“We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.”
—Hilaire Belloc
After Astoria, we cruised all day, reached a point where we basked in the ethereal majestic peak of Mt. Hood along the way. We cruised to the Bonneville Lock & Hydroelectric Dam. This navigation lock raises and lowers the river traffic 60 feet. In our case our boat entered the lock and waited for the water to rise as scheduled until it lifted the boat to the level of the river on the other side, a fascinating event to witness.
We continued cruising until we docked at Stevenson, Washington, our next port of call. Stevenson is one of the many river towns along the Columbia River Gorge that feature awe-inspiring views of the Cascade Mountains and intriguing historic sites. The spectacular and varied terrain of the untamed Pacific Northwest is simply stunning. After breakfast aboard the American Empress, we explored the area with a riverfront walk and later explored the nearby Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center by the Hop-On Hop-Off excursion. The first native people to settle the area were the Cascade Chinook Indians. After visiting the museum we watched the nearby migrating salmon travel upstream to spawn at the underwater fish viewing rooms next to the fish ladders at the Bonneville and Dam we had crossed over earlier in the day. The ladders allow the salmon and steelhead to climb 60 feet to bypass the dam, a truly amazing feat.
We had another amazing and delicious dinner accompanied by premium wines. I had cantaloupe and ham, kale salad, eggplant parmesan, and short-ribs and bananas foster flambé Our favorite server was our 21-year old waiter named Marcus. Cecile and Susan adored him in a motherly way (photos). We ended the evening with seeing two back-to-back Broadway shows as the American Empress continued cruising on to our next destination.
