Matchless scenery from mountains to salt water

I converted almost 200 slides to DVD to show to the audience when I speak on Sunday, December 1, at Village Book Store, Bellingham WA, about my book, The Columbia River. I took photos over a period of several years of travel and research along the river. The scenery all along the river leaves one gasping at times. Up north the crags of the Rocky Mountains that line eastern BC and Alberta sometimes are like laying a rock pyramid atop a high mountain, usually dusted or covered with snow, depending on the season. 

Farther south in Washington not far south of the international border the river widens into Lake Roosevelt, where one can rent from suppliers a houseboat to enjoy lazing along calm waters. Before the dams were built, wild rapids ruffled the river waters frequently, sometimes claiming lives from overturned boats trying to travel the river. Not now. Most of the river's length is controlled and calm. The mountains retreat from the river's shores for awhile, allowing ranchers and farmers to raise animals and grains on flat, fertile plains.

When the river is near Walla Walla WA and turns west toward the ocean (several hundred miles distant), mountains line its shores again. This time it is the North Cascades Range that narrows down between the cities of The Dalles and Portland to form the famous, breathtakingly scenic Columbia Gorge. And eventually the river meets salt water to challenge its breakers and create maritime scenery. It stirs the imagination like a living being.