Today, we got a jump start on the crowds at Tillamook Creamery, and had a lovely time eating and buying more delicious crackers, in particular Rainforest Crisps, coming in two flavors at the creamery. We then headed to yet another laundromat (one night of clean bedding ruined by a barfing cat) where I learned a trick with public dryers. If you press the start and chosen temperature buttons at the same time, the display will read the actual temperature inside the dryer. Wow – news to me and very important knowledge:) We were trying to maneuver to a grocery store when we saw the sign for…you guessed it—another lighthouse! After a visit to the Cape Meares Lighthouse and then a grocery store, we returned to camp with a side purchase of fresh cherries (the best he’s ever had according to Tony) from a roadside stand and a quick stop for more salt water taffy.

Tillamook Creamery

Tillamook Creamery is a lovely place to visit for cheese lovers, if you avoid the weekend and afternoon crowds. Monday morning was perfect. We skipped breakfast in the van and ordered grilled cheese, tomato soup and mac & cheese the creamery’s restaurant. All three items were delicious and this was the first tomato soup we had ever had with cheese curds added to it. Nice touch!

We then went upstairs to see how the cheese gets made, purchased some more cheese and crackers to take to Dad’s house, and enjoyed an ice cream flight that we shared. Their $9 flight comes with three sizable scoops of your choice and the tough part is the choosing. Chocolate peanut butter, chocolate brownie and strawberries and cream were my choices – Tony said, “whatever will be fine—how can you go wrong?”

Cape Meares Lighthouse and Octopus Tree

The unplanned drive out to Cape Meares was very scenic with 12% grades on some parts. We had to go over a mountain and down the other side to the cliff that the lighthouse sits on. We didn’t get to go in the lighthouse as it was closed for lunch just as we arrived at 2:00 PM, but the area is a beautiful place to walk around and explore. The Oregon Coast Trail travels through here. An octopus tree is on the signs, and is an impressive Sitka Spruce with several large branches spreading out from the base for a 46-foot circumference. At the end of the octopus trail is a group of sea stacks with arches.