Today was “Columbia River Gorge Day” as the Sea Bird cruised down the Great River In the Wake of Lewis and Clark.” Our first stop was at The Dalles, where we visited the Columbia River Discovery Center, one of the best interpretive museums on the trip. It was a beautiful, clear day, enabling even longtime residents of Hood River to see the mythical Mount Hood for the first time. Unfortunately, we arrived at Hood River on the only day in historical memory when the wind was not blowing. Guests were disappointed that we were forced to scratch windsurfing from the program. We viewed Bonneville Dam and passed through its locks on its 64th birthday. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the Dam on September 28, 1937. Beacon Rock was next—described by Lewis and Clark, once owned by Jay Cooke, sold to Henry Biddle (a descendant of Nicolas Biddle, first editor of the Journals of Lewis and Clark), and now a Washington State Park. Let’s hear it from Henry: “Their toilsome journey across the continent nearing its end, the last obstruction at the Cascades safely passed, they here recognized the effect of the ocean tides, and the rock must have seemed to them a beacon guiding them to the haven of their destination.”
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 28 Sep 2001
From the Sea Bird on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, 9/28/2001, National Geographic Sea Bird
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird
- Pacific Northwest
Today was “Columbia River Gorge Day” as the Sea Bird cruised down the Great River In the Wake of Lewis and Clark.” Our first stop was at The Dalles, where we visited the Columbia River Discovery Center, one of the best interpretive museums on the trip. It was a beautiful, clear day, enabling even longtime residents of Hood River to see the mythical Mount Hood for the first time. Unfortunately, we arrived at Hood River on the only day in historical memory when the wind was not blowing. Guests were disappointed that we were forced to scratch windsurfing from the program. We viewed Bonneville Dam and passed through its locks on its 64th birthday. President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the Dam on September 28, 1937. Beacon Rock was next—described by Lewis and Clark, once owned by Jay Cooke, sold to Henry Biddle (a descendant of Nicolas Biddle, first editor of the Journals of Lewis and Clark), and now a Washington State Park. Let’s hear it from Henry: “Their toilsome journey across the continent nearing its end, the last obstruction at the Cascades safely passed, they here recognized the effect of the ocean tides, and the rock must have seemed to them a beacon guiding them to the haven of their destination.”
