20260608 ACL Encore Columbia-Snake River Cruise - Day 7/10 Richland, Washington

American Cruise Lines Encore - Columbia and Snake River Cruise Day 7/10 – Richland, Washington, Plutonium, anyone?

We awoke docked at the Lee Blvd Dock in Howard Amon Park in Richland, Washington. Today's agenda included a bus tour that took us to the final resting place of at least pieces of the USS Triton nuclear submarine, and the Reach Museum.

The day started a little rough. Arlona gets occasional bad migraines, and today was one of those days. Lucky for her, this doesn't happen often, but when it does, she is usually down for the day. Today, she was able to power through and go on this morning's tour.

Before we get into that, a little about Richland. Richland was the third secret bedroom community built by the U.S. Government as part of the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. Los Alamos, New Mexico, handled the research, design, and assembly. Oak Ridge, Tennessee, handled uranium enrichment. Hanford and Richland, Washington, did all the plutonium enrichment. This was the site of the world's first nuclear reactor, and all of the enriched plutonium used for the Trinity test bomb and the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, plus all plutonium used for the U.S. strategic stockpile of nuclear weapons, was created right here.

Richland grew from around 2,000 resident farmers to more than 50,000 residents in less than two years as the Hanford site was built and staffed. 

Since the end of plutonium enrichment here, Hanford has undergone the largest environmental cleanup effort in the Western Hemisphere. They have processed the reactors from all the decommissioned nuclear submarines, including the Trident.

A little before 9:00, we walked off the ship and boarded our bus for this morning's tour, The Richland Legacy - From Pre-History to the Atomic Age.

Round and Round, by Bernard Hosey in the park where we were docked

We drove past some of the famous Alphabet Houses from the Hanford days. Designed by architect Gustav A. Pehrson, more than 1,600 of these homes were built in Richland in less than two years to house the massive number of workers. Overall, more than 5,000 were originally built. The roughly two-dozen floor plans were given the creative names "A", "B", "C", and so on, leading to the term Alphabet Houses.

Our first stop was the final resting place of the sail (the raised vertical fin) on the nuclear submarine, USS Triton. Triton made history after it was commissioned in 1959 by circumnavigating the globe in 60 days while remaining submerged the entire time. This proved the concept of nuclear-powered submarines and moved the U.S. Navy ahead in the Cold War.

The reactor was salvaged here at Hanford, and the sail portion of the ship was enshrined in this park.

Names of the sailors on the Triton

These vehicles were used to retrieve, lift, and transport the decommissioned submarine reactors for salvage at Hanford

There was also an art installation nearby. A local school project built a scale model of the solar system. A 40-foot structure was built to represent the Sun. Based on that 40-foot size as a scaled version of the 865,000-mile diameter of the Sun, markers representing all the planets were placed all over this tri-city area at scaled distances. This one, 7.8 miles from the Sun sculpture, represents Saturn and its 890,000,000-mile distance from the Sun.

Our next stop was the REACH Museum. We were able to explore two immersive galleries—one tracing the Mid-Columbia’s natural and cultural history, and the other highlighting the story of the Manhattan Project. We also stepped outside to view native plant gardens, local art sculptures, and sweeping views of the Columbia River.

The museum is named for the Hanford Reach. A reach is a free-flowing section of a river unaffected by dams or human-made modifications.

Gallery #1 was all about the volcanic history of the Reach and its plentiful wildlife

Gallery #2 was all about the Manhattan Project and Hanford and Richland's role in developing the atom bomb.

Reactor B - the first nuclear reactor

After touring the galleries, we took a walk outside.

This is the Sun sculpture that marks the central point for the planet markers like the one in the Triton Sail Park

A reactor rod that would have contained several million uranium beads

One of the trailers that was part of the largest trailer park in the world, housing Hanford workers until the houses could be built

It was incredibly small, and on average, housed 3.7 people - this is the living room

The kitchen

The bedroom - there was no bathroom, shower, or laundry - those were built for communal use

The old and new - our modern bus and one of the buses that transported workers daily from their homes to the Hanford site

With that, we boarded the nicer of the two buses and returned to the ship.

