PADDLEWHEELING INTO THE NEW YEAR

[HostDave]

It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were ringing in the New Year and welcoming 2013. Now, we’re looking forward to 2014. And while as individuals we often lament the passing of another year (they do seem to pass by faster as we get older, don’t they?), at the American Queen Steamboat Company we’re looking forward to 2014 with much excitement. We’re adding our second vessel, the American Enpress, and a whole new sailing region, the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia and Snake rivers. We’ve also enhanced the American Queen’s itineraries for 2014 with new ports of call such as Nashville, also known as Music City. Yes, 2014 is going to be a very big, very exciting, and very rewarding year at the American Queen Steamboat Company – both for us and our guests.

We thought we’d take the final blog of 2013 to offer a preview of where we’re headed in 2014 with a review of the distinct style and culture of the Pacific Northwest. And we should remind you that if you want to make certain to reserve the suite or stateroom of your choice on the sailing you most desire in 2014, then book right now. As the first few months of the year unfold, space begins to fill very quickly.

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.

Sacajawea, 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 they 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 currents near The Dalles, Oregon, a struggle brought to light at Rock Fort Campsite. The role of Sacajawea 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 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, travel into the heart of Washington’s wine country. 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 to life. 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.