Tracing the
“Path of the     
Explorers”

A cruise is just a cruise. But a cruise with Carnegie Museums along the Columbia River gave a group of Pittsburghers a new perspective on history.

By Kimberly Tarquinio

The cruise along the Columbia River provided Carnegie Museums’ travelers with gorgeous scenery every day. Says Bob Jennings, who took the photograph, “This shot was taken near sunrise after our first evening on the river. We were about 140 miles east of the opening of the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. The prominent rock is Beacon Rock, on the north side of the river.”

"Our cruise down the Columbia River along the western part of Lewis & Clark’s journey was amazing. It was the perfect combination of great weather, magnificent scenery, and fascinating information,” says Bob Jennings, one of 24 travelers who took part in Carnegie Museum’s “Path of the Explorers” trip on the cruise ship Empress of the North.

The eight-night, round-trip cruise from Portland, Oregon, took place in May 2004. It was hosted by Albert Kollar, collection manager for Invertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Andrew Masich, director of the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center. Each afternoon, the group of Carnegie travelers would gather at reserved tables onboard the ship for brief presentations by Kollar and Masich. Topics included the geology and history of the section of Lewis & Clark’s trail that the group had witnessed earlier in the day.

“One of the best things about traveling with Carnegie Museums is traveling with professionals who are experts on the sights and subjects we encounter along the way,” says Jennings’ wife, Barbara Bott. “We definitely got more out of the trip than anyone else onboard because while everyone on the ship had the opportunity to see the same things, only our group learned about the history, culture, and geology of the period surrounding Lewis & Clark’s journey. It really helped put everything in perspective. We walked away with a true sense of how difficult their expedition really was.”

Meanwhile, according to Kollar, who provided the information about the region’s geology—including its incredible glaciers, volcanoes, rainforests, and rivers—the best thing about the trip was meeting people like Jennings and Bott. “I met some fantastic and very inquisitive people on this trip,” he says. “Everyone was very enthusiastic about learning about the huge role Lewis & Clark’s trip played in our country’s history. And because the group’s interests were so diverse there were always interesting conversations going on.”

Jennings and Bott are avid travelers who share a love of both art and the outdoors. The Lewis & Clark cruise was their third trip with Carnegie Museums, and they’re
hoping to take part in the upcoming trip to Rome, Naples, and Malta.

“The Travel Program is a wonderful resource,” says Jennings. “The trips are always very well-organized, with incredible accommodations. But by far, the best thing about them is that they open doors to private places in the world that we could never see on our own and introduce us to gracious, intelligent, and interesting people that we otherwise might never meet. And very often the things we learn and experience on these trips change our perspective on the world.”

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Upcoming Trips

In the Path of Caravaggio
Rome, Naples, and Malta
June 5-14, 2005
Join art historian and guest lecturer Peter Lauritzen as he traces Baroque painter Caravaggio’s footsteps from Rome to Naples and finally to Malta where he was received as a celebrated artist.

Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin: Fateful Encounter
National Museum of Fine Art, Quebec City
August 4-7, 2005
With its narrow streets, fortification walls, fine restaurants, and French-speaking citizens, Quebec has a European atmosphere that can’t be found anywhere else in North America. In addition to seeing the Claudel and Rodin exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Art in Quebec, travelers will visit an artist’s studio; see the process of making leather masks, and tour a private collection. Accommodations are at the world-renowned Chateau Frontenac built in 1893 and inspired by the Chateaux of the Loire Valley.

The Splendors of St. Petersburg, Warsaw, and Krakow
October 2-14, 2005
Travel with Thomas Sokolowski, director of The Andy Warhol Museum, to the “Venice
of the North” and experience firsthand the
wonders of St. Petersburg, the former capital of the Romanov Czars. Discover Poland’s bustling capital, Warsaw, with its numerous Baroque and Gothic churches and monuments, and explore the magic of Krakow, Poland’s former capital and residence of Kings.

Jeweled Kingdoms
Palaces of the Gods in South East Asia
Thailand-Myanmar-Cambodia
February 4-20, 2006
Join Dr. Chris Beard, Carnegie Museum of Natural History curator and head of Vertebrate Paleontology, and Dr. Sandra Olsen, curator of Anthropology, for an exotic trip to Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Cambodia. Explore ancient Buddhist temples, visit a fascinating indigenous hill tribe village, see elephants at work, and enjoy prehistory, environment, arts, and culture.

For more information about traveling with Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, please call Barbara MacQuown @ 412.578.2618, or e-mail travel@carnegiemuseums.org.

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