Go West!

[HostDave]

The same desire for discovery that led President Thomas Jefferson to send Merriwether Lewis and William Clark to head west from the Mississippi to explore the Louisiana Purchase and discover routes of commerce that led all the way to the Pacific is also inside our loyal past guests. Consistently they have asked us when we might expand our operations to the Pacific Northwest and we’re proud to say that time is now.

American Queen Steamboat Company has announced the purchase of the riverboat Empress of the North from the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD). To be renamed the American Empress, the vessel will resume sailings on the great rivers of the Pacific Northwest beginning in April 2014 between her homeport in Portland, Oregon and Clarkston, Washington. The American Empress will deliver riverboat opulence on a grand scale, following in the pedigree of our namesake American Queen, and proudly serve as the largest overnight riverboat west of the Mississippi River. The American Queen has ushered in a rebirth of U.S. river cruising, welcoming thousands to discover the heartland of the United States and its iconic port cities. Now, the American Empress will continue that tradition as an ambassador to the Pacific Northwest, a region equally rich in American and natural history.

A U.S.-flagged riverboat, the American Empress measures 360 feet in length with five towering decks and accommodates 223 guests in seven stateroom categories. The American Empress will sail the Columbia River and Snake River, offering nine-day journeys between Portland, Oregon and Clarkston, Washington. Ports of call include Astoria, Oregon; Stevenson, Washington; The Dalles, Oregon; Umatilla, Oregon; and Richland, Washington.

The American Empress was built in 2002 and operated by Majestic America Line from 2002 to 2008, sailing Alaska’s Inside Passage and the Pacific Northwest. Just as the American Queen brought luxury and grandeur to river cruising in America’s heartland, the American Empress will do the same for the Pacific Northwest.

Nowhere is the timelessness of rivers more apparent than in the pristine Pacific Northwest where the Columbia and Snake Rivers wind through gentle hills, impressive mountains, vertical canyons and fertile fields. The land appears in 2014 just as it did to Lewis and Clark in 1805 – majestic, unspoiled and unimaginably glorious.

Sacagawea, Lewis and Clark’s faithful Native American guide, knew how to read these lands and soon you will too, thanks to the legacy of the expedition that opened the West to settlement. Pioneering reminders range from Fort Clatsop outside Astoria, Oregon where the expedition survived the harsh winter, to the sister cities of Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho 400 miles to the east. The explorers overcame the formidable Celilo Falls and swift currents near The Dalles, Oregon, a struggle brought to light at Rock Fort Campsite. The role of Sacagawea in the expedition’s success is interpreted at the state park in Washington’s Tri-Cities Region.

As you relive the daring exploits of frontiersmen and adventurers, you are treated to the very same natural wonders. Columbia Gorge cuts through the Cascade Mountains thanks to the apocalyptic Missoula Floods of the last Ice Age. At Multnomah Falls, snowmelt streams plunge over 600 feet in two tiered cascades down a sheer cliff face. Deeper than the Grand Canyon, Idaho’s Hell’s Canyon is a dramatic crack in the earth with raging waters best explored on an exciting jet boat ride. Near Portland, understand the raw power of nature in the collapsed volcanic crater of Mount St. Helens. Along the Columbia River, fish ladders help salmon swim upstream and bison, deer and elk graze freely.

With the American Empress serving as a floating boutique hotel for your journey, you will travel into the heart of Washington’s wine country in absolute comfort and ease. The acclaimed Maryhill Winery overlooking the Columbia River has made its mark among wine connoisseurs while the celebrated Walla Walla Wine Trail in the “Napa of the North” offers the tastes of Canoe Ridge, Cayuse, Leonetti and Five Star Cellars, among others.

From Portland’s lovely International Rose Test Garden to the hallowed artifacts on the Nez Perce Reservation, the region comes alive when experienced from the luxury of an elegant riverboat cruise. Tour a millionaire’s Victorian home in Astoria, Oregon and marvel at the engineering achievement of the Bonneville Dam. Whether you choose to take in the scenery from Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge nestled among the pines or climb a lighthouse to view the expansive Pacific, a voyage on the Columbia and Snake Rivers will show you the world from a new perspective.