Connie found these notes from me in her files when cleaning out recently.
June 1991-Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and France- Leesa, Jill, B&C- Dachau, beer hall putsch beer for Leesa, Lucerne bridge and Mt Pilatus, Lake Annecy.
Nov. 1994- Deep Water Cay in Bahamas- Slug Brothers and Dad
March 1995- Eleuthera,- all WMG family- Club Med family circus
April 1995-Isla Mujeres, Yucatan- B&C; Greg Norman
June 1995- Treasure Cay- Beth and Connie's parents (Connie in Russia?)
August 1995- Jackson Wyoming- WMG family; R Lazy S- Teewynot cabin; Captain Bob tries to rub me off
October 1995- Abacos- BG, Tom McC, Jim N, Billy T; O'D as guide; game of the century
Jan 1996- Palm Beach- Connie and JRSC girls snowed in; one 20 inch snow after another
March, 1996- Florida West Coast- BCMB and Schillings
May 1996- Isla Mujeres- Moxleys and B Thalhimers
July 1996- Durango- BCMB; Tall Timbers, chip and cast, lost Beth on heli hike
July 1996- Nantucket- B&C- Ship's Inn
Mar 1997- Islamorada, Cheeca Lodge; FDG and ESG 50th anniv.; all WMGs plus Andres, Andres Jr and Pilar
Jun 1997- Treasure Cay (Abacos) and Bahamas; Jill, Monica, Michael and Beth; Connie in Russia; rain
Jul 1997- Western Canada including Calgary Stampede; Lake Louise; glacier track; Jasper Lake (elk calling incident) and Edmonton Mall
Aug 1997- Maine and Mass cruise with Rich and Darla, Daniel and Maria; we learned Dennis Demars' dad was in the Grasshoppers rock group
Sep 1997- joined ALB from Ethyl
Oct 1997- Treasure Cay; Dick Betlem, David Breidenback, Michael Whitlow
Jan 1998- Palm Beach; Connie and JRSC again
Mar 1998- Snowmass; JRSC and Angie
May 1998- Florida West Coast; Andres and Sonia, Daniel and Maria
June 1998- New Zealand and Australia, plus Singapore; BCLJMB
Feb 1999- Treasure Cay; Richard Knapp and Matt Thompson
Mar 1999- Costa Rica by sail; BC, L, MB, and Angie. "The Bridge".
Apr 1999- London; ALB trip with Charlie Walker, Allan Goolsby, Chuck Stewart, Lloyd; Project Root Beer
May 1999- Roanoke Rapids, NC; rockfishing with Bill Flowers
July 1999- Arcularius for the first time
Sep 1999- Hurricane; Easterly riverfront eroded
Oct 1999- Chub, Joulters, Bahamas- Jud and Tom S
Oct 1999- Oct BOD then Arc
Nov 1999- Shania Twain with C and Beth
Dec 1999- Elie Weisel at UofR
Dec 1999- Keystone/ Breckinridge- Beth big phone bill
Mar 2000- Belize on Sarah Beth- BC; Beth and Carrie T; Michael and Adam P; L&G
Apr 2000- Ascension Bay on SB
May 2000- Lexington 30th W&L reunion
May 2000- MD Anderson in Houston with Andres and Sonia
May 2000- Chub, Joulters- Ed Woods, Jack Harsh
Jun 2000- Rome, Amalfi, Vesuvius- Jill in Italy
Aug 2000- Va. Beach- JRSC
Sep 2000- Antietam with Gary Gallagher and Dan Balfour
Sep 2000- St. Petersburg Russia
Dec 2000- ALB at 24, EY at 1; TG quits VC; ticket for left on red at Old Gun
Feb 2001- Don Giovanni with Moxleys
Mar 2001- Chub; 10 lb. bonefish
Mar 2001- NYC; the trip when Michael ate Kaki's contact lenses
May 2001- Bermuda; 20th anniv
Jun 2001- NYC; Michael at 92nd St Y
Jul 2001- John Elrod died
Aug 2001- college trip with Michael
Sep 11, 2001- TCF meeting
Sep 2001- new SB maiden voyage in Canada
Oct 2001- L&G's wedding at St. Mary's followed by reception at NewMarket
Feb 2005- Galapagos
Mar 2005- Exumas
Jun 2005- UCLA- Jill graduation
Jun 2006- Michael graduation Wesleyan
Jun 2006- Leesa graduation Montana
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Savannah for the Half of a Half Marathon November 2017
Savannah Nov. 3-6, 2017
Connie and I , and, separately, Leesa, Gordon, and
Thomas (and Lola) drove to Savannah for the weekend. The purpose was for Leesa
and Gordon to run in the Savannah Half Marathon. In the weeks before the race
Gordon got injured, possibly from being such a maniac about training, so Connie
and I decided to use his number and divide up the race- a half half marathon
each, and our first running race in quite a long time.
It took a lot of drive time to get down to Savannah- about 8
hours counting a couple of stops and 475 miles.
