Little Oregon Coast Road Trip Day 1

A little last hurrah before we all head into our college ventures next week, a road trip was definitely in store. Some of my dearest friends, and coworkers and I decided to go on a beach road trip about a couple of weeks ago. To get away from work, school thoughts, and to get to know one another a bit better. Also, it was a little celebration for me personally on getting my own car. In my head during the road trip, as I was driving, I was thinking about how awesome it is that this car is mine, and it will take us wherever we need or want to go. We began our adventure at 6:00 am on Tuesday (yesterday), and we arrived in Tillamook around 9:30. We would have been there sooner, but there was a lot of traffic in Portland. We stopped at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company first, and this was one of the best parts of the trip.

At the Blue Heron French Cheese Company, they have farm animals for viewing, free range chickens, and turkeys. They have llamas, goats, rams, sheep, and donkeys. They also have amazing sauce mixes, delicious brie, and fantastic coffee! For those who can consume alcohol, they also have wine tastings, and wines for purchase. It is a really great stop in Tillamook, Oregon for the whole family! You can also purchase animal feed at the Blue Heron to feed their animals. It is a fun activity, and the animals are so cute eating out of your hand. They are gentle, and just lick the feed right from your palm. This ram that I am feeding in the above photo was so patient, and so gentle. Unlike the greedy goat trying to hop the fence for some feed. I fed him many times. 

We called him Reuben the Ram. 

After the Blue Heron, we drove down the highway a bit to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We watched the workers prepare the cheese, package the cheese and send it off to age or to the store. It was really fascinating. Out of all of the times that I have been to the Tillamook cheese factory, I have never really took the time to actually intently watch the assembly line at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was really fascinating to see. 

Of course we sampled cheese, and my favorite one was the white sharp cheddar. After walking through the cafeteria and ice cream shop, I smelled the glorious waffle cones. I had to grab a scoop, of course! I got a single scoop (which was huge!) of espresso mocha in a waffle cone. 

Brittany got coffee almond fuge ice cream, and we took a selfie with the Tillamook sign. 

After we finished our ice cream, we drove down the highway to the Tillamook Country Smoker Factory Outlet. We grabbed some amazing jerky, snacks for the road, snacks for family, and the experience. Tillamook is a bustling beach town. I love it! 

We drove about 45 minutes to an hour to Cannon Beach, first stopping in the beach town portion to use the facilities, and grab some sweets from a candy shop. I needed more coffee, so I got a small cappucino. It was pretty good. I am not a big fan of the hot beverages, but a good cappucino every once in a while is fantastic! Especially when you are tired, and I was very much tired, but needed to go for a few more hours. After we visited the town a bit, we drove down the way and parked by Stephanie Inn, and we brought our lunches down to the beach. Eating our lunch at the beach was quite the adventure. 

The inn had some chairs on the beach, and since no one was there using the chairs, we decided to use them for just a few minutes to eat our lunch. We brought our lunches from home, and eating on the beach beats any restaurant we could have gone to. But then the seagulls came... 

The seagulls must have seen or sensed that we had food, because they flocked around us. Birds are crazy creatures. They were flying overhead, really low, and it was rather unnerving. Danielle threw them her avocado pit, and this one went crazy over it, and realized he couldn't eat it. They must have been angry after being given a giant food tease, because they came around and surrounded us.

They were literally waiting around for us to give them food, and inching closer and closer to our little group. One of the crazy birds got by our feet and touched Danielle's leg. That was it. We were freaked! I ended up being the crazy one, giving them pringles, and having them flying overhead while following me, squawking for more. Brittany shot a hilarious video of me running from the seagulls. I will upload it onto Vimeo as soon as I can. I can't stop laughing at it, at myself. Running from those birds was actually great fun! After lunch, we put the food back in my car, and decided to hang out on this pretty beach for a little while. It was getting cloudy, but we didn't care. We had fun anyway! As you can see..

We asked a nice couple who was passing by to take our picture near Haystack Rock. This one is my favorite! 

As we walked back to my car, we passed by these hills. They looked so quiet, so peaceful with the clouds covering them. It was beautiful, and the area was glorious. If I ever stay in Cannon Beach, I want to stay in this area. 

We kicked the sand off of our shoes, got back in the car, and it started to pour down rain. We left the beach at just the right time. We pulled out of the great parking spot we found, drove past the giant Haystack Rock, and got back on track to Tillamook. We stopped off at Fred Meyers so the girls could grab a few items, and we made our way to Lincoln City, our day's final destination. We arrived at our hotel, and it was my first time checking into a hotel by myself, under my name. I felt pretty grown up :). We took it easy for about an hour, sharing photos with each other, charging up our phones, glad to be out of the car for a while, and deciding where to eat dinner. We decided on trying out Dory Cove in Lincoln City, due to reading such rave reviews. Unfortunately, we didn't plan to spend a lot on dinner, so we left to find some place that would fit our budget. So, I took them to Moe's. It was a great meal, great conversation, great view, and great company! 

After dinner, we made one more stop before going back to our hotel, and then we decided to call it a night. We were all tired, and we had another long day ahead of us. Yesterday was such a fun day! I am so glad that I have such awesome friends who agreed to go on this adventure with me. My coworkers have become such dear friends. :) We covered a lot of ground yesterday, and traveled many miles. Oh my goodness, it was such a great experience!