Time to dally around in The Dalles

We return to Oregon this day for our next port stop called The Dalles. Since we didn't arrive until 1PM, Cruise Director Rhiannon organized a morning stretch class, a "Bubbles, Berries, and Bookings" opportunity to imbibe while you were encouraged to book that next ACL cruise, and a team trivia game. Today we also had the unique port visit where we stayed docked until 8AM the next morning. We attended the latter and paired up with a couple on their first ACL cruise. Rhiannon brought several logo branded items plus a couple themed to the itinerary books in a branded tote bag and had each member of the winning team pick one item from the lot. 

There were four options for today's excursions. 

Bonneville Dam Experience (Four Hours Duration/Premium Excursion at $40 per person/Moderate Activity Level)

Witness how nature, technology, and humans intersect on a self-guided exploration of the Bradford Island Visitor Center. Learn about the cultural history of the region, dam construction, the development of navigation along the Columbia River, and the life cycles of salmon and Pacific lamprey. Come enjoy seasonal views of migrating fish through underwater windows that allow you to peer into the fish ladder. A rooftop observation deck provides a panoramic view of the Columbia River Gorge. After, visit the Oregon icon Herman, the sturgeon, the state's most famous fish, measuring approximately 10' long, 500 pounds and over 80 years old. There is a restroom on site. There is a lot of walking for this excursion.

Maryhill Winery Exploration and Tasting (Three Hours Duration/Premium Excursion at $50 per person/Low Activity Level/Partial Wheelchair or Scooter Accessible)

Enjoy an exploration and tasting at the renowned Maryhill Winery, one of the largest wineries in Washington State. Begin on the terrace overlooking vineyard and the Columbia River, with the majestic Mt. Hood serving as a stunning backdrop. On a guided walk to the vineyard, learn about the history of the winery and the grapes that are used to make Maryhill varietals, as well as the fermentation process. Upon arrival, you will have a 30-minute, guided winery exploration followed by a wine tasting and cheese. After, you will have the opportunity to explore the grounds and visit the shop on site. The coach ride is about 30 minutes. 

Maryhill Museum of Art (Three Hours Duration/Premium Excursion at $35 per person/Low Activity Level)

Visit the Maryhill Museum of Art featuring four floors of world-class collections ranging from American paintings and an extensive Native American collection, to early 20th-century European works. Examples would include the Theatre de la Mode French Fashion and Auguste Rodin who is considered to be the father of modern sculpture. Venture outside to explore the sculpture garden before enjoying a cup of coffee on the balcony of Loie's Cafe where you can view the scenic Columbia River framed by a backdrop of majestic mountains. Upon arrival, you will hear a brief introduction to the museum before exploring on your own. It is a 30-minute coach ride each way. 

The Dalles Local Loop (Continuous Loop Duration/Complementary Excursion/Low Activity Level)

This was the excursion we chose as we didn't feel compelled to visit the art museum and had no interest in the winery. The latter was as you might expect on a cruise line that counts daily cocktail hour as a selling point, the most popular excursion. Dad would have also liked to visit The Bonneville Dam with an interest from the engineering standpoint of it but most all of the excursions were in the same four hour afternoon time slot. 

The stops included on this loop were the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, Downtown, Fort Dalles Museum and Anderson Homestead, and the Neon Sign Museum. Approximate times and the order in which the stops fell on the route could be found amongst the information on the table outside the office. We chose to visit the latter two destinations. 

The Dalles Local Loop was basically another equivalent to the Hop On/Hop Off (HOHO) Bus city tour except it was solely using ACL buses and drivers. Our Excursions Director Lindsay had smartly arranged the bus departures so that they were staggered by around 30 minutes apart from each other leaving the ship. This plan would have worked great despite making the 2nd wave of passengers who had to board the 2nd bus wait a short while, because it would have meant one of the buses was always arriving back at the one of the four stops every 15-20 minutes. You could pick and choose what stops you wanted to visit and how long to stay at each one. The last bus was set to return to the ship at 5:05PM.

