Sternwheeler Columbia Queen docked on the Columbia River at Stevenson, Washington; looking downstream right before sunset.
The steep rise in gasoline prices has resulted in a downturn in tourism, so the company that operates the boat has curtailed the cruising schedule. Last year, you'd see the tour buses lined up at the pier several times a week to pick up disembarking passengers. This year, that has been a much more irregular occurrence, and I understand the season will end in September.
It makes me smile to know that the Columbia Queen was built by the Delta Queen Steamboat Company in New Orleans. It is thus a smaller sister ship to the Delta Queen, the famed paddlewheeler steamboat that used to cruise the Mississippi River several days a week. The Delta Queen would usually leave the wharf in downtown New Orleans around noon, its calliope resounding, to the delight of the lunchtime crowds on the street (which often included me.)
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