Cannon Beach and Tillamook Cheese Factory (5 Jul 2009)

5th of July 2009, it was my first Sunday in Oregon, SL had planned for my trip by travelled to Cannon Beach and Tillamook, they are at the west of Hillsboro and needed to take about 1 to 2 hours driving to each places, we decided to spend our morning at Cannon Beach and afternoon at Tillamook as we thought it wouldn't too hot at beach during morning.

On the way to Cannon Beach, we saw a lot of beautiful scene along the road, I love Oregon so much, just as my visa interviewer said, Oregon is a beautiful state and I will love it. Just as SL told me that pine tree is the significant symbol of Oregon, where their car plate could see a pine tree picture there, I could see pine trees are line up on the street to Cannon Beach, they are tall and neaty, I couldn't stop my amasement on them, they made me felt fresh and happy.

Of course, we did have some stops before we reached to Cannon Beach, just to enjoy ourselves with greeny and beautiful view, but our camera is too narrow of sight for capture a full view of this beautiful scenery, this is only can be experienced for personally attend on the spot.











Finally, we arrived to Cannon Beach after about 1.5 hours of driving from Hillsboro, but we never thought weather would change extremely from hot at 90 plus F at the day before to 50 plus F at this day, therefore we didn't prepare any extra cloth for this trip except a thin jacket from me.

On this day, SL wore short sleeve T-shirt and I just wore a short, until we both were feeling so cold and trembling at the seaside. At last, we didn't stay long at Cannon Beach due to coldness by just taking a few pictures there, this wasn't what we really planned to do, but we really couldn't bear with cold wind longer :)







After short stay at Cannon Beach, SL and I were on our way to Tillamook, and there we had chance to stop at some viewpoint to take some pictures for the beach from far view :)



While we were on the way, I saw a village named as Nahelem, this recalls me a project of our company, so that I requested SL for a stop there. While we were walking at the village, I couldn't help to take pictures for it because there is so beautiful, I always like a place with some water (lake, river, stream, etc), because this makes me feel live there and beautiful. Therefore, I can't stop to tell SL this is really a good place for retirement, for its peaceful and beautiful scence, where people can totally relax there.







After another an hour driving, SL and I arrived to Tillamook Cheese Factory eventually, there was full of crowd, I couldn't imagine there is a hotspot for visitors. Tillamook Cheese Factory is opened for all visitors everyday (except Thanksgiving and Christmas), where we can see the cheesemaking process nad packing process there, I think this is a nice educational trip to me. Also, we could have some chesee testing at the end of self-guided tour.

The factory is established at 1909 and this year is their 100th anniversary, this is really memorable year for them, I think it is a successful factory as it would be hard for a factory to remain operating after 100 years of growing.











At the end of tour, we were abled to taste five different flavours of cheese, that I like Medium Cheddar and Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar flavours the most, therefore we bought them with a Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar for our shopping items :)





Thereafter, we had our lunch in the factory's cafe, which is a sandwich with chips, and we never forgot to get another well known product from the factory, that is ice cream, we got two scoops of mint chocolate chip and wild mountain blackberry, they both are delicious. Well, we shared the sandwich, we were satisfied with the amount though it looks small.

Then, we just backed to home after our factory visit and it took us about two hours to get home, but it was a pleasure trip :D



Tillamook Website: http://www.tillamookcheese.com/

Extra information - something about our cheese, which I got them from Tillamook website :)

Medium Cheddar

Tillamook Medium Cheddar is aged over 60 days to develop its rich, creamy, smooth flavor.
Enjoy it as a quick and delicious snack, layered in your favorite sandwich or as a tasty addition to your favorite main dish.

Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar

Tillamook Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar is aged over 15 months to give it the most robust, most complex flavor of the yellow cheddars. We recommend it for gourmet side dishes, as a complement to smoked salmon on a cheese board and as a must-have ingredient in homemade sauces.

Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar

Tillamook Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar is aged for over two years, the longest of all our cheddars. This patience makes possible the cheese’s strikingly mature, award-winning flavor. This is the sharpest of our cheeses, and slightly crumbly, it’s a perfect companion to fruit and wine.