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Saturday, July 7, 2012

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
.

30 comments:

  1. Nice visit. I like the air horn photo, very "artsy".

    I tried getting one of those diesel Land Rover 109 wagons but the owner decided he didn't want to sell...

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    1. Thanks Richard, I liked the air horn picture too.

      It was great seeing you tonight and catching up. Have a safe journey to the reunion and we'll see you in Baker City.

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  2. Thanks for posting the picture of the Allis-Chalmers WD-45. I can hope that my little "B" looks that good some day. I can't quite tell if the item above that photo is an air compressor (if it is there's no visible air storage tank), or an electric generator? I'm leaning toward a generator. It looks like interesting collections at both the Blue Heron and the Museum.

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    1. You are welcome. I thought you might like the tractor picture.

      Brad thought the other rig was a generator of some sort too.

      Delete
  3. Trobairitz - this is my kind of thing, I love going to little places and exploring museums. Heavenly day! Love the pictures, I am definitely going to have to come to Oregon some day.

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    Replies
    1. It was fun to just putter around and look at everything. If we go through Tillamook it is usually on the way somewhere else so it was nice to stop and take a look see.

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  4. Cool museum! Love the old vehicles, the donkeys (both kinds) and the Landrover (Dad had a '59 we used to tow the boat with and I learned to drive in it).

    I'm sure the little (sorry, being a cheeky kiwi who works in the Dairy industry) cheese factory was interesting too...

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    Replies
    1. I didn't know you worked in the dairy industry. I went inside the little cheese factory (Blue Heron) too but they don't have the cheese making facilities in view. They were really busy too as they have a coffee shop, full deli and wine & cheese tasting. I wandered around and looked at a few things, but there were too many people around.

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  5. Looks like you had a lovely day Brandy. Love that museum, small town museums are so interesting sometimes and that one looks like it had some gems. I have to wonder about the beaver's teeth tho, they aren't normally bright orange are they? Kidding, they are impressive arent they tho!!

    Now I wouldn't have been able to help myself, I would have been lined up for the cheese first then explored the paddocks. Love the photos of the old truck!!

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    1. There were people lined up for tasting at both factories. Cheese is big around here. We used to be cheese hounds too before going vegan. It was the hardest to give up.

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  6. I loved the cow bench. How neat was that!

    Mmmmmm cheese.

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    1. Someone put a lot of work into that bench, especially knitting the hat, lol.

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  7. Once again, thank you for the trip. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway- wish I could be there.

    We have marshmallows here, too. I hear they are good for the dairy cattle to eat- it makes their milk sweeter. And it also facilitates the making of better chocolate milk. ;^ )

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    1. I am sure it does make the milk sweeter. I wonder what udder the chocolate milk comes out of and does it only come from brown cows? I'll have to ask next time. :-)

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  8. Hiya Brandy,
    Great photo's you have posted, London Bus LOL.
    I showed the one of the Cow Bench to my wife, she say's she will Knit it a Scarf to go with the Hat......

    All the best TT

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    1. Thanks Tony. I was surprised to see the London bus at the cheese company. I laughed when I saw the knitted hat, maybe he does need a scarf. Hmmmmm

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  9. Great photos - and I'm impressed with your lack of interest in cheese, that was (is) the hardest thing for me to give up when transitioning from Veggie to Vegan.

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    1. Cheese was the hardest for us to give up too. It can be done. It was like trying to kick an addiction, not so bad now since it has been almost 1 year. At least we have access to some pretty good alternatives such as Daiya and Tofutti (un) cream cheese)

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  10. Great pics! And you had such a pretty, blue-sky backdrop. LOVE the cow bench. There was only one thing missing from your pics. Me, laying on it for a photo shoot! LOL. Seriously, I love all of the pics. Thanks for taking me along. Looks like a very cool place. And I loved Brad's marshmallow farm post.

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    1. Ha you'd be great posing on the bench. Now if only I could find a frog bench too. I lucked out when the sun came out Sunday. I too laughed at the marshmallow post. We saw them on the way to Tillamook and had to stop special on the way back. They were too funny to resist.

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  11. The cow bench is definitely my favourite. You certainly lucked out with the weather, and got to see stuff. One man's junk is another man's exhibit. I am not one for rusty old tractors and the likes but I love the red London bus.

    The words 'cheese' and 'factory' in one sentence make me shudder. Cheese making is an art and should be done by hand. I used to visit family run dairy farms in Switzerland, France and Germany and bought real homemade cheese. Sigh. Since my becoming vegetarian and dairy free, cheese is off the menu. Like El Diente said, the hardest thing to give up.

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    1. Yeah factory cheese doesn't sound great. The Blue Heron calls themselves a company instead of factory because I think they are smaller and in turn do smaller batches.

      We have several local artisans who make homemade cheese and sell it at the farmers market. I am sure it tastes great, but like you it is off my menu, and the hardest to say goodbye to.

      Delete
  12. That seems like a very full day! The Allis-Chalmers is like the one my uncle had. Its name was Sampson.
    ~Keith

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    1. It was a full day. We were tired by the time we got home.

      Sampson seems like a great name for a tractor.

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  13. Replies
    1. It was, but probably not as much fun as the traveling you are doing now.

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  14. Trobairitz:

    I remember going into the Tillamook Cheese factory a long time ago and looked down at the workers. The day we went it wasn't busy at all and their store was nearly empty. We walked around sampling all the different cheese's. We like cheese but haven't had much lately.

    at least you had a relaxing day to explore, while waiting . . .

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

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    1. You are lucky that it was nearly empty. I think it if they are open nowadays they are busy.

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  15. Thanks for the clarification, I was trying to figure out if that was a real knitted cap on the cow...until I read that you wrote it was. Too cute.

    The Pioneer museum has me puzzled, but only in the sense that is has been a museum since 1935? It always makes me wonder why it was the courthouse for only 27 years?

    Thanks for the tour of everything!

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  16. Thanks for sharing all that antique machinery, very cool. That Land Rover 110 is a particular obsession of mine.

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