Wed Jul 8 -9- Morning in Eugene - Tillamool Cheese Factory - Cannon Beach - the way to Portland

So this morning we had breakfast in Eugene at Studio One Cafe.  Last night, we were in an area called The Wit (Whitaker), this morning was not too far from that. The place reminded us of Paper Moon in the Remington area of Baltimore.  Not quite as funky, but the same spirit.  Last night I chose this place after looking at Trip Advisor.  This morning, Janice checked it out and darn if someone had not posted a terrible review the night before - presumably right after I checked!  We went anyway.  Janice mentioned the Trip Advisor thing to the waitress and sure enough, the owner was at our table side within a few mnutes.  The POWER of Trip Advisor!  Breakfast was good (CARB OVERLOAD!).

We left for the coast.  We decided to go directly to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  It took about 3 hours to get there.  It was worth it!  Tillamook makes great cheddar cheese and other dairy products - especially ice cream.  We did not get to see cheese actually being made, but we did see huge blocks of cheese (41-42 LB blocks) being wrapped and boxed and sent to storage.  


They age it for periods of 60 days to 3 years.  After it's ready, we saw how the cheese is processed through the factory floor.  Pretty interesting single purpose machinces, and still a lot of people doing set up, pushing the process as needed, and quality control.  There is a sampling bar for the cheeses.  It's self paced, so you can go through the line as many times as you like.  Cubes of cheese, 6 kinds, you sample with toothpicks.  But the real highlight is the ICE CREAM.  You purchase it.  They make it there, fresh and delicious.  About 38-40 flavors.  $3.55 gets you a 3 scoop sampler - which ends up being about a quart of ice cream!  Neither Janice nor I could finish our samplers!
So we left Tillamook and took off for Cannon Beach.  This was mostly along the coastal road - great views of the Pacific.

Cannon Beach

We pulled into Cannon Beach and claimed our room at the Blue Gull.  Room 8.  The room was relatively small, but comfortable.  A large rectangle maybe 30 by 12, divided into the bedroom (22X12 and the bathroon (8X8),  There was a Jacuzi tub and Janice took a bath.  It took a bit to figure out to work it right.  The tub stopper didn't work - I fixed it.

We settled in and decided to skip dinner - we were still full from the ice cream!  Instead we took a walk on the beach.  We headed south to Haystack Rock and the Needles.  People at a hotel just south of us were making fires on the beach.  Or so we thought.  Turns out their hotel provided the wood and had a person start the fires for them.  Was a nice effect on the beach.  The sun set a little after 9 PM, but it was really too overcast to see it. We walked a little more then sat on a bench by the beach and just relaxed.
Back to the room.  Hand carved wooden furniture and a beautiful wooden headboard.  Unfortunately, the bed was not very comfortable.  Way too soft!

Thursday - July 9
We had breakfast at a Pig&Pancake.  Not bad, but nothing special.  The town though was kind of special. Interesting shops, unique artwork, all kinds of wonderful smells - but we had already eaten.
We took off for Portland!  Kind of neat to know we would soon convene with our Baltimore friends.  The Shapiros, the Zonies and the Leikachs - all left the east, all went different paths in the west to converge on Portland.
We made one more stop - for lunch.  Camp 18 Logging Museum and Restaurant.

Very cool place.  Food was just OK, but the place was unique.
Thanks to Roger Sherr who told me about Cannon City and Camp 18.