We stayed at the Olde Harbour Inn right on the river. It was a perfect location but a little disorienting when the container ships went by, right out the window, very close, and honked the horn, especially at 3:10 am.
We stayed at the Olde Harbour Inn right on the river. It was a perfect location but a little disorienting when the container ships went by, right out the window, very close, and honked the horn, especially at 3:10 am.
Once we got here we met up with the Gs and went to
dinner at Moon River, the same beer place Gordon and Leesa ate the night
before, but Thomas used his leverage and said “if you go there, I’ll know there
is something I like”. It was a full moon and the view under the live oaks with the Spanish Moss and the full moon showing near the hotel was beautiful, but the photos did not do it justice.
As it turned out, the next day Connie’s American friend
she met in Novosibirsk Russia knows the owners and recommended we go there via
a message on Facebook.
The race started at 7:20 and Connie had the first half of
the race. It was a little confusing finding each other near the halfway point
but we did. Connie had found a running buddy, a sixty something year old medical corps woman from near us who is 13 races into running a half marathon
in each state.
After falling behind the buddy for a while, I caught up
with her near the end. We ran and walked together for a while then got
separated again. Gordon AKA Connie and I finished the race in 2 hours 46 minutes, a
terrible time for Gordon but a great time for us. I picked up the medal, got photographed as Gordon crossing the finish line, ate a banana and
went back to our hotel room. Total distance to that point was 8.86 miles,
including getting to the meeting spot and back from the finish.
For lunch I got a wonderful veggie sandwich at a place
called Boar’s Head while Connie was shopping. Then we went for the tourist hop
on hop off bus tour of Savannah. After the race I wasn’t interested in a lot of
hopping.
Savannah is a great place to visit. The pace is leisurely and the green squares every so often slow the light traffic down so walking is a breeze. However, it can't quite make up its mind whether it wants to be an old city celebrating its rich past in good taste or a cheesy city like the New Orleans French Quarter. As examples, on the good taste side there are the squares mentioned, and on the cheesy side, there are T shirts that say things like "In Dog Beers, I've only had One".
Savannah emphasizes the colonial days, the Revolutionary War history, and its importance as a cotton port. The history I found interesting is the Civil War history- As the war is wrapping up, and Sherman has taken Atlanta, because of the narrow river and the presence of two gunboats and the Forts Jackson and Pulaski, Savannah is unassailable by water. But Sherman marches in from the land with 60,000 troops as the 10,000 Confederate defenders exit via pontoon bridges. Sherman had been to Savannah before the war and evidently had fond memories of it because he did not torch it. However the populace still did not like his being there. The ladies of the church right next to his HQ arranged for the church bells to ring 24 hours a day until he called them in and told them if the bells don't stop your church is going to be a stables. Problem solved.
We hopped off the tour at Saint John the Baptist Cathedral (RC) to look inside and then at the City market for more shopping. When we reached City Market, our guide on the bus pointed out the Johnny Mercer statue and rattled off about 25 of his well known songs in rapid succession. Since Michael and Laura wrote that play about Johnny in high school, we stopped for a photo opportunity there with Johnny.
The tour folks got us back to the hotel (thank goodness we didn't have to walk another mile or so today) in time for dinner with the Gs at the Pirate House.
The tour folks got us back to the hotel (thank goodness we didn't have to walk another mile or so today) in time for dinner with the Gs at the Pirate House.
Two more little bits of Savannah history- Oglethorpe had two requirements when he established Georgia as a colony, no lawyers (his colonists were debtors) and no hard alcohol. Of course there was a lot of ship traffic and sailors will be sailors. So at the Pirate House, some guys dug a tunnel to the waterfront to bring in the rum. One can still visit the tunnel if one goes on the nightly ghost tour of Savannah. Also Robert Louis Stevenson used to hang out at the Pirate House and Tavern and while talking to its denizens supposedly got the idea for Treasure Island. On the wall in the Pirate House they have pages and illustrations from the first edition. And you can look down the hole of the tunnel without being on the tour.
On Sunday morning Connie and I went for a very genteel walk thru the squares and up to Jones Street looking for Emily's in law's house.
After breakfast we joined the Gs for a visit to the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum (lots of models and ships in a bottle). The gift shop at the museum was displayed on Liberty Ship hatch covers like ours. In the build up to WWII 88 Liberty ships were built in Savannah.
Then we took a walk to Shaver's bookstore before meeting the Gs again for a riverboat tour to see the container ship yard and the Civil War forts. The guide on the ship was great- very humorous and thorough. The guide said 92% of the things we have as Americans come in on container ships!! The only problem with the tour was that the nasty cigar smoker was not sequestered.
Gordon had been looking forward the whole time to a trip to Tybee Island to eat at The Crab Shack, where the elite meet to eat in their bare feet.This place was highly recommended by a high school friend so we had to go. I'll let the photos show the ambience and the food.
What we couldn't get a good photo of was the gator pit where you can buy gator food and feed it to them via bamboo fishing rods with bobby pins on the end. Sometimes they would only bite down but not take the food so you could feel what it would be like to have a gator on the line. I'll go back there.
