Last few Coast Shots

I’ve recently returned from Arizona to do a ton of visiting and exploring and photographing. Before I show you all those scenes, I want to finish up with Pedro’s birthday weekend near Tillamook, Oregon.

For anyone who missed the first yurt post, I explained that I reserved two nights at a pretty cool, mostly private yurt on Tillamook Bay to celebrate his birthday. Though I made these reservations an entire year in advance, and we never could have predicted the weather, we had remarkably fabulous weather that weekend. Here are a few Friday shots I didn’t post:

Saturday morning was foggy and cloudy and a little drizzly. We had to search for a while to find a breakfast place, which surprised us for a weekend at the coast – a typical vacation weekend place for Portlanders. We tried the bay first, thinking seafood breakfast, but everything was closed. We finally found an open diner/bar in Bay City.

After breakfast, we hiked Cape Meares, which was in my last post.

During our hike at Cape Meares we had worked up an appetite for beer. We drove back into Tillamook, and found a place called de Garde, where they serve beers the like I have not heard of. They say they use natural yeasts instead of lab yeasts, and they put great effort into cultivating local flavors of things like berries, mosses, and soils of the region. They say the beers take 6 months to 5 years to ferment. We each tried two, and they were ok. Some too sour for my taste, but that’s personal preference. I have never liked sour beers. Very interesting though, and I’m glad we checked it out.

After our hike at Cape Meares, and then beers at de Garde, we went back to the yurt for dinner. I had planned some great meals and brought all the food with us and used the little kitchen to prepare them. After we ate, we went back outside to enjoy the setting sun over the bay.

Sunday morning we went to the Tillamook Air Museum, which is a neat stop for anyone in the area. It was a very cold day and the museum is in a WWII-era blimp hangar with lots of drafts. It was also pouring rain (the usual February weather) while we were inside, so it was not only freezing, but also very wet, as the aging structure allowed rain to enter via leaks throughout the roof, and form small lakes inside the hangar. All this to say, I was content mostly just to look, keep my fingers warm in my pockets, and not take photos.

Our one last stop was the Blue Heron Creamery, which I had never visited. But I had heard about their award-winning cheeses and was excited to go see what they had to offer and possibly try some. I should have done my homework first, because Blue Heron apparently only makes a couple varieties of brie – and I love brie! – but this very large campus was not about brie cheese.

There is camping, RV parking, a petting zoo, and an enormous gift shop selling everything under the sun. I had to ask an employee where the cheese was, and she gave me instructions to find it. When I got there, I saw mostly cheese from other companies being sold, and a couple of brie rounds from Blue Heron. It was totally unexpected and I had not been prepared for Jams and Jellies, T-shirts, a candy store, a wine shop, a deli, etc etc. I was overwhelmed and suggested we just leave. So we did. I did like this sculpture outside the front door though:

I think it would be an excellent stop in early December, to find Christmas gifts. I also think it would be great for vacationing families that need to provide something for everyone. It’s a fun atmosphere, chickens roam the property freely, and we got a kick out of them. For cheese connoisseurs, skip this place and go to the Tillamook Creamery instead, or just purchase your Blue Heron products online.

That’s it folks! Next up: Arizona! And a little update report for those who know Marlene, at insearchofitall, my friend who was the reason for my visit. ❤