A Cheesy Place to Land-Tillamook, OR

August 26 through 29 finds us at the Tillamook Bay RV Park near the air museum and airport south of town. This is a dry camping site with plenty of room between neighboring RV rigs. Our solar system allows us to charge the batteries during the day so we don't need the generator for our power needs.

Day 1: Friday night we did a recon and drove north to downtown Tillamook past the famous creamery to Garibaldi on the north end of Tillamook Bay for dinner. I had fish and chips, Karen had a Bay Shrimp salad at Kelley's Place at the Smokestack. This cash only and no minors allowed bar & grill on the water was busy. The food was good but the place was noisy.

Day 2: Saturday started with a trip to the downtown Tillamook farmer's market for some veggies and cherries. Next it was onto the famous Tillamook creamery for the self-guided tour and some cheese samples.

It was too early for lunch so we headed to Cape Meares State Park to see the lighthouse. The Cape Meares Lighthouse used a 1-ton hand-ground, Crystal Fresnel lens! It's only one of two French eight-sided lights in the United States - the other is in Hawaii.

One of the unusual oddities was the Octopus Tree. The forces that shaped this unique Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) have been debated for many years. Whether natural events or possibly Native Americans were the cause remains a mystery. The tree measures more than 46 feet in circumference and has no central trunk. Instead, limbs extend horizontally from the base as much as 16 feet before turning upward. It is 105 feet tall and is estimated to be 250 to 300 years old.

From there we drove to Netarts on the bay for lunch, followed by a drive south to check out the Cape Lookout State Park venue.

Day 3: Sunday started with church. We attended the Tillamook Christian Church service at 9 AM followed by a trip to Safeway for groceries and some lunch items. After lunch I enjoyed a nap and Karen read her book. Our afternoon sightseeing was to the mood Air Museum across the airfield from our RV location. This was originally the Tillamook Naval United States Navel Air Station Tillamook operated from 1942 to 1946. This station was built for Navy airship used for reconnaissance and convoy escort duty during the second world war.