Tuesday Trips: Oregon Coast

On the Fourth we "went to the coast" via Tillamook Cheese Factory Visitors' Center.  That was really enjoyable.  They do have a fabulous new visitors' center where you can look down at the workers making the cheese.  On that walls around you is the story from cow to cheese.  Very interesting.

When you finish the self-guided tour you end up at the cheese-tasting table.  There are five different cheeses to sample, which change.  This time there was medium cheddar, smoked cheddar, pepperjack, black pepper cheddar, and a sharp cheddar.  Hoping not to be rude, but I am more of a fan of Cabot cheese...even though these were fine.  And the Garfield Smokehouse in Meriden, NH makes far superior smoked cheese.

Once you have had your samples you go downstairs where magically you end up in the gift store.  You could spend your entire allowance there in no time flat.  We got smoked cheese and extra sharp cheese then moved on to the ice cream line.   Sadly, they did not have very many flavors but we did buy a Rocky Road single cone which Dear One and I shared.  It was good.  We did not go to the cafe across the hall. Tillamook ice cream for breakfast was enough.

From there we headed south to see if we could find some whales.  And we did!

Our first stop was Boiler Bay. I took lots of photos of "whales" though you cannot tell from the picture. 

Can you spot the whale?  I didn't think so! Very hard to see.

We moved along to Depoe Bay and finally to the Yaquina Light House.  More whales each time.

Can you see it now?  Didn't think so with this one, either.

 It was low tide and the whales barely moved out of the water. We did see lots of "spouts" but they were not what I was expecting.

This you should be able to see!!!  The whale was blowing here.  Not like the whale spouts in the cartoon but still, a pretty nice sight.  These were not humpback whales which are the kind Dear One always saw on the whale watches he took TA students to see off the coast of New England.  I do not know what kind they were.  Apparently they are seen every year from June to September in this particular area.