Astoria
It has been nearly 200 years since Lewis and Clark made their westward journey up the Missouri River, over the Shining Mountains, the terrible traverse of Lolo Pass, and down the westward flowing rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Millions of words have been written about their adventures. Scholars have analyzed their motives and goals, and the overall impact of their accomplishments. So many pictures have been taken, showing the terrain and the face of the country over which they traveled, that we can hardly comprehend the magnitude of what they experienced. People from every state in the Union feel connected to this great expedition. We have turned it into a great epic, a hero’s tale.
As we have retraced their steps from the Clearwater River to the Pacific, cruising on the >I>Sea Bird in the Wake of Lewis and Clark, we begin to get a feeling of kinship with them. As we study the lives of the members of the Corps of Discovery, they become more human, more like neighbors to us. As we spend a few days with our faces turned to the setting sun, knowing that for a year and a half they faced the western horizon each day, we begin to grasp some understanding of what they accomplished.
It is only fitting that on the last day of our cruise we should walk in the sand of the Pacific Ocean.This was their goal, after which they had searched for so long. We can echo the voices from the past. “Ocean in view...Oh, the joy.”
It has been nearly 200 years since Lewis and Clark made their westward journey up the Missouri River, over the Shining Mountains, the terrible traverse of Lolo Pass, and down the westward flowing rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Millions of words have been written about their adventures. Scholars have analyzed their motives and goals, and the overall impact of their accomplishments. So many pictures have been taken, showing the terrain and the face of the country over which they traveled, that we can hardly comprehend the magnitude of what they experienced. People from every state in the Union feel connected to this great expedition. We have turned it into a great epic, a hero’s tale.
As we have retraced their steps from the Clearwater River to the Pacific, cruising on the >I>Sea Bird in the Wake of Lewis and Clark, we begin to get a feeling of kinship with them. As we study the lives of the members of the Corps of Discovery, they become more human, more like neighbors to us. As we spend a few days with our faces turned to the setting sun, knowing that for a year and a half they faced the western horizon each day, we begin to grasp some understanding of what they accomplished.
It is only fitting that on the last day of our cruise we should walk in the sand of the Pacific Ocean.This was their goal, after which they had searched for so long. We can echo the voices from the past. “Ocean in view...Oh, the joy.”
