August 20, 2016 - Garibaldi, Rockaway Beach, Cape Meares & Tillamook, OR
Late risers we were. The sky was all grey. You can stare at the sun for it was partly masked by the fog.
After our light breakfast we headed out to visit downtown Tillamook. By the time we got there the sky was all blue. We happened across the Tillamook Farmers' Market, strolled around, sampled some goodies, but did not buy anything. While there there was a signage about the Old Iron Show at Blue Heron French Cheese Company and we decided to go there afterwards.
We went to Blue Heron Field and had a hard time looking for a parking spot. It was because of the Old Iron Show that is next door to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company store. The lot was pretty much filled up, but we managed to find a spot. The admission to the Old Iron Show was $3 per person. There were lots of antique tractors, automobiles, farm equipments, etc.
Erwin was given a piece of rope after demonstration
It was a short walk to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company from the Iron Work Show. We went inside the store, sampled some cheeses and breads.
We take a self-guided tour at Tillmook Cheese Factory. They had different cheese samples where visitors can taste. After the tour Erwin got himself an ice cream with one scoop of Oregon strawberry and one scoop of Oregon huckleberry. We then went in the gift/grocery store and they had all kinds of cheese for sale.
Tillmook Cheese Factory uses 1.16 gallons of milk to make one pound of Tillamook cheese. More than 1.7 million pounds of milk arrive at the plant every day. About 167,000 pounds of cheese are made each day!
Tillmook Cheese Factory
People lining up for ice cream
We drove north on Highway 101 to visit Garibaldi, OR. The fog started to slowly roll in. We visited the Port of Garibaldi, parked our Jeep, walked around a bit to enjoy the view. The clouds were hanging low over the mountains.
We continued driving north to visit Rockaway Beach, OR. The traffic was slow and long on Highway 101. The fog started to thicken some more as the afternoon dragged on. The town was packed! After cruising around looking for a spot we finally found it and it was about 3 blocks away from the Farmers' Market. There is a beach right there, but we did not go down to walk on it because of the recent warning about bacteria in the ocean.
The traffic going south was long and slow
Oregon Coast Scenic Steam Train
Rock Squirrel
Going back north to Tillamook, OR Edith wanted to get pictures of the famous rock formations called the Three Graces near Garibaldi. The fog was thick that we could barely see the formations. It did not stop Edith from taking pictures.
On way back from Rockaway Beach we stopped at Tillamook Beef Jerky Factory Outlet to pick up bags of beef jerky and pepperoni sticks. The store was packed with shoppers grabbing almost everything in sight!
There were few reserved parking spaces for employees who have worked 25 years or more for the company
After supper we took the scenic route to visit the Cape Meares Lighthouse, south of Tillamook, OR. We did not expect the lighthouse to be short. It is an inactive lighthouse. It was built in 1890 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was very foggy above the ocean and it was hard to see the rock formations there. After visiting the lighthouse we took a trail to see the Octopus tree. It is a Sitka Spruce tree with branches growing like giant octopus tentacles.
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