Today was a long day, so going to only do some pictures with a few comments and then will look to share a few more thoughts tomorrow…

I shared yesterday that we were scheduled to go kayaking today. Weather forecast was not looking good—temps were projected to be in the 40s with a 12mph wind and possible rain/snow, so awoke this morning with a bit of trepidation, but awoke to this outside our cabin windows.

Not great, but it wasn’t raining or snowing at least, so got ready to go kayaking. We heard the call from the cruise excursions director to go down to load up for kayaking, so we headed out and awaited our ride.

Now it was a bit chilly—in the 50s, and a bit windy—15mph, as we stood on the sidewalk next to the dock where our ship was, but we were committed, so we waited.

And we waited.

And waited some more.

Finally, the cruise excursions director came to tell us that the kayak trip was cancelled. Needless to say, we were only a little disappointed. 浪

So, being free for the morning, what did we do?

Laundry.

And a workout.

(By the way, I have to hand it to American Cruise Lines, their fitness room is absolutely superb. It’s obvious that whoever got the equipment knew what they were doing to have the least amount of equipment that would provide the most capacity for fitness training.)

In the afternoon, we decided to hop on The Dalles Local Loop to check out the town, and these were the highlights…

Mural of the Highlights of The Dalles

After our tour through town, we headed back to the ship as we departed and headed downriver towards our next stop—Kalama.

On our way downriver, we passed by these…

In case you don’t recognize them, these are some of Google’s data centers that are located just south of The Dalles.

The Columbia River Gorge is considered a perfect place for data centers because of the massive electricity being created by hydro power and also because of the abundance of cold water to use for cooling the processors in the data centers.

Yet…

With each data center, we are solidifying our dependency upon data, particularly AI. And with that dependency, comes the need to support our “habit” of calling upon technology to support our modern life.

I specifically used the word “habit” for a reason, because modern life is feeding all sorts of addictions—too often to the detriment of others and the environment, but most often ourselves.

The question that the Google data centers brought to mind is one that has been repeating throughout this trip—how to go about honoring the past and preparing for the future? But especially how to do it in such a way that what results is an integrated present that does both?

As a starting point, I leave you with two thoughts…

The present is a gift.

And it’s the only present we have.

More musings tomorrow after I go axe throwing. (Yes, you read that right.)

Until then, AMDG!