Travelling up the Columbia River is a story of changes. Over broad swaths of time, the building of the continent, the laying down of the basalt rocks, the uplift of mountains, and the scouring of the landscape by sweeping floods, all set the stage for the landscape we see. The vegetation and the associated fauna have dramatically changed from the wet and mild coastal climate to a rain shadowed dry oak forest and grasslands. The human imprint of different people, their movements, their industry and trade, their imagination, are strong here. We are in Hood River with a full day of excursions before returning to the upriver journey of National Geographic Sea Lion.