Because of fog, daylight savings time ending, and gas stations being out of gas, Connie and I lost a lot of time driving home but we got there in time for a very relaxed dinner with John and Deborah.
On Sunday morning Connie and I went for a very genteel walk thru the squares and up to Jones Street looking for Emily's in law's house.
After breakfast we joined the Gs for a visit to the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum (lots of models and ships in a bottle). The gift shop at the museum was displayed on Liberty Ship hatch covers like ours. In the build up to WWII 88 Liberty ships were built in Savannah.
Then we took a walk to Shaver's bookstore before meeting the Gs again for a riverboat tour to see the container ship yard and the Civil War forts. The guide on the ship was great- very humorous and thorough. The guide said 92% of the things we have as Americans come in on container ships!! The only problem with the tour was that the nasty cigar smoker was not sequestered.
Gordon had been looking forward the whole time to a trip to Tybee Island to eat at The Crab Shack, where the elite meet to eat in their bare feet.This place was highly recommended by a high school friend so we had to go. I'll let the photos show the ambience and the food.
What we couldn't get a good photo of was the gator pit where you can buy gator food and feed it to them via bamboo fishing rods with bobby pins on the end. Sometimes they would only bite down but not take the food so you could feel what it would be like to have a gator on the line. I'll go back there.
Because of fog, daylight savings time ending, and gas stations being out of gas, Connie and I lost a lot of time driving home but we got there in time for a very relaxed dinner with John and Deborah.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Columbia and Snake Rivers October 2017
Columbia and Snake Rivers- Harvests, History, and Landscapes
Wed. Oct. 18- Saturday Oct. 28, 2017
In retrospect this really is a history and geology trip; we weren’t interested in the beer tasting or vineyard visit that made the “harvests” part. In writing this I am going to try to refrain from retelling the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and I am sure a geologist would quarrel with my rendering of the story behind the rocks. For reference I recommend “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose and the Ken Burns series about L&C, but I also have to recommend “Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes” edited by Alvin Josephy for an alternate point of view.
Wed., Oct. 18- Richmond to Lewiston by way of Spokane WA. Drove 2 hours from Spokane (GEG is the airport handle for some reason). Took a 4 mile two bridge walking route along the Snake River, dinner at Ernie’s Steakhouse. Didn’t know it but the mom of our 1987 nanny Michelle (more later) now lives in Lewiston one mile from our hotel.
Thursday, Oct. 19- cold and cloudy, in the 40s. For exercise Connie went to the fitness room in the hotel and I walked the halls and stairs.
The reason for coming to Lewiston was to go to the Nez Perce Historical site on the Clearwater River. Although a L&C site, the reason I wanted to go there is because Thomas, Gordon, and I recently watched an old western about Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce and Gen. Howard called “I will fight no more”. When we got to the NP site, which is on the reservation, the park ranger told us that we would be coming there tomorrow with Nat Geo, so we briefly visited the Spaulding Utah Presby Church and an old general store from settlers’ days and then went to lunch at Donald’s Diner in Lapwai, which is where the tribal headquarters are, and there were lots of Nez Perce in the diner (the modern American diet hasn't been doing them any favors).
A little digression on the Nez Perce (Nami puu) tribe- At the time of L&C, from their name, one knows they already had had contact with the French. L&C estimated there were about 5-6000 NP in about 50 bands spread out over parts of MT, ID, OR, and WA. I don’t know if their numbers had been even much higher but then impacted by the devastating small pox epidemic that went thru the Indians in the Pacific Northwest in 1780. The NP got the horse in 1730 and gradually created the Appaloosa breed.
The NP helped L&C get over the mountains in 1805 and met up with them again here in May 1806. This second time the expedition was very hungry and the NP guided them over to the Salmon River where the Chinook were running. L&C stayed with them 77 days until late summer when they pushed on.
General Howard (Civil War- the “Christian General”, and founder of Howard University in DC) negotiated with them here in Lapwai. He and Chief Joseph fought the war of attrition in 1877. Between all the treaties, outright thefts, and acts of congress, the NP reservation is down to about 1/2 % of its original 13mm acres, but the NP seem to have kept their culture together better than many tribes. Now they are using their casino profits to gradually buy back their ancestral lands.
Later that day we went to the Lewiston airport to meet the group and got a ride from there across the Snake to Clarkston WA to meet the Sea Lion and guests and crew. Lewiston’s airport is open about 3 days a week.
When we boarded the ship we found the same second mate, third mate, two DIB drivers, the hotel manager (from Midlothian), the photo instructor, and the head dining steward that were on the Sea Bird for our Alaska trip. It felt like home. In addition, on the Alaska trip our luggage tags introduced us to Zach who was reporting for his first day of work on Lindblad on the Sea Bird. He was on the Lion this trip as well.
