Pacific Coast Trip: Depoe Bay & Tillamook, OR

We were extremely lucky to be in this area during the traditional Spring Break week. The “Whales Spoken Here” organization sponsored whale watching guides up and down the coast during this week. We chose to attend the session next to the actual Whale Watching Center in Depoe Bay, Oregon. The guides were very knowledgeable. They were doing a BioBlitz of sorts trying to count the number of migrating Gray whales during this week.

It was also great fun to surprise my nephew at his college. We always enjoy showing the kids different college campuses so they can make a better decision about where they want to go in the future. It was a bonus for the kids to spend time with a college student, who happens to be their cousin!

Ainsley:

This morning, we went to a whale watching place. I saw 4 and maybe 5 whales. Actually, I just saw their spouts. A volunteer from the whale center showed us where one of the whales were. But, I didn’t see the whales in that spot. My whales were in the corner near the land. It was very cold that day. I learned that mommy and baby whales usually stay really close to land. One of the volunteers said they recently saw a baby just down the hill from the whale watching spot. Wow, that is very close!

Next we went to a statue of Abraham Lincoln reading a book while riding a horse. It was a bronze statue. I think he is reading a book about aliens!

Then we went to a Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I saw a lot of birds. They looked like Canada Geese. But they were not. They were actually Cackling Geese. We went on a hike to a viewpoint. We saw the blue ocean. Then, Travis and I ran back to the truck all the way downhill. We are in the beginning of Spring. That is probably why we did not see anymore wildlife.

After we got in the truck, we drove to Tillamook Cheese Factory. I've never seen a cheese factory before! We went in and we had samples of cheese. Yum! We also looked inside the factory. I pretended I was feeding a cow milk. The Tillamook farmers feed the baby calves with bottles so that they make sure they get the right nutrients.

Next, I went to my cousin Joseph’s college, Pacific University. I was glad I got to see my cousin. I went into a dorm room for the first time! It seems hard to do all that college stuff without any help. Joseph toured me around the parts of the college that were still open. I liked all the pathways outside the buildings. There were a lot of bricks on the buildings.

5 things today. Wow, lots and lots of exciting adventures today!

Travis:

Today I went to the Whale Watching Center at Depoe Bay. At first I didn’t have any luck seeing a whale at the overlook near there. Then we went to the actual center’s building to see if we could get anything there. At first we didn’t see any until we saw some by a whale watching boat that went out. We saw a ton of spouts until they disappeared behind a rock. These were spouts from Gray whales migrating north to Alaska with their babies. There was a lot of information about these whales in the center. I also learned about the Humpback, Blue, and Minke whales from an interesting spinning card in the center. Funny that the card didn’t have anything about the Gray whales!

Then we hung around until we saw that one of the boats were coming back, so we decided to follow it in. We went to a small viewing platform and the boat came in. The captain was very skilled because this harbor claims to be the smallest harbor in the world!

When we were done there we went to the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. We read all the signs and then decided to go on a small hike. We drove over where the trail started and headed up the trail. We got to the overlook at the end and saw the place where a river meets the ocean, called an estuary. It was a very great view. It was unfortunate that we didn’t see a lot of wildlife though.

After we were done there we went to the Tillamook Creamery. It was really crowded. The ice cream line was huge! We went upstairs to the museum area and saw a exhibit room about their cows. Ainsley and I fed a plastic cow a fake bottle of milk. Then we saw that there was a exhibit about milking a cow.  You had to prepare a fake cow for milking in 25 seconds. Ainsley went first but she didn’t do well. When I went, however, I finished in 21 seconds with 4 to go.

After we were done, we went down the hall to see how they make their cheese. First they prepare the milk, then they change the milk into curds and whey. (The stuff that Little Miss Muffet ate.) Then the curds are separated from the whey in the “Cheddarmaster”. Then the curds are salted which turns the curd into cheese. After that they are shaped and put into bags which is tied , vacuum sealed and boxed. The boxes go into the warehouse for aging. After 60 days to 5 years of aging, the cheese is unpacked, cut, weighed, tested, packaged again, and finally sent to stores like Walmart.

Finally, we went to the cheese sampling area. The cheeses were very yummy. The Tillamook Creamery was extremely amazing.

When we were done with that we went to my cousin Joseph’s college. It was called Pacific University. First we went to Joseph’s dorm room. There was a wall of Kombucha! After that Joseph gave us a light tour of the campus. Then we went to a restaurant in the small town near the university called Bites. I got a teriyaki chicken meal. During dinner I asked Joseph what classes he had. He said that one of his classes was called Understanding the Apocalypse. What an interesting class! I want to join! After dinner we said goodbye and headed home.

Today was a busy but awesome day.