For the first nine days we’ve been in low gear, all-wheel drive and low range cranking up hill with the pedal on the floorboard. Now, on board the cruise boat, we’re coasting downhill and engine at idle. If we were in the Tesla, we’d be charging the battery. I said to Judy as we settled in for lunch in the dining room, “On the road trip at lunch time we’d be figuring out what to do for lunch, what we should do for a hotel tonight and whether we should take the next scenic overlook.” Now, every eventuality is covered, turn-down service is in full gear and the question is not what to eat but rather how much to eat. We also have to have social conversations with strangers, a departure from just the two of us with little or no other human interaction.

Not that I’m complaining. Both lifestyles have their attractions. It’s good for us to unplug and lower our intensity level a notch.

We had breakfast at the hotel and got our Covid test. Everyone passed – all passengers but not all the crew are fully vaccinated. Many, probably most passengers, despite what the CDC and Dr. Fauci are saying about mask wearing, are still hesitant to relax their standards. Mask wearing for us, and others, has become something of a security blanket. But at lunch and dinner and the cocktail hour it’s hard not to drop the mask and rely on the vaccine.

The ship is a little less than half full – 87 out of 184 passenger capacity. This is the third trip of the season. The first had 37 passengers, the second 60-odd. The crew is still in a shakedown mode, judging from dinner service tonight and some hesitancy at the bar during the cocktail hour. But that’s OK; they’ll learn and we’ll live.

Call me an old curmudgeon but a little bit of friendliness, cheerfulness and “is everything just super?” goes a long way with me. Our cruise director is on his first outing in this role and so is probably trying too hard to find his style and “voice” in his new gig. But overlooking that, the service is excellent, and the cruise amenities are first-rate. Not only is there free wine and beer at lunch and dinner but there is a selection of eight or more wines, not just house wine. And the cocktail hour is free and the free bar stays open late.

The entertainment is provided by a man and his wife. They serve as historians by day, focusing on the Lewis and Clark expedition. They also promise to focus on the three driving forces that led to the development of the Pacific Northwest. First, President Jefferson’s drive to expand the territorial boundaries of the U.S., beginning with the Louisiana Purchase and then Lewis & Clark’s trip to go beyond the Rockies to the Pacific. Second, the commercial drive by U.S., British and French companies to open up the fur trade in the region. John J. Astor was the main U.S. entrepreneur. Third was the wave of pioneers – moms, pops and kids who traveled the Oregon Trail and settled the territory. Our lecturer gives brief mention of the maltreatment of native peoples, saying, “The story is too terrible to tell.” We will have exposure to the Nez Perce people later in the cruise. But an honest appraisal of the era needs to go beyond the “feel good” stories of fur trappers and pioneer families enduring unimaginable hardships to live the American Dream.

The couple also serves as entertainment, singing cocktail hour songs and, during this evening’s lecture, singing original songs they composed to further illustrate the story of Lewis and Clark. Tonight’s lecture followed Lewis and Clark from Washington, D.C. to the Rockies, closely following the account I just finished reading, “Undaunted Courage,” by Stephen Ambrose. Entertaining and well done, avoiding the mind-numbing torture historical lectures can inflict.

Sailing from Portland to Astoria this afternoon we saw a continual string of freighter ships of all descriptions floating empty at anchor. I wonder what the deal is with them. Maybe I’ll ask the captain.

In all, it looks like a great cruise. The ship and the program equal or exceed anything we’ve experienced on other cruise lines, including Viking. We’re looking forward to tomorrow’s tours of Cape Disappointment and Fort Clatsop.