Columbia & Snake Rivers Cruise on the
American Harmony
10/6/25 to 10/21/25

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Page 1 – Pre-Trip in Portland, OR
Page 2 – Embarkation, Ship; Kalama, WA; Astoria, OR
Page 3 – Ports of Call: The Dales, OR; Richland, WA;
Page 4 - Ports of Call: Clarkston, WA; Post-Trip to Walla Walla, WA

Ports - Continued

Clarkston, WA/Lewiston, ID

With us not arriving at Clarkston, WA which is across the river from Lewiston, ID, until around noon, we would have a morning cruise on the Snake River. It was a most enjoyable and pretty ride with the terrain getting more interesting.

That morning, we had a group meeting where Jim told us that they were going to get off the ship early due to some medical issues they had been dealing with during the cruise. Since they could drive home in 5 hours and there was no immigration to deal with, they could leave at any time. We hated to see them leave, but we knew that they would have been miserable had they not. It was just a shame that they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the post trip that he had set up.

We would be taking one of the most popular tours on the cruise, the Hells Canyon Jet Boat Adventure. It is a 4.5-hour Signature Collection excursion costing $175 per person. For guests who take the east to west itinerary starting in Clarkston, they must book the additional one-day pre-trip, since the ship leaves the day they board. We could see those guests disembarking one of the jet boats we would be using.

With the three boats waiting at the dock, it was easy to walk off the Harmony and onto one of them. Each boat can seat up to 26 guests, plus there is an open outside area at the back. I was originally concerned that the boats were covered, which would restrict our viewing of the canyon. It wasn’t that much of an issue. The clear plastic windows, on the other hand, did prevent most photos out of the side of the boat. They don’t use the side windows in warmer weather unless it is raining. We were lucky to be able to sit in the second row of seats, where I could take photos through the front windows. Although it was a bit challenging to get the ones I wanted.

As we started out there were houses along the shore, some with massive retention walls. The scenery was also most enjoyable.

As we got deeper into the canyon, we passed through some rapids that the driver enjoyed speeding through. It was fun!

This was such an enjoyable ride taking in so much beauty.

The assistant yelled at the driver that he saw big-horn sheep on the mountain, so we came to a stop and turned around. Many went to the small open area in the back to take photos of them, including me.

We continued riding through the canyon. I stayed in the back for a while and glad I did, since we came to some more big horn sheep. These had even bigger horns.

We continued through the gorge enjoying the sights. The time just flew by with so much to see.

We traveled 50 miles in 2.25 hours before we turned around to go back down river to Clarkston. We pulled up to a dock in front of a building up on a hill. This was the office of Snake River Adventures (https://snakeriveradventures.com) that runs the tours. They had drinks and cookies for us along with a restroom break. The owner of the company lived in a house behind the building.

It is a beautiful property and unique in that it is in Idaho and is at the corner of Oregon and Washington. So, we were seeing three states from there.

On one side of the property was an orchard that a group of deer were enjoying.

I was able to get a photo of our jet boat with the front windows opened. We would be climbing out of them soon.

We continued down river and pulled over to the side where we pulled up to the rocks. Our driver/guide pointed to one of the rocks and told us to find the petroglyphs that had been carved on them. He said that we would have the best view if we climbed out the front windows to see them and get photos. He was right.

With us going down river, the ride back was even faster. We were hitting speeds up to 33 mph, where we had only gotten up to 26 going upriver. He told us that with the boat empty it could go 60 mph. With it getting later in the day, we were getting the sun’s golden tones making the cliffs look even prettier.

When we disembarked the boat, I went back to get photos of it and interior photos without a bunch of people in it. We really enjoyed this excursion and were so glad we were able to take it on a beautiful day.

With us disembarking the Harmony the next day, we needed to pack that night. There were several options for luggage tags depending on when we would leave the ship. All luggage needed to be put outside the door by 11:00 PM, unless you took it off yourself. Since we weren’t sure of when we would be able to get an Uber to take us to the Lewiston airport, where a shuttle would take us to Enterprise Car Rental, we chose to take our luggage down ourselves when we needed to leave.

Post Cruise -

Walla Walla, WA – Day 1

I woke up early and looked outside. A bunch of luggage was sitting by the dock, but not the blue tags we were given to use for independent travel. Independents were the last bags that would be put out, since most of the busses were leaving much earlier than the 8:30 AM get off the ship time. We wanted to leave around 8:00 AM. It was easy to get an elevator, since the ship was pretty empty.

