The American Empress

From Spokane, we drove to Clarkston where we boarded the American Empress, the largest overnight riverboat west of the Mississippi.

We cruised on the American Empress along the Columbia river starting in Clarkston and ending in Vancouver, Washington.

River cruising is so fun for a variety of reasons which include, smaller, easier navigated ships, and there is always something beautiful to look at from the decks.

The interior of the ship, especially the state rooms, is decorated in a 19th century Russian theme. My parents room, had a lovely sitting area in addition to their elegantly carved queen sized bed.

My room was a couple of floors down from theirs, and was so adorable and cozy, complete with my own private balcony.

The dining room was exquisite, we sat in the same booth each night, and loved our servers, they were so sweet and learned out drink orders and our ordering preferences.

After dinner, Dad and I would go for walks along the walking deck, we got beautiful views of the setting sun and the gentles waves of the river.

In the afternoons, our group would gather in the lounge and listen to enthralling lectures on the expeditions of Lewis and Clark by Michael Wilcox.

Michael Wilcox is such a talented speaker and an exceptional story teller. I'm usually not one to enjoy lectures while on vacation, but I never wanted to miss one of his lectures. His presentations were paced with the cruise and related to our stops and shore expeditions. I learned so much and loved the stories he incorporated about exciting or little known adventures that the Lewis and Clark expedition endured while exploring the Pacific North West 

One thing I loved learning was Meriwether Lewis brought a Newfoundland puppy with him on their expedition 

We would also play games in the lounge while we sailed in the afternoons. We found this Lewis and Clark game that taught us all about the flora and fauna that Lewis and Clark discovered.

We also enjoyed unlimited, complimentary soft serve ice cream during our afternoons on the ship.

Another interesting par of river cruising, is going through water transport locks. The lock is a place where boats that travel up or down a river or canal can be moved to the next higher or lower level. Locks are built in places where the level of the water in the river or canal suddenly changes. This may be because of a waterfall there, or because a dam or a weir has been built, or because some other thing is in the way. The lock is like a big chamber with gates at each end. They have lock gears which empty or fill the chamber with water. Locks help a river to be more easily navigable, or for canals to be built across country that is not level.

Lots of guests are usually fascinated by watching ships navigate the locks and gather on the decks to watch the process.

What amazes me the most about sailing through locks, is how close the ship is to the towering cement walls, there is only a matter of inches between them.

We only sailed through a couple of locks on this cruise, but on our river cruise on the Danube, we sailed through more like 20, it is a fascinating process.