The main reason that we didn't arrive in The Dalles for our port day until 1PM was that we spent the morning traversing more locks. A balcony offers a great view for seeing the lock experience up close. But don't be tempted to stick any body parts out and touch unless you want to have the new nickname of Stumpy.
There's also the viewpoint of turning to the bridge cam channel on your cabin TV.
And the best part of the experience was the full rainbow that greeted us after we exited the locks.
For breakfast this morning, I ordered another breakfast sandwich. The crew member working the griddle apologized for not having any available sausage at the cafe. This was overheard by the company rep sailing with us and he not only ran to restock the cafe but brought me a plate full of extra sausage.
After team trivia this morning we attended Doug Crispin's presentation on Lewis and Clark from St. Louis to the Snake.
Thankfully there was no issue after our excursion bus troubles returning to the ship too late to attend the earlier bridge tour time for which we had signed up. Cruise Director Rhiannon assured us that there was no problem joining the second tour time's group. While ocean cruise line bridge tours will often have you being led by a senior officer, river cruise bridge tours are a much more intimate experience where you get to meet and chat with the captain themselves. Our captain was Captain Lou Boone and he told us stories of his experiences visiting every continent and writing three books. He holds the world record for going the furthest south wind surfing in Antarctica and holds six state records in the U.S. Masters Swimming. He told us not to be surprised if we see him jump into the water when we're docked because he gets his swimming workouts in right there in the river.
No worries passengers - this is called the happy drawer because it is full of candy - not that other kind of edibles.
Today's dinner menu:
Dad loves split pea soup and rarely gets it unless it's on a cruise menu so he was thrilled to see tonight's appetizer choice of Split Pea & Ham Soup. We joked around with our waitress about the comically small portions we've been given. She comes back with a cereal bowl sized portion of soup for Dad.
I went with the second appetizer option of a Chopped Caprese Salad - Chopped heirloom tomatoes, basil, fresh mozzarella, balsamic, and olive oil. Each component of this dish tasted very fresh and I loved the balance of the sharp balsamic with the creamy mozzarella. I liked how the chef chose to use sliced tomatoes versus the cherry tomatoes I often see used.
Apple Cider Brined Beelers Farms Pork Chops - Sauteed green beans, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and apple relish. We don't usually have pork chops so this was a nice change of pace. I was a little surprised to see that the apple relish was really one slice of a cinnamon apple preparation cut in half and used as garnish.
Weathervane Sea Scallops - Sweet potato risotto, sauteed spinach and parmesan, sun-dried tomato, and butter sauce. The scallops were a good size, tasted fresh, and had a wonderful caramelization to the edges. The creamy sauce in the middle was wonderful to drag all the other components through.
From the Dessert menu:
Lemon Meringue Pie:
This was Dad's choice. He found it enjoyable but he'd always prefer to have chocolate cake.
German Chocolate Cake:
I wasn't a fan of this cake in a shot glass presentation as it made it much harder to avoid the chopped nuts that could have been brushed off if it was a slice of cake. It also made the nuts soggy.
After dinner we returned to the River Lounge to hear Doug Crispin give a presentation on the Historic Columbia River Highway. After the nightly rundown of the next day's events, we stayed for our evening entertainment, "Rain or Shine" with the Bylines. The singing duo performed songs with weather words in their titles. Those who wished to stay up could have joined Rhiannon for a 9:30PM's Night Owl's Club Karaoke.
No comments:
Post a Comment