A couple of weeks ago a Holland America ad arrived in my email.  It suggested we should take a little four day cruise from Vancouver to San Diego - for a bargain price.  Sine I'm a sucker for both cruises and bargains, we did what seemed logical, and signed up!  We flew to Vancouver a week ago Sunday, boarded the Westerdam about 3:30 pm and set sail by 5:00 pm.

On Monday morning, about 11:00 the ship turned east, and started up the Columbia River, headed for the port of Astoria.  This first image was taken just as we entered the river.  According to several passengers we talked with, this area can often be fairly rough sailing, but on this day the sun was shining and the waters were smooth.

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          It took us about 50 minutes to travel up river and dock at Astoria, and we had fun standing on deck checking things out along the way.

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Our friends, Carol and Chris, live about three hours south on the Oregon coast.  Even though it was their anniversary weekend, they drove up to Astoria to see us, and spend a couple of days.  They picked us up soon after the ship docked around noon, and we had a great day taking pictures, eating, shopping, and just hanging out.  We needed to be back aboard by 7:30, but first we checked out their cool hotel room and balcony right on the river, and less than an eighth of a mile from the ship.  Although it was getting dark, the light was lovely, so we took a few pics from their balcony of our ship, and the beautiful four mile Astoria-Megler bridge that connects Astoria, Oregon to Point Ellice, Washington.  A pretty cool day!

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