In September 1998, a group of five Oregonians traveled to the Russian Far East to participate in a Sister City travel exchange. Our Russian hosts in the cities of Khabarovsk, Blagoveshensk and Zeya were warm, generous, lovely people. Leaving Anchorage and flying down the Aleutians and over Kamchatka, we made a short stop for fuel in Magadan and then arrived in Khabarovsk on one of Alaska Airlines last flights into the Russian Far East.

One of the highlights of our trip was a day long journey from the Zeiskiy Dam, northeast up the ... (more)