Steve and I went outside to order an Uber. They kept delaying the pick-up time, so I called for a taxi. I am still waiting to hear back from them. We found out that we would not be able to get an Uber or taxi at the dock. Fortunately, there was still room on the bus that was going to the Lewiston Airport, so we were able to get there. Plus, there was no charge for it.

The van that Enterprise used was a small one that only held the 4 of us with our luggage, so we were lucky we didn’t have a line to wait in. When we arrived at Enterprise, we found out that they didn’t have a van for us. It had been ordered many weeks ago, but they didn’t have one. It was a good thing that Jim and Kathleen had left early, since we would have had to get two vehicles. The SUVs they had were small and couldn’t hold the four of us with our luggage. They did have a large GMC pickup crew cab. We looked at the weather, and it didn’t look like rain while we would be driving, so we took it. We also stopped to get a tarp and tie downs to cover everything. It actually worked out great, especially since Steve has a very similar GMC truck and was very comfortable driving it.

Our post-trip plan was to drive to Walla Walla, WA for two nights at an Airbnb before returning to Seattle to fly home. With nothing planned in Walla Walla until the next day, we were going to take a side trip on the way to Palouse Falls State Park. It is the official waterfall of the State of Washington. It was a pretty boring 1½ hour drive with not a lot to draw our attention. As we got close to the falls, we turned off on a gravel road. We were wondering if we had made the right decision to drive all the way out there. We finally saw something ahead of us, and then a sign for the falls.

We arrived at the entrance booth, where we were supposed to purchase a $10 one day Discover Pass to park at the falls. We never saw anyone to pay it to the whole time we were there. From the parking lot, we had our first view of the top of the falls.

When we arrived at one of the viewing areas, we saw how pretty it was. A photo of the group was required.

What was most impressive was the canyon area next to the falls. It was like a mini-Grand Canyon.

We walked up to a different viewing area where we had a better view of the falls itself and were able to get a panorama of the area.

We went up to an even higher viewing area, but it didn’t change the view much. We were so thrilled that we had come to Palouse Falls. It so exceeded our expectations. With it being so far away from a city and basically in the middle of massive farms, it doesn’t get many visitors. It is a shame, since it is definitely worth visiting. Perhaps they made it the state waterfall to get more traffic.

It took a little over an hour to get to Walla Walla. The Airbnb Jim found for us was very nice. We were able to park the truck in the driveway and easily unload the luggage.

With us originally having three couples staying at the house, it had four bedrooms. The house was very nicely appointed with comfortable furniture and modern kitchen.

With Walla Walla being a popular tourist town, there were lots of shops and restaurants. We also appreciated the small town feel and pretty buildings.

This one is the historic Liberty Theater.

They also had some lovely statues around town.

I particularly liked one of a dog balancing objects on his nose.

We came to what looked like an interesting building but was just the façade of what was the 1902 Odd Fellows Temple building. It was moved to this location in 1993.

After our walk, we came back to the house to rest before dinner. That evening we went to a very good Italian restaurant, Passatempo Taverna. We had seen it earlier on our walk.

We all shared a delicious different type of bruschetta. I had a pasta dish called zozzona and Cathy had the pasta special.

After dinner, we went to a grocery store to buy breakfast foods for the next two mornings. We were ready for an early evening after a busy travel day.

Walla Walla, WA – Day 2

The day’s activity was wine tasting at three vineyards. Jim had arranged for a driver to take us to them so that everyone could enjoy the wine without worrying about drinking and driving. With the driver not arriving until 11:00 AM, we had plenty of time to enjoy our breakfast.

Our driver was, Gabriel with Sweet Valley Tours (https://www.sweetvalleytours.com). He was just a great guy and such a pleasure to be with.

Our first stop was at Saviah Cellars. I’m not a big wine fan, but do drink it. My opinion on different wines is pretty worthless, since I don’t know one from the other. I do know the difference in reds and whites though. I didn’t care much for the four wines we tried there. The others weren’t crazy about them either.

The next one, Long Shadows Winery (https://longshadows.com/visit-taste), was a much nicer experience. It was voted America’s #1 tasting room from 2019 through 2022 in the USA Today’s Readers’ Choice. That’s a big deal!

