Sunday, April 26, 2009

Tillamook

For the past three years our group's beach getaways have been near the town of Tillamook. This works well for us as we have become quite addicted to the ice cream at the Tillamook cheese factory.Tillamook has a couple other things to recommend it.

The Latimer Quilt and Textile Center, just down the road from the cheese factory, is always worth a visit. You may remember that it was the location for the "Good to Be Green" show that Gerrie and June and I all had work in last spring. This year they had a nice show of work by several art quilters from the Willamette Valley. The old, converted schoolhouse is always a hive of activity and fun to poke around in.

There was a class going on in the classroom, but they said, "Come on in and look around!" We did.

Another room is filled with looms. I love the painted black and white checkerboard floors.

They have a lot of handmade stuff for sale. Most is very nicely made and reasonably priced. I was quite taken with this chef doll.

Wonderful face!

Beautiful tulips out front of the Center.

Right down the road the other direction from the big Cheese Factory is the much smaller Blue Heron French Cheese Company. We found it to be a great place for lunch. We had wonderful lunches there two days in a row—grilled turkey/brie/cranberry sauce sandwiches, salmon chowder, shrimp bisque, delectable salads. Mmm-mm-mm. Outside the shop/restaurant beautiful chickens wander about the grounds.

And this gorgeous fellow grazed just beyond the fence. I always think Tillamook looks a bit like Switzerland, with all its meadows and mountains and cows and sheep.

If you find yourself driving along the Oregon Coast this summer, Tillamook is a good stop. The Tillamook Cheese Factory (watch them make cheese and indulge in the ice cream), The Blue Heron French Cheese Company and the Latimer Textile and Quilt Center are within a couple miles of each other, right along Hwy. 101.

Have a double scoop of pecan praline crunch and cookie dough on a waffle cone for me!

5 comments:

  1. I'll definitely put these stops on my eventual "to go" list! :-)

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  2. What a great place to be! Nature, wonderful textiles, landscape -- just great!

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  3. Lovely sheep. And are those guinea fowl in the background? Quite a place, Tillamook, I have always loved to go there. Even sixty years ago when it was a real old-fashioned Oregon beach town.

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  4. Mmmm - all those cheese descriptions were just too much for me, not to mention the ice cream visions. Finally catching up with your blog and scrolling back to the random placement of the washers, of course it did not work: your quilt is totally ordered, organized, and structured. The random washers need a random environment. Much better the way your finally did it.

    Also, I think it is TERRIBLE that people advertise a place as wheelchair accessible when it is not. I would have insisted on a hardship discount for the false advertising. Bah!

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  5. I am a member of Fiber Revolution and will be part of an exhibit at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center. I was hoping to be there for the opening, since my son lives in Portland, but that's not going to happen. It looks like a nice place.

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