More Pictures along the way - April 13 - Tillamook-Beaverton (Portland)

We started our trip on Sunday with a tour of the Tillamook Cheese plant. I wanted to see this after having Tillamook Cheese on hamburgers at Johnny Rocket Restaurant. Yeah, I know that is a silly reason but we were in the neighborhood, so why not. The Tillamook facility was just a mile down the road from our hotel so it was easy to get to. The cheese was great so of course we had to get some to have on the road and in the room. There is another cheese factory, Blue Heron, up the road from the Tillamook Cheese Company. I am hoping to stop there when we head back to the coast. They make Brie and Diane and I really like that. It would be fun to do some tasting there.Sunday was a cloudy day but still nice for driving and seeing the ocean. The clouds give a very different feel to the ocean.
When we got to Cape Meares, we found out that it is one of the places that Murres, a bird that only comes ashore to nest, where gathering to move to the rocky islands to nest. This gathering of birds in the water is called a RAFT. The Murres have black heads and upper body and the rest of their body is white.

These are the rocky islands (look like big rocks to me) where the Murres nest. These two are the Peak and Pyramid.
Cape Meares Lighthouse. The shortest lighthouse on the Oregon coast. The docent told me the light itself is 240 feet above the water and can be see out to sea 21 miles at the horizon.Diane was outside on the hill and snapped was able to get a picture of me in the lighthouse talking to the docent. The hill behind the lighthouse is at the same level as the light.
Diane found a banana slug on our way up the hill from the lighthouse. Finding a banana slug is one of Diane's objectives when we visit the northwest.
Cape Meares was the first cape along the three cape drive. There really were no good views to capture in a photo at Cape Lookout but at Cape Kiwanda, there were some great views. Here is the town of Cape Kiwanda on the hill overlooking the ocean.
The giant dune to the right of the beach. It was very steep but there people climbing up and sliding down. It looked like a lot of fun.
This is the beach that was at the bottom of the dune. On the right is the boat launch area and on the left is the public beach. There were surfers straight out in the middle of the photo below along the shore. There were also a lot of them in the parking lot getting dressed and standing around in their bathing suits. Diane and I had on heavy jackets and they were half undressed. I guess folks in Oregon are just a tough lot.

Diane with the Kiwanda coast in the background.
After we left Cape Kiwanda we headed cross country to the Portland area. On the way, we stopped at a winery in McMinnville. McMinnville is kind of like the Napa of Oregon. We stopped at the Panther Creek winery right in downtown McMinnville. It is housed in the old gas company building. They don't grow any of their own grapes but buy from vineyards in the area such as Shea, Freedom Hill and Temperence. These are well known vineyards that sell to many of the top wineries in Oregon. Panther Creek has a lease on a block of their vineyards to have the consistency of grapes from the same exact acreage every year. Their Pinot Noirs are very nice. It was nice enough that I had to buy a bottle for later consumption.

Monday the 14th is a day off for us. We are staying in or around the hotel day and catching up on computer work, reading and napping. Time to recharge our batteries. I will post some pictures for the 15th when we get active again. Hope to drive up the Columbia River Valley. It is supposed to be beautiful.