This trip is the last of the season for the Sea Lion. After we get off it goes to dry dock in San Diego and then to Costa Rica. Next year the Columbia trips on Lindblad will be on the Quest- a brand new 50% larger ship. (Sea Lion and Sea Bird are old and might even be replaced by the Venture and the Quest- I have to admit it felt at times like camping out on the Bird and the Lion).
One really great aspect of this trip is that we are doing it at about the same time of year heading downstream as L&C did. Each day’s Daily Program has the usual info about the day ahead but then a quote from the L&C journals that is applicable to where we are.
Friday, Oct 20- Clarkston WA. Snake River Adventures jet boat excursion.
At Lewiston and Clarkston, the Clearwater River flows into the Snake and the Snake makes a right turn to the west. Our day trip went upriver on the Snake through Hell’s Canyon. Here we got our first lesson in basalt. The walls of the river valley are lined in columnar basalt and as the canyon walls close in further upstream the basalt gets closer and closer. Columnar basalt is very similar to what we have seen at the Devil’s Postpile in Mammoth Lakes and at the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland except the columns are not quite as perfectly polyhedral. Basalt come from melting volcanic flow and I think the shapes it takes must depend on how slow or fast it cools. The volcanoes affecting the Pacific Northwest are from about 11 million years ago, while the overall shape of the landscape we see now is from all those years of weathering and rain in crack filled rock and then from floods to be discussed later.
One of our pauses along the way was at Asotin WA on Snake River. Before the Snake and Columbia were dammed the water was thick with lamprey eels. The NP would build boats out of driftwood and set a fire in the middle of the boat. The lamprey would be attracted to the light and the Indians would haul in tons of them. They would then dry them and eat them. In another of our stops there was an old photo of the eels on racks built by the NP. Asotin is a derivative of the NP word for lamprey.
We made a stop at Cache Creek which is a Park Service site but there is no funding so the station is staffed by volunteers on duty for a month at a time totally cut off from anything but mule deers. Above Cache Creek, at Cougar Creek, Sgt. Ordway in L&C’s Corps of Discovery on May 30 1806, while off on that salmon side expedition, saw an 80 foot longhouse, the communal way of living the NP had at the time. Here we saw 3 female bighorns, running along the rocky bank.
Trees- hackberry, willow, mahogany, mulberry. Mostly reds and yellows in the fall.
Then we came to the Salmon River (the River of No Return from the old Robert Mitchum/ Marilyn Movie movie) flowing into the Snake. In all I think we went about 40 or so miles up the canyon. While it was very placid at the start, as we went further upstream it got wilder and wilder. There were times where the guide couldn’t slow the boat down because of the narrowness of the channel and the rocks. However he did make one stop in a tricky piece of water to show us a Nez Perce petroglyph.
Bet you are glad the enthusiasm of the first couple of days is now past. The other entries will be much shorter.
Sat. Oct. 21- Palouse Falls
We anchored at the junction of the Palouse River coming in from WA and the Snake. There were two activities- a DIB (see the Alaska entry) ride up the Palouse, not quite as far as the falls, and then a bus trip 5 miles up to the Falls. On the DIB ride, we saw Western Grebes, Coots, and a Golden Eye. Our naturalist, Grace, who loves Basalt and loves Coots, showed us tule which is one of the plants the NP would use for bedding and insulation of their long houses. She pointed out basalt columns and entablature which from a distance looks like tree trunks (the columns) and bushy leaves over the trunks (entablature). It was a little cold and damp so we passed up the kayaking.
When we got to the Falls, we had a short lesson in the other big factor in the geography of the area- the breaking of the Missoula MT ice dam about 11000 years ago at the end of the glacier age. Actually there were several of these breaks and the outcome was a wall of water moving at 60 mph washing through MT, ID, OR and WA, carrying huge boulders, rocks, and silt. The amount of flow has been estimated as the equivalent of emptying of Lake Superior in 48 hours. The Indian story behind the bowl shape of the basin of the Palouse Falls is easier to comprehend- Long ago Coyote, the NP mythical founding animal, caught a giant beaver and the basin is the result of the beaver’s tail thrashing around and around.
Later in the afternoon we went thru the first of 8 locks on this trip- 4 on the Snake and 4 on the Columbia. One, the John Day Dam, was closed for 8 months in 2008. One of the guides told us how the Lindblad ship was caught on one side but could not proceed. There was a competitor’s ship on the other side that could not proceed either, the two companies arranged for all the passengers to switch ships. The ones who ended up on the Lindblad ship got the better of the deal.
Sun. Oct. 22- The Dalles, Oregon.
Here we were tied up at the foot of one of the dams and locks. The Dalles comes from French for flagstones, and evidently before the dam the rapids here had many flagstone like rocks as the base. A crisp, clear day, mid 50s going to mid 60s. As we got off the boat to go the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center by way of the Columbia River Highway from model T days, we were met by members of the local Chamber of Commerce calling themselves The Dalles Floozies and dressed as dance hall girls or something else. As the ship’s passengers bantered with them, every possible pun that was G rated about the floozies and madams and brothels came out.
