To the beach!

Hiya Gang,

Little Fox, Cocoa and Navy Beanie here fortifying ourselves before our beach hike. It's still a little chilly and windy so some hot cocoa to start off makes sense. 

Navy and I here (along w/ Haystack Rock) in the background.  Where's Cocoa you ask? Cocoa ditched us to look for remnants of the sand castle contest a few days ago. 

I'm glad that Navy Beanie is able to enjoy the beach and not trigger any lingering trauma from the Mouse Island Tsunami. 

So many cool rock formations. 

Anyone  know what these growths on the rocks are? 

The seabirds are out in full force.  Has anyone seen Cocoa? Should we be scared?  Sneakerwaves?

Little Fox sat me down and told me that he got a text from Cocoa.  Cocoa went to the cheese factory (being that there were no remnants of the sand castle contest just a few days ago). Phooey.

Off to find Cocoa.

About 50 miles south of Cannon Beach Little Fox drove me to the Tillmaook Cheese factory.  I guess a good place to find a mouse is at a free cheese tasting event.   Today's cheeses:

1) Fresh Curds, 2) Aged Cheddar, 3) Colby Jack.

Back before the pandemic they used to sample the more unique cheeses made at Tillamook, sigh.

The cheese process is running strong today.  Looks like they are making cheddar cheese.

Those are 40lbs blocks of cheese.

How does a mouse get a job here? 

You would think that cheese directly from the factory would be cheaper than the grocery store.  Nope, not here. However, it's hard to pas up the unique flavors (curds, chili garlic cheddar, smoked salmon). 

This is the line for the ice cream shop.  It's long, but it goes fast. Little Fox recommends Moose Tracks or Strawberry Cheesecake flavors.

It's hard to miss the cheese factory (according to the internet 1.3 million visit the factory annually).  That's a lot but not as many as Spirit Mountain Casino (3 million) or 2 million at Multnomah Falls).    Of course with an obvious sign like this it's hard to miss.

Shh, don't tell anyone but some of the best fish on the coast is located across the street at the Old Oregon Smokehouse.  Yes, it's in a doublewide and you have to eat in the car or outside but the fish is the best around. 

Well we found Cocoa but where did Little Fox scamper off to? 

 

Baxter's choice part 2

 Hello Blog World.

Baxter here again.  Hope Halloween treated y'all well.  As you might recall my last adventure took me to the Tillamook State Forest and a nice fall hike on at the forest center.

30 miles west is the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Here's the old building (before the remodel). The Co-op has been around since the early 1900s and still owned by about 100 farmer families (wouldn't it be nice to be one of those descendants???).   

Goodbye old building, hello new. Of course there were a ton more people than this picture shows. The new building is nice, it focuses on 4 things: 1) Cheese making process 2) Ice Cream Sales 3) Food sales (think cheeseburger, grilled cheese, mac and cheese) and 4) Tillamook products to take home.

They were packaging cheese today which is unusual on a Saturday. Today they are packing their cheddar and their sharp cheddar. 

The line was moving pretty fast till break time at 2pm when the floor emptied.  That's ok, cheese workers need their breaks too. 

The pandemic has changed a few things at the tour.  Now the cheese samples are pre-packaged but they still have the free samples.  The humans and I were too busy collecting the cheese samples that they were not able to get any pictures of me. 

The line for the food was crazy long but the line for the ice cream was super short.  The heck with lunch, time to get some ice cream.  They have a ton of flavors but I settled on a 3 ice cream "flight" with Oregon Dark Cherry (gotta support the home team), Monster Cookies (think Cookies and Cream with M+Ms candy) and a seasonal flavor Campfire Smores.

No more time to blog, must eat before it all melts.
Baxter out. 

Baxter's Choice part 1

 Hiya Gang,
Baxter here in charge of the blog for a while while LF is off visiting his pal up north.   Sandy and him have been having lots of fun adventures....enough about them today is all about me.  

First up is a hike along the Wilson River in the state forest.  Ok, this day is partly orchestrated by the humans but the last part is pure Baxter.  A nice fall day at the forest center but in reality the forest center is just a starting off point for our hike. 

Fall is short in Oregon but the colors never disappoint. 

The forest center had a mushroom class going on today, maybe I should ask if this is an edible one.  I'm guessing no.

Can you see the river in the background?

During the right time of year this section of river is full of anglers looking to get some fresh seafood (Chinook Salmon). A few anglers out today but we are a little too far from the Tillamook Bay where most of the action is. 

.

A little waterfall along the way back. 

Onward to our next stop.  Hint, it involves cows, cheese, and ice cream and it's near the Tillamook Bay.  Any guesses? 

Little Fox, out and about.

**Note: This blog written before the Covid 19 outbreak.  Don't worry, I am following my states Stay-at-home order.  Keep those paws washed!

