The day dawned foggy misty and rather cold, and like all days on the National Geographic Sea Lion, things just got better and better. We zipped all over the lower Columbia Valley and visited Fort Stevens, the only place on the U.S. mainland shelled during WW2. We learned about the gun emplacements and the guns themselves and some of the men who operated them. The grounds of Fort Stevens proved to be the best cedar waxwing viewing grounds we have come across, also lots of ravens. We then visited the forlorn wreck of the Peter Iredale, beautiful and poignant.
Fort Clatsop is always a sort of a high-energy place to visit because Lewis and Clark were right here! We talked Lewis and Clark and all things temperate rain forest. We identified some useful plants that grow near the fort and what they are used for both then and now. A very good day on the lower Columbia!