What in the Sam Hill? This expression came from another, much more colorful, Sam Hill, but the relevant Sam Hill here was a railroad executive from back east in the 19 teens who came west and fell in love with the area. He was convinced the west needed good roads for autos and to show off the Columbia Gorge. So he built the Gorge highway and some parts are still used today.
We took it to Rowena Crest for a magnificent view of the Gorge. You might remember that the Gorge was closed in August due to fires started by two kids playing with fireworks (the Davidson guys who were with me at the Arc could not get into the Gorge back then because of these fires). Anyway, it is back in business now and beautiful with leaves changing.
After the Crest we had a few minutes in a very interesting museum about the area with a great exhibit on L&C and the settlers who followed (Oregon Trail ended here) and some in house raptors.
The options to get back to the boat were bike or walk or ride. Connie and I did a 5.5 mile power walk back. The path was right along the river and we could see tribal salmon fishing platforms and passed a Google Data Center (I guess the cloud really has a physical location).
In the afternoon the group went to the Maryhill Museum on the Washington side. Sam Hill wanted to build a home and to start an agricultural community right in the spot where it wasn’t desert like to the east and wasn’t rain forest wet like it was to the west. Maryhill, named after his daughter, is the result, but he missed on the rainfall. It is too dry, plus his wife hated it and went back east. Sam eventually turned the house into a very odd museum with a lot of objects he obtained from some of his international friends’ friends. So there is a large collection of Rodin sculpture, some Romanov family artifacts through the queen of Serbia, a great collection of chess sets, and many other items.
One of his friends was someone named Loie who invented modern dance and there is a lot about her there. Sam Hill didn't live long enough to see a variation of his agricultural community actually work out- the slopes around Maryhill turned out to be perfect for growing grapes.
In the category of trivia, The Dalles is the railroad tie capital of the US (cut the ties, treat them with creosote (nasty), then treat them for insects, all of which sounds like a bit of an environmental mess). Lots of wood for building and paper and other uses around here (wish I knew the size of the lumber pile back in Lewiston at Clearwater Paper).
Oct. 23- Hood River, Oregon, which is the windsurfing and now kite surfing capital of the US and makes steering this ship and other big ones very difficult.
The activity here for us was another 5.5 mile hike thru the Mosier Tunnels part of the the Columbia Gorge Parkway built by Sam Hill, followed by some free time in Hood River. HR is a kind of hipster town with lots of coffee shops catering to the ski crowd and then the summer crowd. One of our crew members said that since we are leaving at mid day we don’t have to worry about the kite surfers because during that time of day they are all pretending to have a job. Somewhat related to this, for the last two days the folks who signed up for bike riding the same trails we walked experienced two no shows from the bike shops.
After lunch, to quote L&C, “we proceeded on” thru the gorge, past the Bonneville dam and lock. It was at about this spot, marked by a volcanic cone L&C named Beacon Rock, that they first noticed the push from tides.
The Biddle family at one time owned BR and offered it to the State of Washington for a state park. WA turned the family down so then they offered it to Oregon even though it is on the WA side of the river. After Oregon said yes, WA spoke up and decided to take it. We also passed Multinomah Falls.
In retrospect about this trip I really did not need to write this blog entry. I could have just let Woody Guthrie get the credit by way of his song “Roll on Columbia, Roll on”, which he wrote during the Depression when he was a government employee:
Tuesday Oct. 24- Astoria Oregon and Cape Disappointment WA. Astoria is also home to the Goonies house but we didn't go to see it.
The activity Tuesday was a drive on the Oregon side to Fort Clatsop where L&C spent the winter of 1805-6. They were here for 114 days but on only 12 of them did it not rain. They were soaked and a little stir crazy. The fort has walls that slope down into the middle of the fort, which was great for protection but also funneled the rain into the parade ground. After a while at the fort and the canoe launch there, we visited the NP museum there- small but it tells the complete story well and has a great little L&C bookshop. We did not have time to go to the Saltworks L&C created which was further down the coast.
Then back to the ship by way of the Columbia Maritime Museum, again a super museum about the Columbia Bar and its shipwrecks, pilots, and rescues.
For the afternoon we went over to Washington to Cape Disappointment, another place where L&C were miserable, but the name came from sailors who were there before them. L&C were also disappointed because they did not encounter any ships on the Pacific side. Another gem of an NP museum, a good clear view of the wild waves at the Bar, and then a walk down to Waikiki Beach named after the Hawaiians who perished trying to get the Astor fur trade ship the Tonquin thru the Columbia Bar. Here we touched the Pacific.
In the evening there was the usual daily recap, with a bon voyage from the passengers to the great guides. Bob Gatten, our L&C expert was funny and a real pro on the Corps of Discovery. Grace, the lover of basalt and Coots, read us an ode to the Coot (I'll try to find it or at least a photo or two). David Jaffe was the photo instructor, and after two lessons on how to use the iPhone camera, I think I am getting it.
As I took it.
Edited after the "using your iPhone" class.
Overnight the ship backtracked to Portland.
