By 8:30 a.m. motor coaches launched guests and staff toward Rowena Crest, one of the Columbia Gorge’s iconic overviews. At Rowena, besides gazing at the curving river, the tip of Mt. Adams (mostly within the Yakama Indian Reservation) and the sleepy village of Lyle in Washington State, this scenic bench allowed 360° views of rolling hills with random clusters of basalt sculpture everywhere.
Next stop was the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center five miles west of The Dalles, Oregon. This multi-faceted facility was the perfect introduction to a full day in the neighborhood of what Lewis & Clark described as “the great mart of this country.” Guests were surrounded by (inundated) Celilo Falls—once the world’s greatest salmon fishery, mysterious aboriginal petroglyphs and pictographs on basalt easels, and the Old West city of The Dalles (from the French “Les Dalles de la Columbia—a flat rock channel). This was a unique world for guests. The experience straddled eastern slopes of the Cascade Range and the high desert of eastern Oregon, contrasting environments.
The Discovery Center exhibits, films, and docent narration helped everyone move toward the next steps: hikes and bicycle adventures along the Columbia River; informal tours of The Dalles Old Town; a natural history stroll on the grounds of the Discovery Center; a narrated return to National Geographic Sea Bird.
The afternoon featured a different scene: Maryhill Museum high above the Columbia River. The former estate of Sam Hill has been transformed into an eccentric collection of August Rodin sculptures, perhaps the Pacific Northwest’s largest collection of Indian baskets, a rare collection of chess and checker sets, original art, and furniture donated by Queen Marie of Romania. Sam’s life is depicted in photos and artifacts and in the museum’s fascinating entry hall, once designed for arriving and departing automobiles. Much of the art was donated by Sam’s close friend Alma Spreckels of San Francisco.
National Geographic Sea Bird made its way upstream through The Dalles Dam to meet guests leaving Maryhill Museum and Sam Hill’s modern day Stonehenge Memorial, which is a salute to residents of Klickitat County, Washington who gave their lives in the Great War (World War I). The memorial has since been re-dedicated to local residents who died in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
Despite exciting gusts of wind, guests boarded our expedition landing craft at the park and orchards of Maryhill Park for a bouncing ride to National Geographic Sea Bird’s welcoming stern ramp.
