Dairy Good Coastal Fun (Anniversary Trip, Part 2 of 3)

What are the essentials for an enjoyable convertible ride? Sunscreen, a headband, and a ponytail holder. Short-haired persons such as Mr. Monkey need only the first item. See exhibits A and B.

Sunday was perfect for driving along the Oregon coast from Portland to our ultimate destination, the fabulous Salishan Spa and Golf Resort. Ahh, Salishan. I keep ahh-ing, but, really, you would, too, if you'd experienced the Salishan. Just thinking about it now makes me wistful. Ahh.

So begins Part Two of the Anniversary Trip Series. Part Two is, in fact, only half a day, but it has a good deal of pictures for just half a day. Aside from the abundance of greenery (I have a lot of blurry photos of trees, which I'll refrain from posting), we also drove past a lot of farmland. Somehow, farms are easier to capture than trees.

We made a quick stop at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company, where we met some furry farm animals and sampled some tasty smoked brie.

Two minutes after Blue Heron, we hit the motherlode of Oregon cheese -- Tillamook!

Free samples abounded. We also got to see cheese being packaged. I really liked the cheese curds...so much so that I had them twice. If you've never had cheese curds, they are solid, chewy, almost plastic-like little cheese bits. Appetizing, no? But, seriously, they are so good. They sort of squeak in your mouth. Ok. I'm not doing a very good job of selling you cheese curds, am I? Well, none for you, more for me! Just call me Little Miss Muffet.

Free cheese wasn't enough for the infamous bottomless Mr. Monkey. No, he had to buy three two-foot-long beef sticks (that's six feet of beef, for those of you who are math-impaired). Then he had a waffle cone packed with Tillamook ice cream as his dessert for our mid-afternoon snack.

Bellies full of dairy, we continued along the coast with the wind in our hair.

We stopped at Cape Meares for a short hike.

Shortly after Cape Meares, we saw this deer on the side of the road.

The Three Capes Scenic Route was rather enjoyable, and the weather was perfect -- low 70s with clear blue skies.

Around dinnertime, we finally arrived at Salishan! Yay!

Coming up -- Anniversary Trip, Part Three of Three: Living in the Lap of Luxury in the Middle of Nature and Adventures With Otters and Crustaceans.