We are on the ship and heading down the Snake River on our way to the Columbia and then to the Pacific. Once on the ship, lunch, safety drill and an Officer Introduction and Excursion Briefing.

Our cabin is on the 4th floor which is super convenient to the lounges where they have lectures, cocktail hours and entertainment. The Excursions Briefing is helpful as we discover a couple of excursions we signed up for we no longer will want to do based on more details.

This ship is so small compared to all the other cruises we have done. An advantage because of the ease going between floors using the stairs. At 4 PM we have the guest speaker -“Roll on Columbia,” an introduction to Columbia River history, geology and settlement. A nice overview. A map in our room shows the path our ship will be traveling down the rivers.

Today and into tomorrow morning, the ship will be sailing from Clarkston to Richland.

Just before dinner, the ship enters the first dam – Lower Granite Dam. Fun to watch a ship go through a lock with quite a few more to go. I had to laugh at this man who is sitting next to the wall inside the lock and just reading a paper.

The scenery hasn’t changed much along each side of the Snake River. The basalt hills on either side are still quite beautiful against the bright blue sky.

We are still seeing the grain storage silos and we have passed under our first bridge. Another couple of hours and we will be in another lock – Little Goose Dam.

Its nearing our early bedtime, taking a pass on tonight’s entertainment. Tomorrow, an all day excursion to Pendleton, Oregon – lots of history. After several posts the last couple of days, you probably won’t see one tomorrow since we will be back late. Thanks for cruising with us!