We had our tasting in the Chihuly Tasting Room. Just a gorgeous room with Chihuly glass artwork.

We were also able to look into the vat room.

Everyone enjoyed the wines at this winery better than the first, even me with my rookie taste. In addition to the four planned tastings, we had three or four more. They were trying to loosen us up. It worked. There were purchases of wine, jams and other stuff at this stop.

It was interesting to see a display they had that showed the different sizes of wine bottles. I had no idea there were so many and some so big.

Since we were doing this tasting during the noon hour, Jim previously ordered a charcuterie tray. It was a delicious one.

As we left facility to go to the next one, we appreciated the view from the patio area. Gorgeous fall colors.

Our last stop was at the Woodward Canyon Winery. We had originally thought about blowing it off, since we had so many tastings already. Gabriel convinced us to go. He said we really needed to since it was very good winery. I guess we are just easy. We went there and glad we did.

They had some very nice wines that we all enjoyed. We were also glad that Gabriel was driving since we had more wine than we thought we would have. The countryside was looking much prettier on the way back.

That evening we went to an amazing restaurant, The Salted Mill (https://saltedmill.toast.site). This place was so nicely decorated.

We were able to sit in one of the wine barrel booths.

It even looked through windows into the winery next door to it.

For our meal, we all shared two appetizers, Duck Confit Arancini and Ahi Wontons.

Cathy and I shared the Creamy Tomato Bisque and the Bone-In Pork Chop. Steve and Jamie shared the Chopped Salad and Bone-In Pork Chop.

The food was incredible and the service just outstanding. I wish it wasn’t on the opposite side of the country, since I really want to go back there.

Walla Walla to Seattle

Since we weren’t in a hurry to get to our hotel at the Seattle Airport, we took our time this morning. Check-in time was 4:00 PM and we had a 5-hour drive ahead of us. The drive was more interesting than the one to Walla Walla. We also got our last view of Mt. Adams.

After a couple more hours of driving we approached the Cascade Mountains in the distance.

As we got closer, we could see 9,415-foot elevation Mt. Stuart, the second highest non-volcanic peak in the state of Washington.

When we were looking for a hotel near the Seattle Airport, Jim added on another great recommendation, the Cedarbrook Lodge (https://www.cedarbrooklodge.com). The hotel bills itself as an urban oasis at the airport. It really is! We couldn’t believe how beautiful the grounds were. It felt nothing like an airport hotel.

The lobby/restaurant area was quite lovely.

We were very pleased with our room. It was roomy, comfortable and had lots of storage, although we didn’t need to unpack for one night before a flight home.

We also liked the large bathroom.

For dinner we ate at the bar rather than the restaurant. The menu looked much friendlier to us, and we didn’t need reservations. We also ate breakfast there. Both meals were great.

Fly home

Steve and Jamie flew home about a half hour before us. Steve sent me a photo he took of Mt. Ranier from the plane. It was a great photo with the very clear skies. I asked him what side of the plane he was on. He was on the opposite side from us, so I knew I wouldn’t get a photo of it. He gave me permission to put his photo below.

Later on in the flight, I was able to take a great photo of Mt. St. Helens from above. I was thrilled.

Then I was able to take a photo of Mt. Adams with Mt. Hood in the background. All the photos from the air were much better than I ever could have taken from the ground.

As we were landing at the Fort Lauderdale Airport, we had a great view of the guitar shaped Hard Rock Casino Hotel. It is amazing to watch the light show. I took a photo of it but was so mad that I didn’t take a video to show the light action. Maybe another time returning from another wonderful vacation.

Recap

I always expect to have enjoyable vacations. They usually are. This one was even better than expected, since we were able to share it with our good friends. The ship exceeded our expectations in so many ways. We were blown away by how good the meals were. The ship was in great shape with very comfortable cabins. The crew was very friendly and couldn’t be more helpful. We also thoroughly enjoyed the ports and ship excursions with the excellent tour guides.

Our buddy Jim worked very hard to book outstanding restaurants and find great accommodations. He also picked out great things to do for our private tours. Everything just worked out so smoothly, we couldn’t have been happier. It is just such a shame that Jim and Kathleen couldn’t experience the last three days of the trip with us.

Columbia & Snake Rivers Cruise on the American Harmony 10/6/25 to 10/21/25