October 22, 2013 Tillamook, Oregon

 

In Portland we were parked next to another Country Coach like ours. You don’t see them very often. Rick and Lorraine live in it. They just remodeled the inside.  Got lots of tips. We left Portland and went to Tillamook to stay at another Harvest Host,  the Blue Heron Cheese Company. We got spoiled in Portland with sunshine, Tillamook is on the coast, so we were back in the fog.

At Blue Heron we tasted cheese and Oregon wines and had lunch. They are known for their brie, so we tasted, then bought. I was disappointed to learn that their petty zoo was closed. But they do have some farm animals around to feed the animal food they sell you.

After that we went down the road to visit the Tillamook cheese factory. John seems to have mistaken his belly button for his face at the farm.  Here they are processing the cheese. It is a huge place, they do lots of cheese. The tour is  a self guiding tour, you look in windows at the factory down below and listen to TV monitors telling about the factory.

Here are the cheese fermenter vats . Appears that they have computer controlled cooking vats. Lots and lots of cheese.  After touring we went thru a cheese tasting that was kind of like a cafeteria, you get a toothpick and then walk down past a long line of cheese’s. Then you come to the Ice Creamery. John got one scoop of chocolate peanut butter (He told me it was broccoli-calamari flavor, I wouldn’t like it) which he only let me have two licks of. It was sweet and creamy. 

In town we saw this cow bench near the court house. Very cheesy looking. Then back to our home at the Blue Heron Cheese company for the night. Harvest Hosts let you park for the night free after you partake of their wares if you are a member.

In the  Tillamook cheese gift shop I found some treasures.  Cow Jam, bull shot shot glasses, Tillamook cow purses, Moo-stard premium gourmet mustard, Perhaps my favorite – a moo mixer which you can push the trigger button to create a whirling vortex of power, a cow tipping magnet from Tillamook.

Cowtown cookies-chocolate cow shaped, I am not sure I would wear these I loaf Tillamook cheese sunglasses, a tie dye Peace, Love and Cows magnet, and a cow Drama Queen sign.