Beach Vacation, Part 3

There are few things better than waking up after a good night's sleep and finding yourself on vacation. Even better if your vacation location includes a beach close by and a house full of friends even closer. It was our first full vacation day and the world, in the form of Oregon's northern coast, was our oyster.

Some members of our group had a full list of activities they wanted to engage in while in the area: horseback riding, kayaking, exploring the nearby towns, shopping. Wendy and I had a short list: in addition to lots of lazing around the and playing on the beach, we wanted to tour the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Ahhh, Tillamook, where the cows outnumber the people, even considering the visitors on any given day. Wendy, Zelly and I made the trek with two of the 9-year-old triplets who were in our group. It was a girl thang. We drove curvy, coastal 101 until we saw the big Tillamook building. It's so cheery and welcoming and filled with happy, productive Tillamookians. And dairy products like cheese, cheese, cheese, ice cream and more cheese. We took the self guided tour that led us upstairs where we could stare at Tillamookians at work. It was like they were inside a fishbowl, except there was cheese instead of fish. The cheese came down the conveyer in big unwieldy blocks and went through a series of clever and sharp devices, which cut it down into the wieldy blocks we know and love and buy at our grocery stores.

We watched the production lines for a little while, glanced at the displays and then headed for the cheese sampling area. This is where I had squeeky cheese for the first time. Squeeky cheese is cheese curd and you can only buy it from the visitor's center because it doesn't ship well. I love squeeky cheese. This is cheese that talks to you when you chew it, it squeeks its little distress signals and you ignore them and eat it anyway. We bought some for Shannon, because she was experienced in the ways of Tillamookia and requested it.

Then the moment we all had been waiting for arrived: time to get ice cream. The older girls made their choices carefully, no doubt based on experience. Zelly made her decision based on the color of her sweater, lavender (this is undoubtably due to Wendy's influence as she has been training Zelly in the art of wardrobe color matching). As a result, she chose Black Raspberry Truffle. I asked for a sample so that she could try it... I didn't want to get her the 'purple ice cream' and find out she hated it. Well, she loved it. She ate the entire kiddy scoop. I had the Espresso Mocha (always a winner in my book) and I think Wendy had Caramel Butter Pecan -- how very southern of her ;-)

Me and the girls - Zelly, Gabby and Risa - enjoying creamy, delicious Tillamookian ice cream.

The beach was excellent and surprising. I'm used to Washington beaches which are mostly comprised of sand, driftwood, seaweed and the occasional dead seagull. I'm sure we have some rocky beaches and ones that are good for beachcombing, but I haven't spent any time on them. So Twin Rocks Beach was a happy surprise. The large rocks offshore contributed a healthy dose of small, smooth rocks to the beach. These rocks are perfect for skipping - small, smooth and flat. I pocketed a nice little one for a 'worry stone'.

On the first day we explored, Friday, there was also a quantity of driftwood, seaweed and various shell fragments. All of this was new to Zelly and it was wonderful to watch her discover every little thing. The sand was very nice and, unlike the beaches I go to in Washington, there are no cars. It took me a while to realize that I had been unconciously watching for cars to come racing along the waterline. Realizing there wouldn't be any coming helped me relax and enjoy the experience that much more.

Zelly was very good about taking direction as far as limits to where she could roam and she zipped around barefoot like the little beach girl she obviously is. She ran and giggled and loved the sand and the water and everything.

The other exciting event of the day was the arrival of our good friend, Shannon. She brought her great attitude, generous spirit and all the makings for henna tattoos. She also brought scones and a sweet cream cheese spread. yummmmmm.

I think we did some hot tubbing that day too. Zelly was very excited to get into the "hot water", I couldn't help thinking that eventually she would and there was no sense hastening that event. I remember Mimi (mom of triplets) and I in our purple bathing suits with Zelly and the triplets. It was great fun. I also think it was the only day Zelly got into the hot tub. There were so many other things to do, and besides, how fun is it to be in a hot tub on a hot day? We didn't expect the weather to improve until about Monday, and it was overcast and drizzly the first two days. Saturday the sun would finally come out play.

Posted by buggy at June 24, 2003 04:48 PM