Dairy, Dories and Dirigibles

We've enjoyed four days of sunshine here in Tillamook, OR, the early mornings were very cool in the 30's but the sun was nice to see.  This  is where the Tillamook Cheese Factory has it headquarters and visitors center.  Dairy farms have been here for years before the cheese factory and it has been here since 1909, the farmers had more milk and butter than they could use and so they hired a cheddar cheese maker and the rest is history.  The farmers found this area perfect for their dairy cows as the grass is always green, they do have to truck in some feed but otherwise the area is perfect.  There is also the Blue Heron Cheese Co they make brie cheese.

 

We also hit the beaches and did some beachcombing.  The beach in Pacific City is famous for it's Dory boats and charters.  These boats just run up onto the beach so watch out surfers and beachcombers.

We were seeing a couple of vintage warplanes flying around as we visited the overlooks and beaches so we stopped by the Tillamook Air Museum.  It has a fascinating history of being one of 8 dirigible hangers left in the U.S., it was used during WWII and the dirigibles kept watch for enemy submarines.  The museum has 30 vintage warplanes all in flying condition the sad part is the museum is closing in the next year and the planes are being moved to central OR.  We didn't go in to see the planes but enjoyed seeing the hanger and the planes that were sitting out.

The state parks are free and the shortest lighthouse is at Cape Meares SP, we stopped at several parks along hwy 101 to enjoy the beaches .

 

Photo taken at Pacific Beach.

There is a great little Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook and the city has a quilt square trail all through the town and around the country.

It's was fun looking for all the painted squares.

The strange weather that hit the Midwest this week has us thinking that maybe we should start heading east and south before a big winter storm hits the high country.