Tillamook … what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Did you say “cheese”?  If not, why not?  Because it is probably what Tillamook is most famous for.  However, Tillamook Cheese Company ain’t the only cheese game in town!  Tuesday we stopped by The Blue Heron French Cheese Company which is really known for their brie.

Well, lo-and-behold they had wine tasting as well as cheeses.  A tasting flight was $5.00 for five tastings … that’s right folks, ONLY $5.00 (sure is priced differently from Napa!).  We shared a flight and tasted two whites and three reds.  We ended up buying three bottles:  a Vitis Ridge Pinot Gris (with a wonderful, crisp apple finish), a 2010 Seven Falls Cabernet Sauvignon (with a nice finish of butterscotch), and a 2009 Mount Baker Merlot (wonderfully smooth).  Oh yeah, we bought a loaf of Tillamook cheese too!

Wednesday we got up late since we didn’t get to bed/sleep until 2:00 a.m.  We (actually I meant to say “I”!) made the ill-fated mistake of letting the dogs “sleep” in the bedroom.  That’s because Sherwood decided he couldn’t be separated from us and snuck into the bedroom and lodged himself on the other side of the bed which was really way too confining for his size.  He kept scratching the wall with his nails while he was constantly squirming around.  Finally, I had as much as I could handle and we made the dogs get out of dodge so we could get some sleep.  In addition to the dog disaster, Gary and I were both cold and couldn’t get warm.  I finally took a hot shower and then it was lights out for me. 

Once we got up and moving, we headed back to the town of Tillamook to visit the “real” cheese factory, Tillamook.  They had a self-guided tour with observation areas.  Mostly only the packaging process was what you could observe.  I find factories so fascinating because of all the different types of machines that are invented to automate the various stages of the manufacturing cycle. Tillamook processes/packages an enormous amount of cheese every day.  It is really mind-boggling.

While Tillamook is mostly well-known for their cheese, they also make ice cream (you can find Tillamook ice cream in just about every market around Oregon), butter, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, and yogurt.  We bought two cheeses and a nice cheese slicer since we put both our good cheese slicers in storage.  The Tillamook “store” (even on a week day) was a maelstrom of people and just about everyone exiting the store had an ice cream cone in hand.  We opted not to get an ice cream which was an excellent idea because when we exited the store we saw that they were offering ice cream samples to everyone.  They had the cutest little cones with just the right size of miniature scoop of ice cream.  Here I am sitting in one of their photo props so you know that we really were at Tillamook! 

 

We left Tillamook and headed north to the town of Garibaldi at the far end of Tillamook Bay (the next bay--and much larger bay--north of Netarts).  This is a photo of the Tillamook harbor from which all the fishing boats and charter boats depart.

 

Here’s a short video of part of Tillamook Bay.

 

We had a late lunch at a pub called Ghosthole.  Yes, it was a place that could have been featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”  We split a fish-and-chips and a patty melt.  Both were absolutely delicious, but the fish-and-chips didn’t hold a candle to the one I ordered at the Barnacle Bistro, and that’s a fact!

We met some very nice people who live right across the street from the RV park—Al and Carol.  They were full-time RVers for 7-8 years.  They sold the house they’re living in now and when they came back from full-timing they rebought their same house!  All the houses on this street (across from the RV park) are “permanent” prefab homes, basically a double-wide trailer with add-ons.  Al and Carol also have a Brittany Spaniel (like Sherwood) and then a beautiful French Brittany (a breed we had never seen before).  This is the second couple we’ve met on our journey that have a Brittany, which is very unusual. 

Al used to be a fishing guide for this area and gave us many stories about the salmon and all their habits. There are five rivers that feed the Tillamook Bay and salmon are smelling for “their” river.  When it rains and the rivers flow strongly into the bay, the Chinook salmon(which is the “big” one here with three seasons—the best one being in the spring) smell their river and start the upriver trek to spawn.  Unfortunately, we are in the wrong season for Chinook.

Back home, we took the dogs for a walk and then joined Al and Carol on their patio to watch the sun go down and hear some good fish stories!  It was a great day and the weather was absolutely beautiful!

Psalms 8:3-9 /  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?  Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty!  You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas.  O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!