| The Empress of the North is a sparkling vessel | | | | deaths that resulted. The passengers may also |
| operated by American West Streamboat Cruises, | | | | enjoy a visit to the Three Rivers winery |
| just a little over her first birthday. She is a red | | | | (Washington and Oregon produce wonderful |
| and white paddlewheeler with bunting and high, | | | | wines, though not nearly as well-known as their |
| flared stacks (that conveniently fold down for the | | | | neighbors in California) and a magnificent lunch at |
| low bridges) and is four decks high. The huge | | | | the beautifully restored Whitman Hotel before |
| paddle wheel at the stern is also painted red, while | | | | returning to their waiting river home.Overnight, as |
| the hull is gleaming black. The art in each of the | | | | the passengers are sleeping, the ship leaves the |
| corridors, neatly listed and described in an in-room | | | | Columbia to enter the Snake River. She continues |
| guide, is nothing short of spectacular. It is themed | | | | upriver and through the last remaining locks to |
| for Russian nobility (she spends her summers in | | | | Lewiston, Idaho, the easternmost point on the |
| Alaska, sailing the Inside Passage). There is a | | | | voyage. This is a much anticipated adventure as |
| collection of Faberge eggs, matrushka (nesting | | | | the entire ship's complement of passengers are |
| family) dolls, lacquer boxes and other Russian | | | | moved to a fleet of jet boats, the only |
| artifacts opposite the Purser's Office and gift | | | | commercial craft that can navigate this rugged |
| shop. The Romanov Dining Room is similarly | | | | river and its terrain. They proceed up about thirty |
| decorated from Imperial Russia. Her rooms are | | | | miles to where the Snake meets the Salmon |
| spacious and nicely decorated and most have | | | | River. This is beyond any roads and accessible |
| verandahs to watch the scenery and passing | | | | only to intrepid rafters and canoeists and a few |
| ships drift by during the day. The rooms all have | | | | float fishermen plus hikers and backpackers. One |
| TV sets with DVD players, with a lending library | | | | can also find some petroglyphs made hundreds of |
| of discs in the gift shop available at no cost and | | | | years ago by area natives and view some |
| clock radios with CD players. There is also satellite | | | | mountain sheep. At that point, one meets the |
| TV from most of the networks, CNN and others | | | | confluence of three states, Oregon, Washington |
| always available as well as a camera mounted on | | | | and Idaho and it's where the jet boats reverse to |
| the pilot house to share the Captain's view with | | | | a takeout point from which the passengers are |
| the passengers.In addition to the dining room, | | | | returned by bus to the ship.The next day the |
| there is a show lounge (which is also the lecture | | | | river tour stops near Klickitat, Washington, to |
| hall during the day), the Paddlewheel Bar, serving | | | | make a trip to the Maryhill Museum, the creation |
| evening drinks and appetizers before dinners (two | | | | of an eccentric millionaire which houses an |
| seatings, but no assigned tables) with dancing | | | | impressive array of art. It has the largest |
| before and after the evening meal and the | | | | collection of Rodin work on the West Coast, |
| Calliope Lounge which serves light breakfasts and | | | | native art, beautiful chess sets of exquisite |
| lunches each day.The first night, always a little | | | | artistry, a sculpture and a floral garden |
| awkward, features a "Welcome Aboard Dinner" | | | | overlooking the river below. This is where the |
| and usually indicates that the standards of the | | | | Empress of the North closes in on the final stop |
| kitchen are high indeed. Each night's menu had a | | | | of the voyage. It was the destination and goal of |
| choice of hot or cold appetizer, two soups, two | | | | Lewis and Clark at Astoria, Oregon, at the mouth |
| salads and four entrees, one of which was | | | | of the Columbia River basin and adjoining the |
| vegetarian. Two or more desserts plus fruit or ice | | | | Pacific Ocean.Here the steamboat overnights and |
| cream ended each meal. Overall, most have only | | | | spends a second day. Buses take the passengers |
| wonderful experiences with all of the cuisine. Staff | | | | into the beautiful town of Astoria, Oregon. The |
| is young and enthusiastic, cordial and eager and | | | | town is full of wonderful restaurants and shops |
| very personable. Whether they did or not, they | | | | and it has the Astoria Monument. The monument |
| certainly seemed to be thoroughly enjoying | | | | is a column full of art and chronicles of the town's |
| themselves, from the deckhands to the cabin | | | | history. It also features a spiraling stairs with a |
| stewards and stewardesses to the waiters.The | | | | climb of one hundred sixty-two steps and a |
| first full day on the Empress provides a stop at | | | | viewing platform with three hundred sixty |
| Stevenson, Washington and a visit to the | | | | degrees of vista of Washington State and the |
| Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center, an excellent | | | | ocean. Cape Disappointment is where the Lewis |
| museum of the history of the Gorge, its | | | | and Clark Expedition finally found their goal of the |
| settlement, growth and progress including a | | | | Pacific Ocean, but spent three weeks here in |
| commercial salmon fishing wheel, lumbering | | | | continuous rain. Fort Clatsop, on the Oregon side, |
| machine and railroad memorabilia. At the fish | | | | is where they built a shelter and prepared to |
| hatchery by the Bonneville Dam, perhaps the | | | | leave for the east and their homes. The tour |
| best-known dam and power plant on the river, | | | | buses provided by American West stop at some |
| passengers have a view of the sturgeon pond | | | | excellent National Park Service centers in the |
| and Herman, the sturgeon, who was more than | | | | immediate area, each dedicated to explaining still |
| 200 years old and still growing as sturgeons do, a | | | | more of the incredible journey made by Lewis |
| living link with the area's past. Finally, passengers | | | | and Clark and their Corps of Discovery two |
| are able to view the spectacular Multnomah Falls, | | | | hundred years before. It was an amazing journey |
| a trademark beauty of this part of the river.The | | | | in which their estimate of distance was only |
| next day brings the Empress to Umatilla Landing, | | | | twenty-six miles off, without any instruments of |
| again in Washington, with visits to Fort Walla Walla. | | | | measurement. The nation is indebted to these |
| The Whitman Mission at Fort Walla Walla is where | | | | men for exploring and mapping the entire |
| the Whitman family of missionaries were the first | | | | passage, together with the flora and fauna found |
| of the non-Native Americans to settle. They | | | | along the way.The buses return the passengers |
| might have remained had not a measles epidemic | | | | to the Empress and it sails back to the starting |
| - to which the natives had no immunity - cost | | | | point to disembark the passengers. |
| them their lives when they were blamed for the | | | | |