Traipsing Through Tillamook - Day Two

** I've been having issues with Blogger - the first time I posted this today,it saved as a draft instead.  The second time I posted it cut it off part way and I didn't realize it until a few minutes ago.  Finished it for the third time - hopefully third time lucky and it is all there now.

Troubadour is out on a dual sport ride with some friends today so I figured it was a good opportunity to finish up my posts on Tillamook.

Sunday morning brought a challenge when it came to breakfast.  It wasn't that the hotel didn't offer anything in their continental breakfast, but by 9:00 am it had been picked over enough there wasn't any vegan offerings and it was too busy and crowded in there for us.  We had some bananas and strawberries in the room and then walked to Starbucks for coffee and had a muffin from Fred Meyer.  luckily they have a pretty good natural food section.

We packed up the room and were checked out by 10:45 am.  Troubadour had to be out on the range by 11:15.

By the time I dropped him off the sun was shining and it was warming up.  I had over five hours to putter around and my first stop was the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum.

When I arrived at the museum I noticed across the street was a bench shaped like a cow.

(Cow bench - complete with knitted hat)

(Backside of cow bench)

(A good place to rest perhaps)

(Tillamook County Pioneer Museum)

(Originally the Tillamook County Courthouse when built in 1905 until 1932.
Established as a museum in 1935)

They had many different rooms in the museum such as the Military Room, Pioneer Room, Native American Room, Transportation, Victoria Room, and Everyday Pioneer Life.

(Native American beaded gauntlet gloves, Circa 1910)

(Homestead Certificate #5221 issued to Nils Anderson signed May 16, 1898
under the hand of President William McKinley)

(One heavy pioneer wrench)

(Lugar - Pearl-handled officer's gun used by German Troops in WW I and II)

(Civil War medal issued to D.D. Austin, a captain in the Union Army)

(Ever wonder how a beaver can chew through a tree?)

(Victorian Chandelier - unknown year)

(Black - laced shoes sold by Haltom's Dept Store in 1915)
(Ivory - high topped shoes with modest french heels bought in 1911 at Pennington's Store)

(Stage coach made in 1906 for the Trask River Toll Road, last run was Dec 31, 1911)

(Model 1909 Buick, bought by Cyrus Randall for $1,000)

(Model 1902 Holsman, P.W Todd bought it in California for $1,100 and shipped to Oregon via boat)

(All  three in a row)

(1925 Maytag washing machine - came with a gasoline engine)

(Coffee Mill - love the iron work)

(Moonshine still)

(1896 Kodak folding 4x5 #4 cartridge camera)

(Telephone with 1919 Tillamook telephone directory)

(Butter churn bought new in 1905 and used by Chas Johnson on his farm on the Nestucca river)

(Leg push/pull milking machine made by Mekring Miller of Maryland)

(Steam donkey - Tacoma Wide faced Yarder)

(What is a steam donkey you ask?)

From the pioneer museum I headed a few miles north to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company.  Not because I have any interest in cheese, but because of the farm animals I could see and also the old vehicles on display.

(Blue Heron French Cheese Company, Tillamook, OR)

The animals......

And the cool old vehicles and farm implements.

(Land Rover diesel four-wheel drive station wagon)

(a little rusty)

(I am not sure what this was used for)

(Allis-Chalmers tractor - for you Erik)

(Old logging truck)

(Logging truck, Corvallis Fire Dept tanker, and double decker tour bus)

(Such an odd sight to see on the farm - and with Idaho license plates)

(A different rig - not much left of it)

After leaving I headed to the Tillamook Cheese Factory a mile or two up the road.  The first time we were there was in 1994 and it was a lot different.  Less people and less commercialized.  You could actually see in the vats from the observation decks and see staff stirring vats of curds and whey by hand.  Not so much any more.

(Tillamook Cheese Factory, Tillamook, OR)

(vats of cheese in the making)

(Packaging big blocks of cheese to age)

(packaging and weighing)

(Quality control?  Checking weight?)

After leaving the observation area I wandered by the cheese sample area and the dozens of people lined up for free samples of cheese. Sure glad I wasn't interested in that. I walked by two ice cream parlors and a deli and into the gift shop.  In the gift shop I saw this sign and thought it went well with my sense of fashion.

(Ahhhhh Gilda - a women after my own heart)

I still had a few hours before picking up Troubadour so I had a protein bar for lunch then stopped by Starbucks for an iced black tea lemonade.  I played a few games on the iPad and then drove to the range to wait.  He was finished about 5 pm and we had a little picnic dinner of hummus, pita chips and crunchy veggies.

I volunteered to drive home figuring he'd be knackered from teaching all weekend.  He did ask me to stop a few times on the way home to take pictures.  If you haven't seen it, check out his post on the marshmallow farms.  Click link here ---->  link.

- Au Revoir

" Set out from any point.  They are all alike.  They all lead to a point of departure." - Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish
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