A friend and I drove to Tillamook to donate an old WWII B-17 Generator to the Air Museum. The day was cloudy, but warm. It's always good for me to get away from the norm at home and gain perspective on a drive. The coast always lends itself to generous views, a variety of eating delights and an influx of energy from Doug fir forests, rivers, elk, deer, chipmunks, sky and fresh ocean air.
After taking care of the business end of the trip, we toured the Air Museum, watching the short movie about the building of two blimp hangers, observing the many WWII artifacts, planes with painted women, teeth or titles, and a myriad of fascinating historical pictures, etc. We even ordered the Cheeseburger and some onion rings, to see what they meant by Tillamooks Best Cheeseburger, and get into the 40's spirit of the cafe. What once was so yummy, sort of hits my stomach like the grease bomb it really is. Since we split the cheeseburger and rings, there was plenty of room for sampling the cheese curd and various cheeses at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. My friend had not seen either the Air Museum or the Cheese Factory, so we went on the self-guided tour at the Cheese Factory, complete with seeing the dairy film, watching the giant stainless vats produce curds and whey, and 42 lb. blocks of cheese. I bought some curd, the Smoky and Jalapeno Cheese Spread, avoided the fudge, and had a peanut butter chocolate waffle ice cream cone.
While at the Air Museum we went for a walk and found an old Catholic cemetery. Once again, I was reminded of how many have come and gone, and how I often take a day for granted. I took several pictures of the old gravestones, and a vibrant fuschia.
There are also old train cars, and a very old wood-burning? engine at the Air Museum. The train cars reminded me of how fun it would be to make a breakfast cafe from one of them.
In Wheeler, I showed my friend the Wheeler Hotel, so he could have someplace special to take a partner someday. It was in Wheeler that the little tyke in the picture above got out of the car, seemingly half asleep and a bit weepy. What a dolly.
I've been away for a while from posting. I have to read my past posts to know what I have promised to write about. There is so much. Last summer I was gone to Austin, Houston and New Orleans, and I have much to catch up on here at home, above the lake.
The Oregon strawberries off Helvetia exit this year are wonderful. I picked Shukstans, for $1 a lb. 30# later, I put up a couple of batches of freezer jam, several bags of frozen berries for smoothies, two strawberry pies (one for a daughter's birthday June 23rd), and several batches of strawberry shortcake. There is nothing like an Oregon strawberry. Now I'm waiting for the blueberries and blackberries to come off. There is a pie cherry tree I have my eye on, also. I haven't canned them or made pie cherry jam in too long. Now you see with balancing remodeling and fruit and yard work, how I can be diverted from posting. I'm also building my own natural nutrition company, and I often share my favorite berry protein smoothies, or cocoa almond (or peanut butter) frosties made with rice milk, healthy soy protein, ice cubes, etc. I put 1 tsp. of fiber in mine...
My best,
Pamela
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