After a couple of quieter days to recharge the batteries we decided to head north on 101 which we will be traversing later in the week as we make our way to Portland but probably won’t have time to explore en route. We travelled at a leisurely pace as there was so much to see along this picturesque coast with view points and trailheads at every turn.
I’ll post some of my favourites which in no way do justice to the actual scenery….
Beautiful Devil’s Punchbowl State Park
Innovative use of buoys
Cape Meares
On this day the sea fog persisted for most of our journey but serendipitously would always seem to clear when we reached a view point!
Cape Meares Lighthouse
A couple of locals visiting
Near Oceanside
The furthest north we reached on this day was Tillamook.
The Tillamook economy is based primarily on dairy farms. The farmland surrounding the city is used for grazing the milk cattle that supply the Tillamook Creamery’s production of cheese, gourmet ice cream and yogurt, and other dairy products. Approximately one million people per year visit this excellent facility with huge windows into the production area and interpretive panels and video to demystify whole process of cheese making. This year we were two of them!
The free cheese sampling was ok but the highlight was the two mega serves of ice cream that would bought for afternoon tea before heading back on the road again…
And so we headed south again after a huge day. Late in the day had it’s advantages though and we stopped for yet more awesome vistas en route before reaching home just on sunset.
Yaquina Head Lighthouse in the distance, late afternoon