Take a moment to pause and find something in your life that you are grateful for. Today on National Geographic Sea Lion guests embraced this gorgeous day with a class led by onboard wellness staff, and the lesson was gratitude for our bodies. Think of all that is healthy, your fingers, your toes all the way to your nose. In this photo, we took a breath of fresh air, the wind flowing through our hair as we prepared to greet guests with our loving smiles, grateful to enjoy this day together. A day filled with hiking Beacon Rock, exploring Columbia Gorge interpretive center, lunch at Mt. View Farms, visiting and learning at WAAAM Museum, walking Tom McCall Nature Preserve, taking in Hood River and lastly enjoying cocktails on the sundeck as the sun goes down.
10/29/2022
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National Geographic Sea Bird
Hells Canyon
Our morning began alongside the dock in our final port of Clarkston, Washington with a glowing sky and flocks of migrating waterfowl inscribing Vs through the air. After breakfast, guests boarded 34-foot-long jet boats for an excursion along the Snake River to its confluence with the Salmon River, fondly known as the River of No Return. Along our journey we saw bighorn sheep, great blue herons, common mergansers, belted kingfishers, Canada geese, petroglyphs, wild turkeys, columnar basalt, swimming mule deer, and a bald eagle flying with a large salmon. We also enjoyed fortuitous timing and witnessed a fisherman hook an eight-foot-long sturgeon. After a long battle, he finally pulled it to the shallows for his whole family (and us) to see. As evening approached, we settled into the lounge for our final series of educational talks, featuring Nez Perce storyteller James Spencer and winemaker Coco Umiker, both of whom illuminated important contexts of the beautiful basin. Following our wine tasting with Coco, guests set off for their final on-board dinner. After dinner, we bid farewell through photos. Our photo instructor showcased a mosaic of moments from the week, otherwise known as the Guest Slideshow. Included in the slideshow were praying mantises, birds of prey, sunsets, and staff members being goofy, as per usual. We couldn’t be more grateful for our time together, all of us, during this last week of October 2022.