Early this morning the National Geographic Sea Bird left the main trunk of the Columbia and headed into the Snake River, the largest of its tributaries. It was a special treat to have a magnificent sunrise to the east, as the full moon was setting in the west behind us! This particular morning had some barge traffic coming downriver, so we needed to wait till after breakfast before we transited through the first of the four major dams and locks on the Snake, Ice Harbor Dam, between us and our final destination, Clarkston, Washington. So after breakfast, we cleared Ice Harbor Dam, and continued on our way up the Snake River toward our next dam, Lower Monumental.
It was a beautiful morning, warm and sunny, perfect for cruising the river; which was an absolute delight! So shortly before lunch we approached Lower Monumental, and prepared to enter the lock. Only this time there was a twist, some of us more adventurous souls would go through the lock in our expedition landing craft, a really different experience! Everyone seemed to enjoy this immensely, whether on the small boats, or the National Geographic Sea Bird itself!
We had another treat for lunch; it was served with all the fixings on the sun deck, as we motored toward the Palouse River, the place for our afternoon activities.
Once we entered the Palouse, it was a short ways until we dropped anchor, and started the different options for the afternoon. We would have the opportunity to go on a small boat cruise up the river, or go on a short bus ride to Palouse Falls State Park, to see this magnificent falls, and hear about the Ice Age floods that scoured this amazing landscape. Palouse Falls also happens to be the state waterfall of Washington. The third option was to go kayaking, or you could just stay onboard and enjoy the wonderful day!
There was no a hurry to leave, we had plenty of time to make it the following morning to Clarkston. We had a magnificent sunset over the Palouse River, so we stayed till after dinner, saw the video chronicle preview, and then headed up the Snake through the last two locks, and our final destination. Another wonderful day on the Columbia River system!