Little Fox here.  What's in the cooler you ask?   Farm fresh eggs!  Yum, nothing like fresh eggs from the farm.  Whose farm?  No idea, it's okay. I dropped my money in the collection box and got two dozen eggs.

The farm fresh eggs were a nice bonus but today's adventure involves a nice hike.  Sequoia i ready to go.

I am at Cape Lookout on the Oregon Coast.  A nice little hike to a viewpoint. It's typically  a busy hike but today is a little quiet.

What a nice view. I am looking south and the beach looks amazing.   Flowers are coming out.  Yeah Spring!

A fishing boat on the ocean.  Do you think I can barter some eggs for fresh fish?

Sequoia is quite the task master.  He's ready to go.

Actually, timing is good.  This little fox is hungry.

My friend Grinnell is with me.  He hangs out in the car and isn't much of a hiker but he's good company.  

He decided to help me eat the lunch my roommates provided for me.  Do you think we'll get lobster as the sign says?

This is lunch?  Are you serious?  One pack of saltines to share between a fox and a lion?  Edit: Roomate does indicate that there are TWO crackers in that packet....one for fox. One for lion.

After reminding the roommate that evaluation time is coming soon a proper lunch was provided for Grinnell and I.  Fresh fish and chips.

Yum.

Manzanita Beach Adventure

Hello Blog Pals - I don't know about where you live but the weather has been beary sunny this Thanksgiving weekend.  There was no black Friday shopping for this Fox this year (although I saw a cool tin with a fox on it at the Dollar Tree today, sigh it was dented and my roommate wouldn't buy it for me).  Anyway, I digress, the weather has been great.

Our first stop was lunch at this overlook.  You can see that this gull is interested in lunch as well.  Not today my friend - not today.

 I decided to lead my roommates to the beach town on Manzanita (in Spanish it means little apple) but the town was named for the Manzanita plants that grow in the area (thank you Wikipedia).

Looks like there are some mountains to research in the background.  Maybe there are hiking trails up there?

What a perfect day at the coast.  

No, I am not at some secret ruin in Mesa Verde National Park.  I am just hanging out in a hole that a certain dog dug. 

Sequoia looks a little confused as to why I am in his hole.  I am curious why he dug this hole.  So many mysteries.

After playing with Sequoia I thought it best I relax before the long walk home.

Of course no adventure to the beach would be complete without a stop for some ice cream.  Hmm, I think I know of a place that happens to sell some. Now the only question is what kind should I get.

A little adventure

Have you ever been to the biggest building in Tillamook, Oregon?  Well, if you were to ask me that question a few days ago I would have said "no" until my latest adventure.

What do you store in the biggest building in a small town?
Cheese? 

Salmon?

Fine Wine?

When the building was built during WWII it housed blimps, yes blimps.  Now a-days the building is home to the air museum.  I would consider this a "museum in progress" as they are working to build their collection.  

The first plane I explored actually let you go inside the plane.  It was a cargo plane used for transporting some sort of cargo.  Probably fresh smoked salmon from Alaska. 

You could sure fit a lot of salmon in here. 

Besides the large cargo plane they had some smaller planes on display too.

This one looks in good shape.  Now how do I convince my roommates I need to take flying lessons?

Does everyone remember Jerry and Ben's friend Karl the University student from Canada?  I believe he was studying "Arctic Studies" at some college way up north in Canada.  I bet this plane is used in his universities fleet to study about the Arctic. 

Unfortunately the sun didn't cooperate for my photos but the plane says "arctic research laboratory"

Who knew a town known for it's cheese also had a nice little  museum.  Speaking of cheese I am off to the factory for some free samples....

Winter Weather?

Hello Blog Pals,
Hope everything is going well.  I am so excited to enter Julie Jane Zebra and Elsie Elaine's Photo Contest that I wanted to go out today and take some good winter photos.  I hope all of my blog pals can enter although I think Jerry and Ben have a distinct advantage because of all the snow in their state.

Anyway, I wanted to wear my new scarf on today's adventure.  My roommates said it will be too hot on our hike today (59 degrees and sunny) so I will just model it in the house.

Being an optimist I think I am going to try and find some good pictures for Julie Jane and Elsie Elaine's contest anyway.  We are off to the coast.

The weather looks really nice today, the trail is not too muddy today so that is beary good for Sequoia and I.

Sequoia decides to pose for this picture.  

The hike takes us on a cape overlooking the Pacific.  I wonder if I will see any salmon or whales today?

Along trail I saw this interesting tree.  

Ah, I made it to the end of the trail and the start of lunch.

I didn't get the winter photos today to enter into the contest but the contest isn't over for about a month so I have some time.  

 I hope all my stuffy friends enter the photo contest. 

Thanks Julie Jane and Elsie Elaine for hosting the contest.