Salem Day Two - Saturday, October 5

I had another wonderful night's sleep! Breakfast was leftover egg bake and zucchini bread—I'm truly being pampered!

The day began with a bit of drizzle and fog, but Dee promised this was common and usually burned off late morning. On our way to Tillamook, about an hour and a half on winding, narrow roads, the sun came out and we were treated to a beautiful day!

Our first destination was the Tilamook Creamery. Holly joked that when she was here before with her friend they were here over 3 hours. I think we matched that. What a great place! 

We got there around lunchtime, so we kicked things off with a meal. This also gave us time to digest before indulging in ice cream! I opted for their take on Poutine, which included fries, cheese curds, fried pork belly, roasted tomatoes, and cheese sauce, accompanied by chocolate milk. Dee chose pizza, while Holly went for the mac and cheese. Everything was delicious! Dee also tried a fountain soda with various flavors; we sampled each one. They seemed to prefer the lemongrass flavor, not a fan. Personally, I preferred the root beer.

We did the self-guided tour. The creamery, a coop of approximately 90 local dairy farms, all within a 70-mile radius. There was an area on dairy farming; however, being farm experts ourselves, we didn't linger there. The tour featured windows overlooking the production area, with informative signs detailing the processes observed. Also a short video of their products.

Dee and Holly were dawdling, and by the time they reached the production floor, everyone had gone on a break. We chose to continue on and return once they were back. Our next destination was the free samples section, which offered three varieties of cheese, each individually packaged. This was convenient since we were still a bit full and could easily take them along with us.

Walked around their cute gift shop. They had ice cream coozies which hold a pint of ice cream and is supposed to keep if frozen. What a great idea! For $45 though I wasn't willing to test it out. I got a t-shirt and a couple postcards. 

Decided we were ready for ice cream. They had ice cream flights - one of my favorite kinds of flights!!! Although we realized you could get a triple dip cone for cheaper than the three scoop flight we still all opted for the flight. I sampled Oregon Strawberry, Campfire Peanut Butter Cup, and Waffle Cone Explosion. I think my favorite was the Waffle Cone Explosion.

After our ice cream we headed back up to the production floor to check out the workers but once again they were on break. I think they must go on break every hour but if you are just staring at cheese you need a lot of breaks or your eyes would go buggy! 
Left Tilamook for the coast. Our destination was Cape Lookout, about a half hour drive. What a beautiful place! The waves were rolling in and a little fog along the coast. I could just wander and listen to the crashing waves all afternoon, which we basically did. 

There were all these jelly things along the beach. I wondered if they were jelly fish but they are not. They are a protective sack with some type of snail eggs. Gross!

After leaving the beach we headed back to Holly's for a relaxing evening. Watched the first couple episodes of new season of The Great British Baking Show. Love that show!

Another amazing vacation day!!! Holly is an amazing hostess!!!