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Road Trip: Pacific Coast Highway Journey 2012 (PART 2)

After leaving Seaside on our six day trek up and down the Pacific, we headed into Tillamook and our first stop was a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

  


The factory had a self-tour of the cheese-making process and a lot of fun displays to make you feel like you were part of the cheese community.


When we toured the factory the workers were in the process of making and packaging the jalapeno loaf cheese.

We made some Cheese Mail while we were there and sent it back to Skylar for a fun surprise.

The holding tanks for the milk that comes in from the dairy.



Freshly made cheese that will be packaged and then sent to storage for aging.
See the action live HERE.

Quality control of the cheese before it's packaged for sell.

The sample table of the different Tillamook Cheese was delicious!


  
My favorite was the squeaky cheese.


Nothing but endless amounts of cheese!


We just had to sit in the Loaf Bus!

Tillamook also makes some of the best ice cream on the planet and we got a cone-full at the ice cream bar.

I had this kid redo my ice cream cone but with a smile on his face, haha.  Everything is better with a smile! :-)






After leaving the Cheese Factory we headed over to the Tillamook Air Museum.





Helium production back during the World War.

  
So many planes on display. 



Scrap from a military plane crash from the World War II.




The military police bicycle almost looks like an old Huffy from the 80s.

Replica of a military tent.

This Ural bike is similar to the one from the movie "Garden State".  I love it!



PEACE!


John seeing what it's like to be a fighter pilot.



After leaving Tillamook we headed over to Newport and checked in at the Elizabeth Street Inn.  We ended the night with dinner at Mo's at Newport and a birthday beer for John (December 2nd was his birthday after all) at the Rogue Brewery.



The following morning this was our view from the balcony at the Elizabeth Street Inn.

It says not to feed the seagulls from the balcony, but I couldn't resist.



Our hotel room came with a Keurig coffee maker even and we drank a lot of coffee and hot chocolate to warm up from the walks on the beach each day.  The elevator had an eye-catching design on the floor too that was made from river rocks.  It captivated me each time we boarded the elevator to go to the lobby.



The bushes cut in the shape of a chair and other objects.

I loved the lanterns at the hotel next to us.  They seemed so "train-station"-like.

Our walk on the beach was a bit chilly and the rain didn't help much either, but it was still beautiful.

A jellyfish that washed ashore with the tide.

A view of the Inn from the beach. 

Fishing boats at the dock in downtown Newport.


A view, from the jetty, of the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

We made a stop off at the Oregon Coast Aquarium while we were at Newport.


The seals at the aquarium.








The octopus at the aquarium was being shy.




We were there in just enough time to watch the feeding of the otters.  These little guys were my absolute favorite!  They were amazing and so adorable to watch while swimming.  The one pictures above kept putting on a show for me while I was snapping pictures.  He cleaned himself and even did a few flips while we were standing there watching.  He was cute.







We walked inside and got to touch some ocean life like, starfish, amoebas, and even sea crabs in the touch pool.




The anchovy tank was pretty neat.  The little fish kept swimming in a circle in the tank and seemed to be on a mission.



Camouflaged flat fish.

  
I loved the moss on these rocks, they were so pretty and pink it was almost mesmerizing.  The picture to the right is of a real shark mouth.  Of course John had to give a "real life" effect.  Ha!

The Jelly Fish Tanks.




Pacific King Crab!

Sea Horses.




Sea trash!


Shark tunnel.


"If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in water." -Loren Eisley


We ended up leaving the aquarium and coming back after dark for their First Annual Christmas Light Display.



A wonderful display of a seal jumping into the water.  The picture to the right even shows a water splash in lights.  


A heron head door handle that I thought would look awesome on a front door, and a rock fish sitting sideways in the shark tank.

The sting-rays.

Shark!


The Oregon Coast Aquarium Christmas tree was beautiful!

It was a great six days with John and I was so happy that he could spend his first time to Oregon with me and see so many different sites.  The following morning he had to leave for the airport and I was sad to see him go.


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Eco-Tip:  Instead of a yard sale why not consider just donating all used, good, and working items to a local charity.  Donations are always needed at local day cares and school as well.  For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.








    

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