 Lewis & Clark Interpretive Overlook and a sculpture of Sacajawea and her child, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, looking across the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima Rivers

Back to the Encore

We grabbed another light lunch - this time, loaded potato soup, and ate outside on Deck 4 in the Back Porch Café. The weather had improved, and the temperature was in the low 70s. Our guide told us that Richland gets 300 days of sunshine each year. Unfortunately, we seem to be here on one of the 65 days when they do not. Still, rain held off for our outing, so that was good.

After lunch, we returned to the room where I worked on this, and Arlona read on the balcony, napped on the balcony, and read some more on the balcony.

Tonight at 5:00, ACL held a veterans' appreciation event in the River Lounge. Vets from all branches of the armed forces were recognized, as were first responders. ACL, as an American company, takes patriotism very seriously. Following this, they held an America 250 celebration. Everyone was told about this before the cruise and were requested to wear red, white, and/or blue to help with the celebration. The request was definitely received, as the room was filled with folks wearing all kinds of colorful wear. 

Getting in the spirit

As we departed Richland, Washington, Cruise Director Chelsea cruised the room, quietly selecting the best-dressed among all the guests. After announcing her #3 and #2 choices, she came over and announced her choice for the best-dressed in patriotic attire.

Arlona was surprised to be selected - beyond the shirt, she also had flag socks, but Chelsea said it was her earrings that put her over the top

Arlona received a nice America 250 Christmas ornament

From there, we went to dinner, where Dave and Ann joined us. They had spent the day in Pendleton, Oregon, where they explored the Pendleton underground. 

While we were eating, we transitioned from the Columbia River, entering our second and final river for this journey, the Snake River. As we finished dinner, we entered the first of four locks we will transit tonight, the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam.

We went up front on Deck 2 to watch, but the rain had started, so going outside wasn't in the cards. 

All the locks have these floating tie-offs that rise and fall with the water level - ships are required to tie up to these during their time in the lock

Without a good view of the process, we decided to head back to the room for the evening. This was waiting for us on the bed.

The sign that the trip is almost over - luggage tags and disembarkation information

Tomorrow is the last full day of the cruise. Wednesday morning, we will disembark at 8:30 am to board the transfer bus. It will deliver us to the Lewiston, Idaho airport to start our journey home.

We turned on the port talk about tomorrow. Senior Hotel Manager Christian talked about a change to tomorrow's itinerary. We were scheduled to dock tomorrow morning in Clarkston, Washington, where we would remain through disembarkation. That plan has changed. It seems that the guests have really enjoyed the food and drink to the point that the waste tanks on the ship are full. Clarkston does not have facilities to empty them, but Lewiston, Idaho, does.

Lucky for us, the two towns, named for Lewis & Clark, are located on opposite sides of the Snake River.

The new plan is that we will dock tomorrow at 10:30 am in Lewiston, Idaho, and spend the day there. At 6:00 tomorrow evening, we will depart, docking an hour later at 7:00 in Clarkston, Washington. Everything here is so close that shifting the buses to pick us up on the east side of the river rather than the west side is no big deal. 

We will use tomorrow morning to get packed before heading out at 12:45 pm for the Hells Canyon Jet Boat Adventure. That will be the last hurrah for this adventure.

As we continue up the Snake River tonight, we'll transit another lock and dam, the Lower Monumental Dam, known locally as LoMo. In the wee hours tomorrow morning, we'll pass through two more. At 1:45 am, the Little Goose Dam, and at 5:30 am, the Lower Granite Dam will fall into our rearview mirror. Don't expect photos from any of these, as we'll both be sawing logs.

We're excited about tomorrow, as Hells Canyon is North America's deepest canyon at nearly 8,000 feet.