Duke and Meyla

Duke and Meyla

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Beach Trip

 A couple weeks ago, when Krista & Jeff were in Finland, Aaron & Chad in Wyoming, and Lucas & Marcus in South Dakota, Brittany and I decided we needed to take a vacation too, and decided on the beach. After some thought, we decided we wouldn't want to go by ourselves so asked Marcus along, which then morphed into Jeff coming too. So we left after the boys got off work on Friday, and came back home on Sunday.
I left my big camera at home, not willing to expose it to the sand and salt water elements of the beach. My little camera was not up to snuff on this trip, so the pictures are greatly lacking in quality-everybody else's iPhones got much better pictures than I got with this camera.

We had to pull over and get some pictures of the sunset on the way down. 


First stop Saturday morning!




 Second stop Saturday was the new and improved Tillamook Creamery/Cheese Factory. Kaia, this picture was for you. I thought it a shame that they would put this cow's ugly mug so prominently above the main entrance, when there are cows like Guernseys out there that would fit the bill so much better. ;) 


Evidently a cow got loose when they were doing the stairs as there were cow tracks the whole way up.


Where they start the cheese making process. 


 Basically if you've been to the cheese factory, you've seen it and it isn't worth going back, except to show your friends that haven't been there. However, I was impressed with the upgrades they did to the viewing area, especially explaining everything step by step, the cheese making process, the science behind salt in cheese, etc. and they now even have signs in the factory to point out the areas that are described on the poster. 


This is the other side of the factory, where the aged cheeses get cut into the right sizes and then packaged according to what type of cheese it is. 


The food area is now much bigger and more organized, with I guess, more options of actual meals-we did not go check it out. 


The dairy product part of the gift shop.


 They now have another barn across the parking lot, called the Farm Experience. It is actually pretty realistic, fake bottle calves bawling and all. 




 I don't know why Jeff got into the Baby Loaf Bus, but I hastily got a picture just as he realized what I was doing and scrambled to get out. Ha! 


 We swung by Fred's for something, and this dog was super upset that we looked at her Jeep! The owners came around the corner just as I took the picture and started going on and on about how nasty she is, how old she is, and how she's super nice everywhere but in the car-nobody, not even the owner's son can get into the car when she's in custody of it. I wouldn't stand for that from a dog, but different strokes for different folks...


 The dairy-free rage is even reaching the far corners of tiny little markets in Cape Kiwanda! I was supes disappointed that they didn't stock single bars in their front ice cream box. :( Jeff and Krista both told me I could easily eat all four before they melted, but I knew that'd be a bad idea!


It was foggy on Saturday, hence the following pictures being gray and sad. 
The beach was crowded, and people were getting stuck every 5 seconds, seemed like. Even fancy cars were down there, trying their luck, finding out they didn't have any luck and getting as stuck as anybody!


 Look at this! The beach has been changing the last few years I've been here, but this is crazy! The tide pools have almost completely disappeared under the sand. 


This is from the other angle, to show how many rocks are left visible. 





Of course we had to conquer the sand hill!


The fog periodically lifted and settled back in while we were there. This was taken during one of the "lifted" times. 


 We thought about going to Mo's for supper, but found something else after seeing this. 


 The others remembered some tide pools in Lincoln City from last year when they'd stayed down there(I didn't go last year), so we went there to look at them and watch the sunset.

Sea anemones.


These tide pools are mainly made up of mussels. 


There were lots of these little sand fish, which according to Google are called Sculpins. 


 I only found two or three small starfish.










We confirmed that this flight of stairs contains 131 steps. 



The cool walkway lights.


It was much better weather on Sunday! I didn't feel like climbing the sand hill again, so Brittany and I just sat and waited for the boys.


With Marcus's bright shirt it wasn't hard to keep track of their movements! 

 





6 comments:

  1. Looks fun :) I was wanting to check out Tillamook when the remodel was done so I'll have to do that sometime! And our family (us kids) just got introduced to tide pools and sea anemones when we went camping a few weeks ago and went to a beach up North :)

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    1. Have you touched one? You aren't properly introduced until you have. ;)

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    2. Yes I did! I even tried with my toe :)

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    3. Good for you! I always touch them, but they always make me shiver-they feel so strange!

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