I get the feeling that it takes a bit more than passing through, to absorb the angles and irritations that make living in the Beaver State so enticing. Because it is a state that attracts immigrants and tourists. I’m not sure I get it but the failing is all mine.
Take Tillamook, home to the cheese factory, a desirable town not too fancy but pretty and just twenty minutes from the ocean. Not that you’d know as there isn’t a lick of ocean living to be seen here. But the sky? Gray and heavy and somber like a cold November day.
We paused to buy pastries and coffee to break up the drive and of course this is where you come to eat first rate food grown locally and organic and all that. My Danish was none of that, I think but it was delicious as was the coffee.
Across the way it looked like a scene from a Tolkien story. Retirement in Tillamook looks okay if you can stand the brisk August winter! Twenty years in Key West says many things about me but fear of sunshine is not one of them. I love sunshine.
Rusty likes the cool air and the friendly locals who stop to make a fuss of him.
We went past the Tillamook cheese factory and tourist trap, but it was packed with vast lines and not a mask in sight. It was the same story at another roadside factory so as much as I love cheese, we passed. It is tedious remaining Covid cautious but we are not dropping our guard. Our friends in Seattle are getting tested prior to our arrival. It’s how we go.
Rusty fell in love in Tillamook. They circled each other and then it was all wagging tails. The other guy had to go back to work which was a shame as he shared my stupid sense of humor as we watched our dogs circling and wagging tails before they had to leave to go back to work. Rusty was bereft. He circled the building into which they disappeared and I had to cheer him up with a special treat and some tummy rubbing. I never saw that coming: Rusty liking another dog.
They have peculiar parking rules in Oregon. I have no idea how you identify a resident’s parked car. Or an employee. I guess we are safe with a Florida tag, neither a resident or any employee be.
Layne got stuck in the soap shop named for the owner’s rescue bull, saved from a painful death when she luckily was there to take him in. How do I know this? Because Skye owns a VW van but finds it too cramped and is converting a school bus into a spacious home. Instant connection.
We talked about heat and humidity and insects and the long gray summers in Tillamook induced by changes in the climate that is increasing summer rain and cloudiness. Forty years of gray overcast is forcing Skye to contemplate a move to Portugal in search of sunshine. The lucky cow may find himself emigrating too as he enjoys robust good health. Race horses travel was Skye’s rationale so why not a rescue bull? Lucky bear indeed.
The drive up Highway 101 is wearing us down. The wind mercifully is absent so 63 degrees isn’t as cold as it might be.
But the fog is real and hangs low. “I could see how beautiful this might be with sunshine,” Layne said at one point after we had listened to John Grisham for a while in a long line of cars, residents probably, doubtless driving home to hot toddies and summer fireplaces designed to cheer you up in this bizarre climate.
The beauty is dramatic and there are lots of pull outs to see the latest state of the waves. Gas is around $4:60 to five bucks a gallon and you’d think people would be staying home given the fuss about gas prices this summer. But Oregon is busy with crowds of people packing the parking lots and sidewalks. Come with reservations or be prepared to wild camp if you can.
We stopped at a rest area just south of Tillamook Tuesday night. That place too was busy with cars coming and going. We had salad and a deconstructed burrito for dinner and woke to a wet landscape as though it had rained overnight.
It was a lovely spot for a walk. And the attendant was hanging out nearby chatting with a bicycle tourist who broke out a guitar and started singing. He actually had a good voice. We told him we enjoyed it, which we did, and he glowed.
Oregon the enigma. Great people, terrible weather, nice roads and extraordinary scenery, great food and if all this isn’t enough they offer legal euthanasia. They really do follow the beat of their own drummer!
Some pictures:
This place reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of Alaska.
Dispersed forest camping is not obviously available along the coast.
One of a number of identical fruit stands. Good fruit even though it’s a chain!
An indented coastline with rivers and lagoons produces many bridges.
Logging, fishing, and tourism keep Oregon healthy.
Hot public showers in Salmon Harbor Marina.
Fish and chips. Delicious cod in Coos Bay.
Pick up some Covid with your cheese. Yes I’m grumpy about skipping it.
A stretch of Highway 101 reduced from freeway to country road and as lovely as you’d imagine.
Garibaldi, below. The Italian revolutionary was respected around the world.
