Corps of Discovery II Day 15; Reaching the End! The Pacific Ocean is in Sight!

The view seen by Capts. Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery as they reached the Pacific Ocean

At 1:45 p.m. Pacific Standard time, we reached the Pacific Ocean at its confluence with the Columbia River, very close to the place where Capts. Lewis and Clark ended their journey west.  The image above is what they saw, the Pacific Ocean.

It was a wonderful trip west.  We learned a lot about the history of the United States, the amazing fortitude, strength, perseverance and determination of the Corps of Discovery to overcome every type of adversity and fulfill the mandate by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the Louisana Purchase, determine where the headwaters of the Missouri River originate and find a overland route to the Pacific.

They all performed admirably, avoiding almost all conflict and violence while recording hundreds of new spieces of flora and fauna. They only lost one man and that was to illness.

After over two years of exploration, they returned back to report to President Jefferson their findings and celebrate their accomplishments.

After we spent time at the Pacific, we drove over to Ft. Clatsop, the fort the Corps of Discovery built to spend the winter of 1805.  They voted on where to put the fort and Sacagawea was well as York, Clark's slave were permitted to vote.  This is the first recorded vote by a woman or black man in the history of the United States. That tells you a lot about these two men.

We believe we, too, accomplished something meaningful and important to the four of us.  We are lifelong friends who devised an exploration of our own and had a great time and further cementing our friendship by traveling together while sharing good times and good conversation.

Tomorrow, we visit Mt. St. Helens on our way to Seattle to drop off one of our crew who will visit his daughter and meet his wife for some good family time.  Two of us will then start the drive back to Virginia, which will be an additional adventure.

The adventure continues and just gets better.

Thanks for looking.

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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