I love cheese. Basic, simple cheese, like cheddar, swiss and jack. So visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory has been at the top of the to do list for our road trip since we decided we were going to do it.
Tillamook doesn’t make fancy cheeses and I’m not sure they distribute widely beyond the west coast, but I’m
certainly a big fan after visiting the factory, learning more about how they make cheese and how they’ve been part of the local community for 100 years. (PETA friends: please feel free to tell me how awful they are to cows and I’ll reconsider.)
I expected the factory, with it’s self-guided tour, to be similar to the Jelly Belly Factory and tour in Fairfield, CA, which I’ve been to too many times. For the most part I was right. They had the raised walkway through the factory, they had the samples and they had the oversized cafe/restaurant/snack bar/gift shop. And for the most part, I enjoyed it. It’s not for cheese snobs and is probably a nightmare in the busy summer months, but I certainly would recommend a visit to most people.
Oh! and I found my first cache in the Cheese Factory parking lot! A 35mm film canister covered in camouflage tape hanging from some bushy branches from what I think was a poplar. No special goodies inside but I signed the log book!
We are becoming slightly obsessed.