Not much of a birds trip, other than learning about coots in detail. However I did add Western Grebe and Goldeneye duck on the Palouse River and then Anna's Hummingbird at Jill's house in San Rafael on the 26th.
Wednesday, Oct 25 Portland
Connie and I left the ship a little early so we could have breakfast with our nanny from 1987, Michelle Smith, before going on to the airport, for a couple of days in San Fran/ San Rafael to see Jill and family.
Wed. Oct. 18- Saturday Oct. 28, 2017
In retrospect this really is a history and geology trip; we weren’t interested in the beer tasting or vineyard visit that made the “harvests” part. In writing this I am going to try to refrain from retelling the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and I am sure a geologist would quarrel with my rendering of the story behind the rocks. For reference I recommend “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose and the Ken Burns series about L&C, but I also have to recommend “Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes” edited by Alvin Josephy for an alternate point of view.
Wed., Oct. 18- Richmond to Lewiston by way of Spokane WA. Drove 2 hours from Spokane (GEG is the airport handle for some reason). Took a 4 mile two bridge walking route along the Snake River, dinner at Ernie’s Steakhouse. Didn’t know it but the mom of our 1987 nanny Michelle (more later) now lives in Lewiston one mile from our hotel.
Thursday, Oct. 19- cold and cloudy, in the 40s. For exercise Connie went to the fitness room in the hotel and I walked the halls and stairs.
The reason for coming to Lewiston was to go to the Nez Perce Historical site on the Clearwater River. Although a L&C site, the reason I wanted to go there is because Thomas, Gordon, and I recently watched an old western about Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce and Gen. Howard called “I will fight no more”. When we got to the NP site, which is on the reservation, the park ranger told us that we would be coming there tomorrow with Nat Geo, so we briefly visited the Spaulding Utah Presby Church and an old general store from settlers’ days and then went to lunch at Donald’s Diner in Lapwai, which is where the tribal headquarters are, and there were lots of Nez Perce in the diner (the modern American diet hasn't been doing them any favors).
A little digression on the Nez Perce (Nami puu) tribe- At the time of L&C, from their name, one knows they already had had contact with the French. L&C estimated there were about 5-6000 NP in about 50 bands spread out over parts of MT, ID, OR, and WA. I don’t know if their numbers had been even much higher but then impacted by the devastating small pox epidemic that went thru the Indians in the Pacific Northwest in 1780. The NP got the horse in 1730 and gradually created the Appaloosa breed.
The NP helped L&C get over the mountains in 1805 and met up with them again here in May 1806. This second time the expedition was very hungry and the NP guided them over to the Salmon River where the Chinook were running. L&C stayed with them 77 days until late summer when they pushed on.
General Howard (Civil War- the “Christian General”, and founder of Howard University in DC) negotiated with them here in Lapwai. He and Chief Joseph fought the war of attrition in 1877. Between all the treaties, outright thefts, and acts of congress, the NP reservation is down to about 1/2 % of its original 13mm acres, but the NP seem to have kept their culture together better than many tribes. Now they are using their casino profits to gradually buy back their ancestral lands.
Later that day we went to the Lewiston airport to meet the group and got a ride from there across the Snake to Clarkston WA to meet the Sea Lion and guests and crew. Lewiston’s airport is open about 3 days a week.
When we boarded the ship we found the same second mate, third mate, two DIB drivers, the hotel manager (from Midlothian), the photo instructor, and the head dining steward that were on the Sea Bird for our Alaska trip. It felt like home. In addition, on the Alaska trip our luggage tags introduced us to Zach who was reporting for his first day of work on Lindblad on the Sea Bird. He was on the Lion this trip as well.
This trip is the last of the season for the Sea Lion. After we get off it goes to dry dock in San Diego and then to Costa Rica. Next year the Columbia trips on Lindblad will be on the Quest- a brand new 50% larger ship. (Sea Lion and Sea Bird are old and might even be replaced by the Venture and the Quest- I have to admit it felt at times like camping out on the Bird and the Lion).
One really great aspect of this trip is that we are doing it at about the same time of year heading downstream as L&C did. Each day’s Daily Program has the usual info about the day ahead but then a quote from the L&C journals that is applicable to where we are.
Friday, Oct 20- Clarkston WA. Snake River Adventures jet boat excursion.
At Lewiston and Clarkston, the Clearwater River flows into the Snake and the Snake makes a right turn to the west. Our day trip went upriver on the Snake through Hell’s Canyon. Here we got our first lesson in basalt. The walls of the river valley are lined in columnar basalt and as the canyon walls close in further upstream the basalt gets closer and closer. Columnar basalt is very similar to what we have seen at the Devil’s Postpile in Mammoth Lakes and at the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland except the columns are not quite as perfectly polyhedral. Basalt come from melting volcanic flow and I think the shapes it takes must depend on how slow or fast it cools. The volcanoes affecting the Pacific Northwest are from about 11 million years ago, while the overall shape of the landscape we see now is from all those years of weathering and rain in crack filled rock and then from floods to be discussed later.
