Oregon Coast Hwy 101

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We arrived at Cape Lookout State Park on the Oregon Coast in the late afternoon. We were pleased to find our Yurt was heated, roomy and with comfortable beds. This is our first experience with Yurts, but knowing the NW weather we felt that we would most likely get rained out in our tent and we were right.
Today we went into Tillamook (pop. 4,400) We visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory, a couple of thrift shops and an antique store. While at the cheese factory we learned the history of Tillamook as the two are synonymous. Early settlers arrived and found the only thing they could produce in this wet green climate was butter. Over-production of butter led them to look for another outlet for all that bovine milk. They began producing cheddar cheese and exporting it for trade. Tillamook is made up of numerous co-operative farms. This is small town America, a farming community with not a whole lot else going on.
We had an enjoyable visit to Whiskey Creek Fish Hatchery where we fed Rainbow Trout that were so big and wild, I was grateful for the fence that was between us and them. The couple who manage the fish hatchery told us that the Chinook Salmon are born in the river just outside the fish hatchery and then swim out to sea for about five years. When they return, they wait out in the bays and inlets to the river. When the hard rains come, the chemical makeup of the sediment in the river’s silt signals to them that they have returned to the correct river.
We finished the day off with a brisk walk down by the beach. These are beautiful, wild and natural beaches. The sound of the waves is non-stop and the sun shining on them is radiant.

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