  I did find it so ironic that here they had a collection of international chess sets, many of them hand painted.....and if he were still with us, today would have been my Dad's birthday.  One of his hobbies while I was growing up was hand-painting chess sets (of which I still have two)!  What are the odds that today, on his birthday I'd find myself in Oregon at this unusual museum which features a collection of hand-painted chess sets!!!!

I cannot tell you how cool it is each evening to sit at the dinner table and watch nearly 90 minutes of non-stop amazing scenery go by the windows.  These two photos will hardly explain, but it's a snapshot of what we've seen every evening for the duration of dinner.

Finally, as dinner was winding down we pulled into an 87 foot deep lock - we went up top to watch the ship float to the top as over 40 million gallons of water filled the lock.....took about 30 minutes and then we just sailed away.  But when we'd reached the top, over the back of the ship we got a great final photo for the day - Mount Hood off in the distance.  I've also included the best photo of the mountain that Sue took earlier in the day.  Tomorrow we dock in Umatilla and have a full day's adventure in Pendleton - leaving the ship at 9 am and not returning until after 5 pm!

Tuesday June 13

Cruising The Columbia Gorge / Multnomah Falls

Today we opted for only a single excursion (passed on an optional trip to the power dam), but it felt like we had two excursions.  We sailed through the beautiful Columbia River Gorge for several hours in the morning.  Right after breakfast we went through a lock in the river - these are always fascinating to watch in action.......

And then we sailed past just amazing scenery including the iconic "Bridge of the Gods."

We docked in Stevenson and boarded buses to Multnomah Falls.  Unless you've been there you just cannot believe how high this waterfall is!  We took the hike up to the bridge which is half way up and posed for a second photo as well as posing for one at the base of the falls.  We only stayed an hour and when we returned we had lunch.

It was a "lazy afternoon," although we didn't just hang out on the ship, instead we walked into the quaint town of Stevenson (about a five minute walk) and then Sue and Kim shopped, making several purchases while Dan and I played the part of the patient husband .... for about an hour and a half :)  Kim got a pair of shoes and two dresses while Sue picked a pair of shoes.  Another day in the books!  Tomorrow we're told we will see some of the best scenery in the morning and then we should notice a dramatic change in the landscape from the lush greenery to literally desert-like conditions.  The highlight tomorrow is an excursion to the Maryhill Winery which sits high on a cliff overlooking the gorge!

Monday June 12

Cruising & Mount St. Helens Tour

We woke up this morning and we were already on the move, heading for the port of Kalama and a tour of Mt. St. Helens.  Two things I want to mention before we get on with the day's events......first, our stateroom is literally less than twenty feet from the Paddlewheel Lounge (third door on the left in photo below) which makes it seem like the lounge - where the morning coffee is located - is our personal living room and our bedroom is just down the hall.  And secondly, the size of the boat - the slogan for American Cruise Lines is "Small ship cruising done expertly."  And to those of you who know we've sailed on Viking River Cruises, the size of these ships is SO much smaller.  For example, the dining room is at the one end on the first level and a lounge on the opposite end.  I counted today - the number of steps from the dining room to the lounge is FIFTEEN!  REALLY small, but they certainly have this down to a science......HIGHLY recommend these guys.  

You want to do a river cruise and don't want to fly to Europe?  Try this company - visit their home page (http://www.americancruiselines.com/) or better yet contact the best travel agent in the world, Nancy Nelson at DreamVacations (http://nnelson.dreamvacations.com/mobile/termsconditions.do)  So, after getting coffee we had all agreed that today we would get a muffin or something light for breakfast.  But we went down to the dining room to fill out our menu choices for the day and on the breakfast side of the menu, right at the top - "Pacific Northwest Steak and Eggs with Bearnaise Sauce."  Now WHO can pass that up?  Like ALL the meals, it was superb - had to be prime rib that they used for the beef.  So much for a light breakfast (so I only had a cup of soup for lunch!)  

And speaking of food - note on the main page there is now a link to the dining experience on the ship - I've posted the first two days worth of food so far and it will grow with each day's menu choices!  The food has been phenomenal!  We weren't due to dock until after lunch so Kim worked on the exercise bike on the top deck and I enjoyed the scenery.  

Hey Karrie, wouldn't it be cool for you and Randy to have one of these and we had the other?  :)  After lunch we were off on the bus for what was promised to be a long bus ride, but it would be worth it.  The trip was going to be a ninety minute ride up the mountain and we had been told it would be in the mid-40s, rainy and currently a lot of fog.  Well, through the first hour the fog was REALLY dense and we were certain that barring a miracle we wouldn't be seeing a lot at the top of the mountain, but hey, you never know.  When we were about a half hour out while winding up through the hairpin turns over "drops to the abyss" bridges we all heard the warning beeps from the front of the bus.....we pulled over and our driver announce, "I don't know what the problem is but I'm going to check it out."  This can't be good.  Busted hose!  We were dead in the water on the road - and without cell service!  So the second bus took the other half of the party the rest of the way to begin their excursion and to call the bus depot.  That meant we would have at least an hour wait.  But everyone was really good about and our cruise director Zoe - who's a college student GOING to turn 21 this summer - did a great job to keep spirits high.  When the other bus dropped off their passengers they came back for us (that's me with Zoe as we switched busses).  

When we got up there, sure enough the fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife:  I'm standing at the point of the observation deck where you SHOULD see Mount St. Helens - compare the view we had with a photo I grabbed off the website of what everyone typically sees from where I am standing!  

WOW.  What was going to happen and when would our second bus arrive left everyone up in the air.  So we walked outside where I did the video for the day.  We went half way up to another observation area and suddenly the fog lifted enough to be able to see the valley floor.  

We'd seen a movie on the way to here about the eruption and the amount of destruction was amazing - I never knew.  Two statistics caught my attention.....the blast when the volcano blew was equal to the same power if an atomic bomb like the one dropped on Japan in WW II had gone off....ONCE EVER SECOND for seven and a half hours....that's 27,000 atomic bombs!  And the amount of mud and debris that flew down the mountain side would have covered the entire city of Seattle to the depth of the Space Needle!  

We went back inside and I snapped a photo of Kim "in front of the mountain" and then she overheard Zoe explaining that the first bus was heading back and there was room for eleven people from OUR bus who wanted to go.  So we took up the offer and rode back about 90 minutes earlier than when a substitute bus came for the rest of our people.  We returned in time for cocktail hour and then had a great dinner with some new friends we made.  After dinner we went to the evening's entertainment - featuring a piano player.  And here's two other things about American Cruise Lines different other cruises ..... first, different from Viking River Cruises - the entertainment has been wonderful!  Granted it's not the reason you go on a Viking River Cruise and frankly on the ones we've been on when there HAS been entertainment I was often too tired from the day's full schedule to go, but here you really get an added bonus with the post-dinner entertainment.  And unlike ANY cruise we've ever been on.....during cocktail hour, A-L-L drinks are on the house!  And the liquors they use are top shelf.  Unlimited.  Quite a savings as we have always just figured it "was part of the deal" to pay for a drink or two, each, before dinner.  Truly, these guys are worth considering!  There are at least six other itineraries they feature that I'm interested in!  Who wants to join me!

Dining On The Queen of the West