Not quite live Explorer Mazlatan to Vancouver.

[drron29]

The sun was shining brightly.

 

 

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[drron29]

So under the Golden Gate we go.

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[drron29]

With the sunlight it was easier to see the whale blows.Once again there were humpbacks breaching but I was just too slow.

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A lot of passing shipping.

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The next day was quite overcast so sunrise was muted.

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[drron29]

The next 2 days were sea days.Some good lectures but often interrupted due to whale action.I became popular with the whale watchers as virtually every time I cam on deck the whales appeared.At times I even got a picture of a little bit of whale.

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Even with breaches I sometimes managed to capture a tiny bit of whale.

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But mainly just blows.

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[drron29]

We had dinner that night with chris and his wife.No better time to use some of our Virtuoso OBC.So a nice bottle of red was shared.

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Some of the food.

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[drron29]

Then we arrived off Astoria on the Columbia River the weather improved.In fact the weather gods shone upon us the whole time with the only inclement weather overnight when arriving into San Diego and San Francisco plus these sea days.Again the Pacific really behaved with swells never getting over 2 metres.Today was different in one respect.The pilot arrived by helicopter.We were kept away from the back deck on 6 but saw it fly away.

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[drron29]

Sailing up the Columbia river.

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[drron29]

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[drron29]

Coming into our berth.

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Logging is an important industry here.

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[drron29]

We are off on the Lewis and Clark excursion.

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But first we visit the Astoria column on a hill overlooking the city.

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[drron29]

The Astoria column was built in 1926 by the Great Northern railway and Vincent Astor whose family gave the city it's name.Of course the area gave the Astor family it's wealth through the Pacific fur Company.It is patterned after the Trajan column in Rome.It has a spiral sgraffito frieze seven feet wide and 525 feet long showing 14 significant events in the early history of Oregon.

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[drron29]

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We then drove to Fort Clatsop.Spring had sprung and the local salmon fishery was getting prepared for work.

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[jollyjones]

Absolutely amazing!

As they say in Astoria, they have only two weathers - if you can't see the bridge, it's raining, if you can, it's about to rain. And that was certainly true when I was there.

You were very lucky with the blue skies (sure they didn't take you to Disney Astoria?:))

[drron29]

Yes we were incredibly lucky with the weather.On the Explorer that means we were the perfect group of passengers as it is us who are in charge of the weather.Fortunately this luck continued on to Vancouver.Our local guide told us we had come on one of the 4 perfect days for the year.

[drron29]

We arrived at the Fort.

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Now we had been given a lecture by the on board historian on the Lewis and Clark expedition.Quite frankly it was the worst lecture that we had on board.There was only a short mention of Lewis and Clark which was to mention that if it was not for this woman the expedition would have failed and they all would have died.

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This is Sacagawea one of the 2 Shosone wives of Toussaint Charbonneau a French-Canadian fur trapper they hired as an interpreter.According to the historian she showed them the plants to eat and without that they would have starved.However I had just read the Lewis and Clark diaries.They had guns and hunted.There was never a shortage of meat.Indeed at Fort Clatsop there was an abundance of elk so that the men became bored with eating it.In winter very little plant life to sustain you.

 

 

Also missing from her talk was that when they met the first band of Shosone the chief was her brother which helped their negotiations but also they hired one of the band,Old Toby,as a guide and interpreter.Also missing was that Lewis aided in the delivery of Sacagawea's baby.

 

 

So to the country surrounding the fort.

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[drron29]

The original fort was given to the local tribe when the Expedition returned east.It had rotted away by the mid 1800s.A replica was built in 1955 from the reports in the diaries.It burnt down in 2005 just before the bicentennial of the fort.A new replica was built in 2006 again from the diary plans.It is probably not on the exact site of the original as no evidence has been found of the precise location.

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[drron29]

I then walked to one of the springs they used for fresh water.

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The spring and a glimpse of the river they used for access.

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[drron29]

Next the track to the river.

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There were some really tall trees.

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[drron29]

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I walked back a different route to the fort.Meanwhile Rojaan had ben looking at the wildflowers.

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[drron29]

I was happy as I now had completed my journey along the Lewis and Clark trail.But I began 32 years ago and it has taken many visits.

 

We were then taken to a pub for a "craft" beer tasting.But it was a new large hotel on a golf course developement run by a large Oregon company McMenamims.

Like most I really thought this a waste of time.I am really not into raspberry beers etc so along with a few others went for a walk.Rojaan left earlier and got a view of the Pacific and spring blossoms.

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[Silver Spectre]

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Great to see the Ghiradelli sign, home of some fantastic chocolate covered fruit

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[drron29]

On the drive back to the ship we saw an osprey return to her nest.No time for a photo.Back at the port it was busy-

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Astoria is one of the biggest grain ports in the US.But we were back to the Explorer.

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A large number of Caspian terns-vermin according to our guide as they ate too many salmon fry.

A nice Indian curry for dinner.

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[drron29]

We cruised up the Columbia river to Rainier that night.

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The next morning we disembarked onto a local barge or the pilot boat to shore.

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Logging and grain are also very important here.

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[silkismom]

I've really loved all your photos, thanks.

[RachelG]

Ron, It sounds as though your Lewis and Clark lecturer onboard suffered from an affliction that is now in vogue in the US and particularly in our school system. Namely, that the “white men” were bumbling idiots who couldn’t survive on their own without help from the native people.