What a day! It's amazing how much activity we crammed into a relatively small period of time. Last night we had torrential rain, thunder and lightning –unusual for this part of the country! Sunrise was spectacular, but quickly returned to incessant rain. We boarded our expedition landing crafts and began our way upstream, accompanied by rain. But after a few miles the weather dried out and we had an overcast but terrific ride up the Snake River. Our captains pointed out various places of interest and we spotted several groups of deer, bighorn sheep, and turkeys. We lunched at a Nature Conservancy spot and wandered through an orchard filled with placidly apple-munching deer and turkeys. Following lunch, we continued our journey back downstream, keeping an eye out for birds like great blue herons and osprey.
Late in the afternoon we boarded a bus to head up to Nez Perce National Historic Park. This park site has a wonderful visitor center, complete with excellent Nez Perce museum collections. A couple of rangers talked to us, one of them from the Nez Perce tribe. It was a very interesting cultural experience and helped us better understand this region.
When we returned to the National Geographic Sea Lion, we enjoyed appetizers and recap before dinner. Following dinner, we had our first lecture of the week from our historian on Lewis and Clark.
