Cheese!

Cheese is milk’s leap towards immortality.

--Clifton Fadiman

Yesterday I left South Beach State Park and made my way north to Fort Stevens State Park, which is at the north end of Oregon, right on the Columbia River.  Fort Stevens is a huge park that encompasses several hundred thousand acres.  It also used to be an active military fort.  It was first constructed in 1903 to protect the mouth of the Columbia River, and it was actively used during the Civil War period (according to the brochure that the park ranger gave me!  I didn't know there was a Civil War in 1903, but hey, if it is in the brochure, it must be true!) as well as in WWII. 

Old Military Battery at Fort Stevens

In 1942, it actually took fire from a Japanese sub in a surprise attack.  Now, however, in contrast to its action-filled past, it is quite a peaceful and relaxing park.  Some of the old military buildings remain as exhibits, but it also contains many miles of paved bike paths, a lake, hiking trails, and seemingly thousands of different varieties of plants and trees in as many shades of green.  I also was told that the Coast Guard routinely trains nearby in their ships that can roll completely over in the water, but I didn’t see any of that excitement going on (granted, it was Chris who told me this—the same Chris that said the walkway on the Yaquina Bridge was about 8 feet wide—so the validity of this information is questionable). 

On my way north I made two stops at touristy places.  The first one was at the Tillamook Air Museum.  I saw the museum from far down the road as it is located in a giant hangar.  The huge, faded words “Air Museum” painted on the side beguiled me into stopping. I had left Newton early in the morning and had plenty of time to get to Fort Stevens, so I obliged their beckoning.  The museum structure is incredibly large and run-down.  As I drove up, I was really more interested in just taking a picture of the building, and based on its appearance I suspected that it might not even be open any more. 

It's still open for business

Rust stains dripped down its face, and a tired looking Mini-Guppy cargo plane huddled on flat tires in the front.  It looked like the kind of place that could be haunted.  As I got closer, though, I realized that it was indeed open for business.   I told myself that if it cost less than $10, I’d check it out. I walked through the front doors and into a very chilly lobby.  There was a café on my left, an extensive gift shop on my right, and directly in front of me was a woman sitting behind a register. She seemed all too happy to have a customer.  “Welcome to the museum!  How many of you are there today?” she cheerily greeted me.  The entire lobby was empty except for her and me. 

“There’s just one of me today.  I left my clones behind this time as they don’t like airplanes,” I told her.  Having more of a sense of humor than the Official Park Volunteer Pony Lady, she laughed.  “How much is it to see the planes?”  I asked her.

Fate must have been listening to me earlier. “It’s nine dollars for adults,” she told me.  “Unless you are military.  Are you current or past military?”

“No, but I’m a swim coach. Does that count?”

She again laughed. “No, I don’t think it does.”

Well, nine dollars was within my $10 limit, so I bought a ticket.  If nothing else, it would give me a story to tell.    I have to say, though, a brief story is really about all that comes out of the Tillamook Air Museum.  The inside of the building echoed the worn-out sentiment expressed on the outside.  They had a short video in a tiny theater that told of the history of the structure—how it was built in WWII as a place to store up to 8 blimps—and about the construction of it.  This actually was probably the most interesting part of the museum.  Since most of the steel in the US at that time was being utilized to build planes and ships, the hangar in Tillamook was built entirely out of wood.  It is immense, and it is impressive to consider that a building so large could be built without any steel supports.  It is 192 feet tall, 1,072 feet long, and 296 feet wide. 

Those tiny things in front--those are people. 

It covers over 7 acres, all with no vertical support columns inside of it.  From the sheer size of it, you’d imagine that they would have several planes inside, but in reality they had only about a dozen.  Over half of the space under the hangar appeared to be used as rented-out storage space for RVs, cars, and boats.  There probably was about as much space devoted to the gift shop as there was to the airplanes that were on display.  I managed to spend about twenty minutes there.  As I walked out, I half-expected the lady at the desk to comment on my leaving so early, but she didn’t.  She gave a cheery wave goodbye and thanked me for coming.  I figured that she was perhaps used to people leaving so quickly, as there wasn’t much inside to keep people there longer. 

I left the museum and headed to the stop that I was really looking forward to: the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Cheese is apparently much more of an attraction than old places, as the parking lot at the cheese factory was nearly full, and crowds of people were outside.  The Tillamook Cheese Factory offers a free self-guided tour, a creamery, a cheese shop, and, best of all, free samples of delicious cheese.  I parked in a dusty, gravel parking lot amongst the other RVs and walked across about 10 rows of cars to reach the building. Maybe fifty people were sitting outside with voluminous servings of ice cream that overflowed large bowls and waffle cones.  The ice cream looked delicious, but unfortunately there was a snake-like line of people wrapping through the packed creamery and out the door, so I decided to pass on the ice cream.  The cheese sample line, however, was much shorter and moved much quicker. 

Got so excited about free cheese I could hardly focus

They had about 6 different kinds of cheese, cut up into chunks and placed in buckets in a counter.  I made my way through the line and tried Squeaky Cheese (cheese curds), vintage white cheddar, sharp cheddar, garlic and pepper cheddar, Colby Jack, and a spicy but lip-smacking habanero cheddar cheese.  I hadn’t had lunch yet, so I walked back around and ducked under the ropes and got in line again. “Hey, that’s a good idea!” two ladies behind me noticed what I was doing, and they too got in line again.

“Of course it’s a good idea.  Free cheese—what’s better than that?” I agreed with them.  I sampled all the cheeses again, and then a third time, and then a fourth time.  I briefly considered going out to my van and getting a zip-lock baggie and filling up for the road, but I figured that would be a bit too obvious.   I thought to myself that I’d have to stop by again on my way back, but then remembered I would not be heading back this way as I’m on a circular route.  That made me just a little bit sad.

After Tillamook, I had about another hour and a half drive to Fort Stevens State Park.  I arrived, checked in, got my van setup, and then took a five-mile walk around the park to see what it had to offer (and to burn off part of the cheddar).  Tomorrow I will be heading to Kalaloch Campground in Olympic Park in Washington State.  I hope the road there will have something as interesting as free cheese.

On display at Fort Stevens.  I'm not sure what it is, but it's something old!