Jan. 15 day 6 - partial clearing, some sun, mild

Up & off to town about 10:30. First stop Tillamook Cheese Factory.  It is fun watching their assembly line with cheese arriving in large blocks--getting cut, sliced, wrapped in minutes, all on a fast-moving assembly line with a lot of people moving cheese blocks around from one belt to another.  Then, much tasting, followed by stocking up on cheese to take home.  Next stop was the Blue Heron French Cheese Factory, (no idea what the “French” has to do with anything.  There we sampled mustards, dips, jams & jellies, dressings, sauces and bought a bunch.  Then it’s off on a scenic drive out to Cape Mears Lighthouse, (now automated).  We walked down to some nice views out to sea and over Three Arches Rocks & other cliffs and Sheila walked up a hill to see ‘Octopus Tree’.  It was a very large, very old, (250 yrs.), Sitka Spruce tree that had no trunk.  Instead, it had 8 very thick branches (1½ – 5 ft) growing straight out of the ground. Then we drove back to town & off to the Tillamook Air Museum.  It is in a giant blimp hanger, built in 1942 of wood, (there was no aluminum or iron available because of the war.) It is 286 feet wide, 1072 feet long & 192 feet high.  It is the largest ‘clear-span’, (i.e. no supports) wooden structure ever built. During WW II it held 8 K-class blimps, each was 252 feet long. There were 2 identical hangers built, but one burnt down in the 1990’s.  Had lunch there & explored the exhibits & military aircraft.  Among others they had a MIG, several USAF carrier & land based planes (P38, P40, Corsair etc), Vietnam era jets, a DC3, an ME 109, & a Catalina. We explored for two hours before leaving at closing time.  Some things never change – I used to close out bars, now I close out museums!  Anyway, we headed back to the RV for the evening & to plan tomorrow’s destinations.