One of our pauses along the way was at Asotin WA on Snake River. Before the Snake and Columbia were dammed the water was thick with lamprey eels. The NP would build boats out of driftwood and set a fire in the middle of the boat. The lamprey would be attracted to the light and the Indians would haul in tons of them. They would then dry them and eat them. In another of our stops there was an old photo of the eels on racks built by the NP. Asotin is a derivative of the NP word for lamprey.
We made a stop at Cache Creek which is a Park Service site but there is no funding so the station is staffed by volunteers on duty for a month at a time totally cut off from anything but mule deers. Above Cache Creek, at Cougar Creek, Sgt. Ordway in L&C’s Corps of Discovery on May 30 1806, while off on that salmon side expedition, saw an 80 foot longhouse, the communal way of living the NP had at the time. Here we saw 3 female bighorns, running along the rocky bank.
Trees- hackberry, willow, mahogany, mulberry. Mostly reds and yellows in the fall.
Then we came to the Salmon River (the River of No Return from the old Robert Mitchum/ Marilyn Movie movie) flowing into the Snake. In all I think we went about 40 or so miles up the canyon. While it was very placid at the start, as we went further upstream it got wilder and wilder. There were times where the guide couldn’t slow the boat down because of the narrowness of the channel and the rocks. However he did make one stop in a tricky piece of water to show us a Nez Perce petroglyph.
Bet you are glad the enthusiasm of the first couple of days is now past. The other entries will be much shorter.
Sat. Oct. 21- Palouse Falls
We anchored at the junction of the Palouse River coming in from WA and the Snake. There were two activities- a DIB (see the Alaska entry) ride up the Palouse, not quite as far as the falls, and then a bus trip 5 miles up to the Falls. On the DIB ride, we saw Western Grebes, Coots, and a Golden Eye. Our naturalist, Grace, who loves Basalt and loves Coots, showed us tule which is one of the plants the NP would use for bedding and insulation of their long houses. She pointed out basalt columns and entablature which from a distance looks like tree trunks (the columns) and bushy leaves over the trunks (entablature). It was a little cold and damp so we passed up the kayaking.
When we got to the Falls, we had a short lesson in the other big factor in the geography of the area- the breaking of the Missoula MT ice dam about 11000 years ago at the end of the glacier age. Actually there were several of these breaks and the outcome was a wall of water moving at 60 mph washing through MT, ID, OR and WA, carrying huge boulders, rocks, and silt. The amount of flow has been estimated as the equivalent of emptying of Lake Superior in 48 hours. The Indian story behind the bowl shape of the basin of the Palouse Falls is easier to comprehend- Long ago Coyote, the NP mythical founding animal, caught a giant beaver and the basin is the result of the beaver’s tail thrashing around and around.
Later in the afternoon we went thru the first of 8 locks on this trip- 4 on the Snake and 4 on the Columbia. One, the John Day Dam, was closed for 8 months in 2008. One of the guides told us how the Lindblad ship was caught on one side but could not proceed. There was a competitor’s ship on the other side that could not proceed either, the two companies arranged for all the passengers to switch ships. The ones who ended up on the Lindblad ship got the better of the deal.
Sun. Oct. 22- The Dalles, Oregon.
Here we were tied up at the foot of one of the dams and locks. The Dalles comes from French for flagstones, and evidently before the dam the rapids here had many flagstone like rocks as the base. A crisp, clear day, mid 50s going to mid 60s. As we got off the boat to go the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center by way of the Columbia River Highway from model T days, we were met by members of the local Chamber of Commerce calling themselves The Dalles Floozies and dressed as dance hall girls or something else. As the ship’s passengers bantered with them, every possible pun that was G rated about the floozies and madams and brothels came out.
What in the Sam Hill? This expression came from another, much more colorful, Sam Hill, but the relevant Sam Hill here was a railroad executive from back east in the 19 teens who came west and fell in love with the area. He was convinced the west needed good roads for autos and to show off the Columbia Gorge. So he built the Gorge highway and some parts are still used today.
We took it to Rowena Crest for a magnificent view of the Gorge. You might remember that the Gorge was closed in August due to fires started by two kids playing with fireworks (the Davidson guys who were with me at the Arc could not get into the Gorge back then because of these fires). Anyway, it is back in business now and beautiful with leaves changing.
After the Crest we had a few minutes in a very interesting museum about the area with a great exhibit on L&C and the settlers who followed (Oregon Trail ended here) and some in house raptors.
The options to get back to the boat were bike or walk or ride. Connie and I did a 5.5 mile power walk back. The path was right along the river and we could see tribal salmon fishing platforms and passed a Google Data Center (I guess the cloud really has a physical location).
In the afternoon the group went to the Maryhill Museum on the Washington side. Sam Hill wanted to build a home and to start an agricultural community right in the spot where it wasn’t desert like to the east and wasn’t rain forest wet like it was to the west. Maryhill, named after his daughter, is the result, but he missed on the rainfall. It is too dry, plus his wife hated it and went back east. Sam eventually turned the house into a very odd museum with a lot of objects he obtained from some of his international friends’ friends. So there is a large collection of Rodin sculpture, some Romanov family artifacts through the queen of Serbia, a great collection of chess sets, and many other items.
