Tillamook

Last Friday, we left early for a drive up to Tillamook where Gail had an art class on Saturday.  Tillamook, famous for its cows and cheese, is about 2 hrs. and 40 mins. by car. Of course it took us twice that long with little side trips and stops.

 We had lunch at the Blue Heron French Cheese Factory in Tillamook.

 A little outside of Tillamook is this WWII blimp hangar that is claimed to be the largest wooden building in the world.  It is 1,072 feet long and 296 feet high. It had a twin nearby that burned down in the 90's.  The building houses the Tillamook Air Museum.

The plane out front is the Mini Guppy, a cargo plane with a hinged tail section for rolling in heavy equipment.  I remember the  Guppies from my time in Santa Barbara, as they were built there in the 60's.

 We went inside the Mini Guppy which was cool because there was a driving rain which was very loud on the uninsulated shell of the plane. The cockpit, wings, and tail were taken from a Boeing 377.

Inside the hangar it was dark, damp, and cold, as the roof is pretty leaky.  There are a number of Barn Owls living up in the rafters.  There is a classic plane section inside the hangar that is protected in an enclosure.  During WWII, blimps were housed in hangars up and down the coast. Blimps were good at the time for spotting Japanese submarines.  They could even drop depth charges on them.

The ship services lady was very calm, and didn't mind me getting a selfie with her.

Same with the sailor dude.

I'm not sure what this little blimp was doing here, but I think it belongs to some aliens.  The helicopter was for sale.

We stayed in a Air B&B that Gail had picked out. The hostess brought us this wonderful breakfast in the morning.  We ate dinner the night before at Roseanna's Cafe in nearby Oceanside - highly recommended.

While Gail was in her art class, I perused the very well maintained Pioneer Museum.

 After her art class, we drove out to Cape Meares and came across a trail to Oregon's largest Sitka Spruce.

 It had a huge trunk that didn't taper, and some limbs that would be large trees on their own.

 Friday night had driving rain and wind, but Saturday was dry. Looking north from Cape Meares.

 The lighthouse at Cape Meares.

 This spruce is named "The Octopus Tree".

Looking south from Cape Meares towards Haystack Rock.

We took the Three Capes Drive southward and came back out on the 101 at Pacific City.   Stops on the trip also included an annual rummage sale in Lincoln City, and a couple art galleries.  We'll be returning to the area again, as Gail has more art classes in Tillamook.