What Lindsay couldn't have anticipated was that bus driver #2 (we had arrived early enough to be on bus #1), would decide that he wasn't in the mood to wait, pulled out from behind bus #1, and sped off to the first stop. Our driver on bus #1 double checked and was told to go ahead and leave as scheduled. The town isn't very big so a lot of the stops were close to each other. 

The Fort Dalles Museum is housed in the former Surgeon's Quarters, the only remaining officer's quarters of the 1856 Fort Dalles military complex. The museum within the building first opened in 1905. Once we arrived, the caretakers gathered the latest small group in the main room to give a brief talk about the history of the building. After that, we were able to wander the museum and the nearby barns that held antique vehicles on our own. The Anderson Homestead is a short walk down and across the street from the museum. There is a ramp access up into the building's main level but the upper level's exhibits require walking up stairs.

The museum was full of tons of historical artifacts from the time period but the most recent addition was a sweet cat who lived on the grounds. In talking with one of the caretakers, we learned that this cat had been left behind by a couple owners before them and all the owners since have considered taking care of her as part of taking care of the property itself. We saw where she had a small outdoor shelter with fresh food and water always available. I may have spent just as much time sitting on the walkway snuggling her as I did wandering the museum. 

Old slot machine

Antique Vehicles a short walk away behind the museum:

One of the first hotel shuttles:

The most popular vehicle among our passengers was the hearse with the see through window on its side to view the casket.

As it was pretty close to the next bus' timed arrival, we opted not to walk down to the Anderson Homestead. Around 10-15 of us were waiting for the "next" bus to arrive as we sat by the fence surrounding the museum. When that 15 minute scheduled time became 30 minutes, one of the group called Lindsay to let her know that no bus was showing up. We got to hear Lindsay's side of the conversation and heard her tell the other passenger that she'd already heard from passengers at another stop and is trying to reach the drivers to find out where they are. After 40 minutes, bus driver #1 shows up and gripes to everyone not to blame him; he can't help being delayed as now he is the only driver. 

We next headed to the National Neon Sign Museum, a stop on this itinerary that tons of past passengers said was not to be missed. As we stepped off the bus, our driver warned that it could take an hour for him to return. He wanted us to know that before deciding whether to stay and visit the museum.

Our admission to the museum was included by ACL but it would otherwise have cost $10 per adult, $8 for seniors aged 65+, and $8 each for groups of 10+. The building was mostly accessible except for a large staircase to access the ballroom display of neon building fronts. Our tour was given by museum founder David Benko. 

We started off the tour watching a short video in a theater style room that covered an artist's process making a neon piece. 

Then David led us through the main level's exhibits showing some of the first neon pieces and explaining how the science was discovered and works to produce the colored lighting. 

The upstairs ballroom space made to look like a town:

In case you need a breather after climbing those stairs, Ronald McDonald is waiting to talk to you about your car's extended warranty:

Several of our current group at the museum opted not to climb the stairs. The few seats in the lobby quickly filled with our older and mobility challenged passengers. David suggested to many that if they were able and didn't want to wait, the ship was merely a few blocks walk away. Dad chose to wait as he didn't feel up for the walk. Even though our bus didn't arrive for another 20-30 minutes, we still made it back to the ship before those who had taken David's suggestion of walking back. 

As it turned out, which we didn't find out fully until we were back on board when Excursions Director Lindsay asked us how we liked the tour, she had dealt with the second bus driver while we were out and he was either relieved of duty or quit. She would only say to us that she'd heard about the trouble, spoke to the driver, "And now we're down to only one bus driver." This meant that only bus driver #1 was doing the shuttle service for the entire route and amount of passengers. I've been on trips in the past where there has been bus timing issues and the cruise line made alternate arrangements like calling for the next available taxi to take small groups at a time or at least those who couldn't make the walk. I'm sure with such late notice there wasn't going to be time for ACL to get another bus driver on site but the communication with passengers could have been a whole lot better.