Both towns experienced a boom while their dam was built, and then languished when the high-wage construction workers moved on to the next site. Too many residents live in far-from-new mobile homes.
The town name means rapids which once existed on the Columbia River at this location, before dams and navigation became prevalent. The terrain hereabouts features large blocks of basalt and fairly could be called semi-harsh.
We’ve left most of the coastal conifer forest behind. Locals call this a semi-desert as it only gets a CA amount of rainfall, on the order of 14” a year. Still, like CA at this time of year, it is green as anything and the fruit trees are blooming.
We’re eating too much and taking it easy, the crew is spoiling us rotten. The scenery on this river cruise is a lot better than on the Mississippi, not so flat. On Old Man River mostly all you see is a wall of trees on both banks and the terrain behind the trees rarely raises high enough to be visible.
