Playing Tourist – Plus a Couple More Birthdays

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness didn’t know where to shop.

Saturday is Michael's 18th birthday.  So, Happy Birthday, Michael!!  Duchess shares her birthday with Michael.  Duchess is 10.  We'll have to come up with a special treat for her.

Here's Michael on our whale watching trip.  Michael and I flew from Texas to Seattle.  We took the hydrofoil to Victoria, stayed at the Empress Hotel and went whale watching plus many other  things.  It was a great time we had together.

Happy Birthday, Duchess

Another day out and about meant another day visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  However, we made a quick little stop first showing the Hyders where to go for a fairly private spot at Manhattan Beach.  Of course, no place is private on a weekend.  This wasn't a weekend.  It was foggy but still beautiful.  It’s one of those places that’s always nice to know about so you can return to it.  I took a few pictures but amazingly they were foggy too.

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The beach was a quick stop mainly to scoop it out.  The stop at the cheese factory wasn’t quite so quick because it was back to being tourists.  Jerry and Janice took the self-guided tour, sampled the cheese and even bought some.  Then, they opted for an ice cream cone before walking out the door.  The intent is to spend money and they did.  That’s what the Tillamook Cheese Factory wants you to do.

Next, we made another return trip to the Latimer Quilt and Textile Shop.  Actually, I drug them there because I liked it and hoped that they would too.  I think they did since they spent some time looking at all the fantastic quilts.  Some of those quilts were absolutely fabulous.  We also enjoyed checking out the weaving machines.

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The Blue Heron Cheese Factory is just down the road from both of these places.  However, we had never stopped there before.  It is well worth the stop and I think we missed out by not stopping there.  They have cheese samples as well as a wine tasting bar and  jams and preserves.  Plus, they have a nice little café inside.  It’s definitely worth the stop.

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On the way back to the RV park we made one more stop at the Pirate's Cove Restaurant.  The restaurant sits on Highway 101 and overlooks Tillamook Bay.  Terry had another bowl of oyster stew but the rest of us had different items off the menu and I don’t remember hearing any complaints.

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Lunch at Pirate's Cove

After lunch all four of us were ready for an afternoon nap.  That’s just what we did until dinner time.  Then, it was out with the cheese and crackers before a dip in the hot tub.

Notice that we didn’t go crabbing.  There also aren’t any beachie pictures and I didn’t show more pictures of the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  It was just a great day with good friends.

Besides if you think you're tired of reading about crabbing and boating and beaches, you can imagine how tired we must be.  You're just reading.  We're the ones doing all the doing.  Believe me ... we are tired.
We are very, very tired.




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