Our Vacation - Day 2

Day two of our vacation was spent on the Oregon coast. It's absolutely gorgeous out there! It's very much like the Northern California coast - very lush and green, with rocky shores and coarse sand. It's also a little more chilly and cloudy than inland, which I'm used to, having been to Northern California coastal areas many times.

Our first stop on the coast was Tillamook, OR to visit the Tillamook Cheese factory. It was a must-see for both of us, we have been nicknamed "cheese heads" by his family.

True story - one time my Mom got a 3lb block of sharp cheddar (sealed in red wax, so you know it was good) as a gift and gave it to us. She doesn't like cheese, poor thing. You know how long it took us to eat that entire block? Less than two weeks. Yes, we love cheese. :-)

Anycheesehead, we loved our visit there. We did the self-guided tour of the factory to see how cheese is made. We sampled cheese and discovered a new favorite - Garlic Chili Pepper Cheddar (which, if you find it at a store, will you let me know? I am craving it!). We ate lunch at the cafe - Grilled Cheese sandwiches, what else? :-) We also got Tillamook ice cream!

Tillamook Ice Cream - The BF's is Mountain Huckleberry, mine is Oregon Strawberry. We wanted to try the regional flavors.

The Tillamook Loaf Bus!

Grilled cheese with swiss and cheddar, with a side of tots!

Sampling the amazing cheese. I think we ate more than our fair share. :-)

The factory. It's a great place to stop on the coast! And best of all, the tour is free! I think we spent a total of $20 on ice cream and lunch, so pretty cheap too. :-)

Next we drove up Highway 101 with the goal of stopping in Astoria, OR. Yes, that's where the Goonies was filmed. We heard it was a cool town and near the highway we needed to get back to Portland. We stopped at Manhattan Beach on the way and crashed what looked to be a middle-school field trip. Whoops.

Manhattan Beach, OR.

Some Vista Point stop on Highway 101.

Isn't this gorgeous?

Once we got to Astoria, we walked along the waterfront and nearly got run over by a trolley; drove into the "downtown" area and ran multiple red lights; and finally landed at the Rogue Taphouse on the pier, where we sampled beer and munched on chips and salsa.

The beer menu and taps. They gave samples too, so you could try it before ordering a pint. Very personable bartenders too! I highly suggest eating at a Rogue brewery - the beer is amazing!

My $6 beer sampler. My favorites: Chocolate Stout (far left) and Captain Sig's (far right).

Astoria waterfront

After the two hour drive back to Portland, we went to a well-known Oregon restaurant chain, McMenamins, for dinner. Worst service ever, but the food was fab. The location of the one we went to in Hillsboro was gorgeous! They had a great outdoor seating area with fire pits and space heaters and trails to walk around the grounds. It was a great way to end our day!

Have you been to the Oregon coast? Is there anything we should have done or seen that we missed?