Columbia River Trip Idea

This winter break, the family took a trip to the Methow Valley.  Along the way, we passed the Columbia River, which got me thinking about two trips we took in 2012.  That year, we took a short trip to St. Louis, where we used to live and where Lewis and Clark started their journey to the Pacific Ocean (as if those two ideas are worthy of being in the same sentence.)  In the spring, we visited the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial that commemorates the start of the Lewis and Clark journey.  In the museum at the bottom of the Arch, there is an exhibit that maps out their trek.  In the summer, we visited Oregon and the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park where the Corps of Discovery camped at the mouth of the Columbia.  In the course of a few months, we saw the start and end of the trail for these American explorers, minus two years of travel and lots of hardship and adventure along the way.

As we were driving along the Columbia, I started to think about a trip I might want to take sometime.  Perhaps I could take a boat from where Lewis and Clark got on the Columbia, and take it down to Astoria.  I'd have to figure out what kind of boat would be best. I could get a canoe, but then I would need a tent and I wold sleep on the shore. Or, I would need a boat large enough that I could pull ashore at night and sleep on the boat.  There might be parts where the shore is so steep that I couldn't pull ashore for the night.  One of the challenges would be the power dams along the way.  Would I carry the boat out of the water and around the dam, or should I start someplace in the middle of Washington after the major dams?  I would have to map out towns where I could get food.  I could get a solar powered cell phone charger, so I could connect with family at home.  I would definitely go in the summer when the days are longer and warmer.  Should I bring a friend?  Should I wait until the kids are grown and go with my husband?

I wonder if Lewis and Clark had butterflies in their stomaches as the canoes pushed off the banks of the Missouri River.  I wonder if anyone has ever taken a trip like this in modern times, or if river trips are part of old Americana.  Maybe I am imagining I am like Cheryl Strayed in "Wild" where I need to take a trip to start over.  Or maybe I am channeling my inner Bernadette who gets away in Maria Semple's "Where'd You Go, Bernadette."  I don't think I am looking to escape here.  Perhaps I am like Bilbo Baggins, the reluctant adventurer.  Walter Mitty?  Or maybe I just want to take a ride on a river, floating along like Huck Finn or Sacajawea.*  Even if I never take the trip, it is nice to imagine.

*  Sacajawea did the journey across the continent pregnant and then with an infant.  There is no way I could manage that.  She deserves to be immortalized on a coin.  Not a flimsy dollar bill, but stamped in metal.