Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #998 - Tillamook Trip

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #998 - Tillamook Trip

Hi Mom, The long-awaited Tillamook trip report, over a week in the making!

I made this while listening to THE MONDAY GRAVEYARD.

After I recovered from the plague for the second time, made more severe by the work of the anti-biotics to clear my system, my traveling companion and I rescheduled our plans and decided to head over to the Oregon Coast, to see Tillamook and maybe visit some wineries. We booked a hotel in Rockaway Beach and after I packed in some work time Saturday morning, we left. I took my laptop with me, but I did not fire it up for the two days we were gone. I did some work when I got home Sunday night as it was the last day of the term for those classes, and I needed to be present.

So, we headed out the morning of April 10th for our April 10th-11th adventure.

We had two routes to choose from because of the bridges across the Columbia River. We could either go up to Longview and down the coast, or we could go through Portland and cut through the Tillamook State Forest. We chose the latter.

This route takes us down 26 to highway 6, which goes through the Tillamook State Forest. We had no idea what to expect or what we would find. We didn't even know that the area was a little mountainous and rises to an elevation of around 1500 feet. We're also driving toward the coast, which means driving down to sea level, ultimately.

When I saw signs for the Tillamook Forest Center and bathrooms, I figured this would be just a somewhat rustic rest stop. When I saw the big building with its gift shop and museum, I still did not realize what it was and what it featured. We walked through the museum and at the back the center opened on a bridge across the Wilson River and a hiking trail, which we learned from an intrepid traveler is a 47-mile trail through the forest, part of which goes under a waterfall.

We live in an amazing place, like something out of a fantasy novel.

This is the bridge across the Wilson River found behind the Tillamook Forest Center.

picture by L.

The Wilson River.

After we came into Tillamook, we ate lunch at the Pelican Brewing Company.

I am eating LOTS of clam chowder lately.










After lunch, we stopped at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company for some wine tasting.
I liked this line on the bottle: "More wine; less ego." The Disruption wine was one of my favorites, also.

And then we started the drive to our motel in Rockaway Beach.

Note for future trips: we should investigate locations more thoroughly. My traveling companion was less than enthusiastic about the town.

We stayed at the Silver Sands Motel. It was nice enough compared to many places I saw or stayed in on our trip west. But it's definitely not "high end."

But enroute, some of her pictures, like the next three especially are awesome. This first one is of interesting mud flats along the drive.

by L.

by L.

by L.

And now, these are photos I took....

I have always liked rocks. I am always trying to find nice textures for backgrounds or banner photos.

Then I had some Oysters hand harvested from Netarts Bay. We learned that salt harvested from the bay is among the best as it is fed by only one fresh water stream, so the water is almost 100% salt water. Jacobsen Salt Co. is making a killing harvesting the salt by hand and selling it.

The oysters were small but delicious, but I could taste the purity of the salt.

by L.

So, it's a good thing I like oysters.

We stopped for oysters at the Source in Garibaldi and had a nice chat with the owner. We also bought a pork shoulder farmed locally.

We learned as much as we could about local eateries from the nice owner. Ultimately, though there's a great view of the ocean at Pirate's cove restaurant (just up the street from The Source), and though the owner was high on the Offshore Grill, we decided to have breakfast there and seek dinner (or at least wine) in Manzanita as I knew there was a winery there with a dog mascot and the owner confirmed that the town was more on the "high end" side of accommodations.

So, we're off to Manzanita.

But as soon as we see this sign for MacGregor's whiskey bar, we changed our plans. Forget about the winery. We're going to the whiskey bar!!

And it was AMAZING.

We want to go back.

The list of possible whiskeys is extensive.

But we let the owner convince us to try something new, the Japanese Whiskey Flight, which, as we learned, is more popular than his scotch flight. Sacrilege!!

I also learned that Suntory, who has been around since the 19th century, just bought Jim Beam. And by "just," I mean in 2014.

Delicious whiskey!

I drunkenly decided to "celebrate" being five years cancer free, even though it's not a major accomplishment for me. I had a very easy time. I should shut up about it because so many other people, including good friends of mine, have had a much harder time.

So we tucked in to this charcuterie board and two amazing soups.

by L.

by L.

It was a fantastic night.

The next morning at Off Shore Grill I ordered the oyster hash, thinking the oysters would be shopped up in a hash, and I was served this monstrosity with huge fried oysters.

It was good, but way more food then I was expecting.

So, then we took our time leaving the coast.

More photos.

I did say I liked rocks.

via Liesel

Stop at Tillamook's factory, which was under construction, so we did not see much.

But my traveling companion, who is not identified so she does not come up in Google searches, had a Pendelton Whiskey Ice Cream pictures here. Pretty amazing.

via L.

Then we hit the beach in Oceanside, journeying a bit more because we wanted to see the famous, salty Netarts Bay.

Then we headed up to Cape Meares Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge. It was a totally random thing, though somewhat supported by the Google search efforts of my traveling companion.

We got to see the Octopus Tree, which is pretty cool. Also, the views from Cape Meares are spectacular.

We ended the day by stopping in Portland for late lunch/early dinner.

I had not been to the Sellwood neighborhood yet, a favorite of my traveling companion, and so we went there and managed to choose this great BBQ place.

It was a great weekend.

And it only took me like three weeks to write this report!

Reverend's BBQ
7712 SE 13th Av
Portland, OR 97202

In SELLWOOD

Hi Mom, I think it's very fitting that on the 1000th day since you died, I post a blog entry showing me loving life, enjoying life, loving love, loving my wife, my marriage, my new home, and everything.
Though I had considered ending the HEY MOM feature with entry 1000 (two days from now), I am going to keep it going until I reach the three year mark on July 6th, 2018. Three years seems fitting in some way. And though I may retire "Hey Mom" for good on that day, or make it an occasional or weekly feature, I think I want to keep blogging daily in some fashion, though I am still mulling over the best way to broadcast.

Thanks for everything, Mom. I wouldn't be here without you.

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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you, Mom.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 1000 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1803.30 - 10:10

NEW (written 1708.27) NOTE on time: I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of your death, Mom, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of your death, Mom. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom.