The boats' great paddle-wheels propelled the excursionists upstream to St Paul, almost as far as the boats could then go.
They will pass federal Superfund sites and will see, for the most part, a riverfront vastly different from that which the first excursionists gazed at so ardently 150 years earlier.
Some, notably the cruise day-excursionists, are in herds; but the more interesting species are notable for their designer sunglasses, elaborate outfits – and accents, which are not difficult to audit since everyone seems urgently to be issuing instructions into a mobile phone, in Italian, Russian or American.
The Victorian excursionists photographed by Francis Frith at the Ramesseum in 1858 compose themselves in shallow space, as if inhabiting their own frieze before a theatrical backdrop of abraded and shattered stone torsos, knowing that the camera has already trumped the colossi.
But from the mid-1800s, excursionists flocked to the wilder reaches of Britain searching for the Sublime, that grandly pleasurable sensation of terror defined by Edmund Burke and provoked by crags, peaks, waterfalls and vistas made awesome by the absence of man.
Also worth bearing in mind is that many luxury buyers are what are often called "excursionists" – people who don't usually shop luxury but buy one or two luxury brands that they connect with and feel reflect their beliefs or identity.
John Oley and Archie Stewart lolled against the gunwales in imitation of innocent excursionists.
At the water's edge, the men jumped aboard the launches and made their way around Coney Island, ready to pose as excursionists or fishermen.
Feb. 14, 2000, Korean Central News Agency: More people and excursionists are visiting Kim Jong Il's birthplace at the Paektusan [Mount Paektu] secret camp to mark the auspicious holiday of February...
