Monday, June 20, 2016

Oregon: Dunes, Lakes, Cheese and More

The 101 through Oregon is a beautiful drive.  We started at the bottom of the state and slowly made our way towards the top, following this coastal gem the entire way...


There are so many beautiful old bridges along this highway, I just love the detail that went into their construction.  Not only functional, but beautiful...sadly this attention to detail seems to be a lost art in our modern world...



We stopped at every lake along the way that looked like it might be a nice place to stay for a while (for future reference).  One such lake was in the town of Lakeside...


Check out the welcome banner coming into town:


Old clothes strung above the street spelling out "Welcome to Lakeside",  haha!  Unique for sure, I like it :).  Different is good.

Speaking of different...Oregon state law, no self-serve gas.  An attendant pumps it for you while you sit in the car and wait.  With all the rain the PNW gets, I think I could come to really appreciate that particular law (strange as it is).


The Oregon Dunes, another west coast beauty...






We stayed for a while, admiring the windswept landscape.  I LOVE the wind, especially when it is laced with salt.  I seriously just took a deeeep breath just thinking about it, HA!  Funny. 

Another pretty lake...



...followed by another pretty bridge...






Oregon is very pretty :).

We stopped at the Sea Lion Caves.  Such noisy critters, if the smell doesn't tip you off that they're near, the incessant barking will :)...




The Heceta Head Lighthouse and the Devils Elbow.  So beautiful and so dangerous...






...aaaaand another pretty bridge :)...



We slowly made our way up to Tillamook, a tour of the famous cheese factory had been on our list for sometime...




It was just ok.  Maybe because we had already toured the Cabot facilities in Vermont it wasn't really anything new.  I don't know.  We did enjoy it, it just wasn't "wow".  Anyway, go see it for yourself and decide.  Their cheese sure is good and their ice cream is even better (the Wild Mountain Blackberry is especially yum).