Soggy Sunday in Oregon

As expected, it was raining when I left Manzanita, OR this morning. And, as forecast, it didn't stop for most of the day. My plan for beach park hikes went out the window, and I instead scheduled indoor activities. The first destination of the day was the visitor center at Tillamook Creamery located in the town of Tillamook. The last time I visited this place was back in 2008, and they opened a brand new visitor center in 2018.

I was very impressed with what I found inside the building. There was interesting information on the dairies that provide the milk that goes into making Tillamook's products and a timeline explaining the history of the company. Here is a brush that the cows can rub against, similar to what cats use to do the same thing.

Of course, the highlight was the factory floor where Tillamook's famous cheese is made. It being a Sunday, the main operation was idle, but there were still some dedicated workers packaging cheese and doing quality control.

Before leaving, I sampled some cheese and bought a few things in the gift shop...no cheese though. I just started my road trip and have no way to keep cheese fresh for two weeks! Afterward, I spent the rest of the morning at the Tillamook Air Museum. Again, the last time I visited this museum was in 2008, and I recalled seeing some nice aircraft. This time around, the planes were somewhat sparse and I left the place rather quickly. The displays, photos and the original wooden blimp hanger that housed the museum was interesting, though.

It was still raining in the afternoon when I went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. I don't always like aquariums, but this one had a nice collection of marine animals. I've never seen starfish in the wild, and they had some huge ones! The longhorn boxfish were really cute, and I loved watching the tufted and horned puffins.

By the time I left the aquarium, the sun was peeking through the clouds and the rain had stopped. I had just enough time to check out the Darlingtonia State Natural Site just north of Florence. I'll give you one guess what year I last stopped here. Yep, 2008!

Darlingtonia refers to the scientific name of the pitcher plants found there, Darlingtonia californica...also known as the cobra lily. Well, no rain in the forecast tomorrow! Which means I'll be back to doing fun outdoors stuff! Yay!