Wow – what a difference day can make with the weather! This is a picture of the today’s weather in Astoria compared with yesterday’s crystal blue skies. Average rainfall is 67 inches a year in Astoria and the fog comes off the Pacific Ocean regularly.

The cargo ships are still anchored in the river. We learn that they are waiting for their ‘appointment’ to head to Portland, Vancouver or Longview ports and load their cargo of wheat to transport to Asia. The Columbia River here is only 50 feet deep and, as mentioned yesterday, the tidal flow goes all the way up river almost to Portland.

Even our ship has an appointment requiring us to travel at a certain speed to arrive in Portland on time. Our ship can go 31 mph, has a draft of 7-1/2 feet and is able to go from full steam to dead stop in 600 feet. At 8 AM our ship pushes away from the dock to begin our day going up river to Portland.

A last lecture by Dave about what happened to the main players in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His lectures are filled with so much information, too much to include here. Great display by Dave is the trees of the Northwest. He actually picked these fresh specimens along the way on this cruise; he called it tree pruning. He really knows his stuff!

A few hours underway and we see the blue sky again. The scenery on either side of the river is lush with trees and in the distance the foothills of the Cascades.

A road we are told runs along the river all the way to Portland and we can catch a glimpse now and then. You can also catch a glimpse of Mt. Rainer with its glaciers and even another mountain very faintly in the distance.

When we get to Longview, it is quite apparent this is a large port. Lots of factories and/or processing plants, wheat silos and lumber.

And we pass a cargo ship just under the bridge – are you ready? – the Lewis and Clark Bridge!

This time we sail past Kalama and McMenimans Lodge.

With our destination being Portland, the ship will have to take a right and head up the Willamette River to Hayden Island where we will dock. As we get further up the river, we see more industry along the river banks. Finally, a glimpse of Mt. Hood.

As we approach the Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR area, we see the first of two bridges. The first one, I see only a part of it and I say to Steve, “Hey, look, a bridge to nowhere.”

Steve says, “No, I think this is a swing bridge.” Off the back of our ship, I see that an entire section of the bridge turned in the water to let us go through while a train waits on the bridge to finish it’s journey across the river. Never saw this before!

Another larger bridge connecting Washington & Oregon is crossing the river ahead, aptly called the Oregon-Washington Bridge. The ship has to pass under it – close call!!

We are now docking at Hadley Island and then off to our last dinner aboard the American Harmony. Flying home in the morning. This has been a wonderful cruise experience. Highly recommend!