One of his friends was someone named Loie who invented modern dance and there is a lot about her there. Sam Hill didn't live long enough to see a variation of his agricultural community actually work out- the slopes around Maryhill turned out to be perfect for growing grapes.
In the category of trivia, The Dalles is the railroad tie capital of the US (cut the ties, treat them with creosote (nasty), then treat them for insects, all of which sounds like a bit of an environmental mess). Lots of wood for building and paper and other uses around here (wish I knew the size of the lumber pile back in Lewiston at Clearwater Paper).
Oct. 23- Hood River, Oregon, which is the windsurfing and now kite surfing capital of the US and makes steering this ship and other big ones very difficult.
The activity here for us was another 5.5 mile hike thru the Mosier Tunnels part of the the Columbia Gorge Parkway built by Sam Hill, followed by some free time in Hood River. HR is a kind of hipster town with lots of coffee shops catering to the ski crowd and then the summer crowd. One of our crew members said that since we are leaving at mid day we don’t have to worry about the kite surfers because during that time of day they are all pretending to have a job. Somewhat related to this, for the last two days the folks who signed up for bike riding the same trails we walked experienced two no shows from the bike shops.
After lunch, to quote L&C, “we proceeded on” thru the gorge, past the Bonneville dam and lock. It was at about this spot, marked by a volcanic cone L&C named Beacon Rock, that they first noticed the push from tides.
The Biddle family at one time owned BR and offered it to the State of Washington for a state park. WA turned the family down so then they offered it to Oregon even though it is on the WA side of the river. After Oregon said yes, WA spoke up and decided to take it. We also passed Multinomah Falls.
In retrospect about this trip I really did not need to write this blog entry. I could have just let Woody Guthrie get the credit by way of his song “Roll on Columbia, Roll on”, which he wrote during the Depression when he was a government employee:
Roll on Columbia
Roll on, Columbia, roll on
Roll on, Columbia, roll on
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Roll on, Columbia, roll on
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Green Douglas firs where the waters cut through
Down her wild mountains and canyons she flew
Canadian Northwest to the oceans so blue
Roll on Columbia, roll on
Down her wild mountains and canyons she flew
Canadian Northwest to the oceans so blue
Roll on Columbia, roll on
Other great rivers add power to you
Yakima, Snake, and the Klickitat, too
Sandy Willamette and Hood River too
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Yakima, Snake, and the Klickitat, too
Sandy Willamette and Hood River too
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Tom Jefferson's vision would not let him rest
An empire he saw in the Pacific Northwest
Sent Lewis and Clark and they did the rest
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
An empire he saw in the Pacific Northwest
Sent Lewis and Clark and they did the rest
So roll on, Columbia, roll on
Tuesday Oct. 24- Astoria Oregon and Cape Disappointment WA. Astoria is also home to the Goonies house but we didn't go to see it.
The activity Tuesday was a drive on the Oregon side to Fort Clatsop where L&C spent the winter of 1805-6. They were here for 114 days but on only 12 of them did it not rain. They were soaked and a little stir crazy. The fort has walls that slope down into the middle of the fort, which was great for protection but also funneled the rain into the parade ground. After a while at the fort and the canoe launch there, we visited the NP museum there- small but it tells the complete story well and has a great little L&C bookshop. We did not have time to go to the Saltworks L&C created which was further down the coast.
Then back to the ship by way of the Columbia Maritime Museum, again a super museum about the Columbia Bar and its shipwrecks, pilots, and rescues.
For the afternoon we went over to Washington to Cape Disappointment, another place where L&C were miserable, but the name came from sailors who were there before them. L&C were also disappointed because they did not encounter any ships on the Pacific side. Another gem of an NP museum, a good clear view of the wild waves at the Bar, and then a walk down to Waikiki Beach named after the Hawaiians who perished trying to get the Astor fur trade ship the Tonquin thru the Columbia Bar. Here we touched the Pacific.
In the evening there was the usual daily recap, with a bon voyage from the passengers to the great guides. Bob Gatten, our L&C expert was funny and a real pro on the Corps of Discovery. Grace, the lover of basalt and Coots, read us an ode to the Coot (I'll try to find it or at least a photo or two). David Jaffe was the photo instructor, and after two lessons on how to use the iPhone camera, I think I am getting it.
Overnight the ship backtracked to Portland.
Not much of a birds trip, other than learning about coots in detail. However I did add Western Grebe and Goldeneye duck on the Palouse River and then Anna's Hummingbird at Jill's house in San Rafael on the 26th.
Wednesday, Oct 25 Portland
Connie and I left the ship a little early so we could have breakfast with our nanny from 1987, Michelle Smith, before going on to the airport, for a couple of days in San Fran/ San Rafael to see Jill and family.
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