Portland, Tillamook, and Cannon Beach Trip

For the first time ever, J has been given Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off as a paid holiday. We had hoped to take advantage of the holiday by going on a snowshoeing trip, but our plans were foiled by the rain. So, we decided to take an impromptu trip to Oregon. My Ant Bee and her family were so kind to make time to visit with us (especially on such short notice), and we were glad we got to visit with them.

The view of Portland from our hotel window. J found a great last-minute deal, so we got to stay at The Paramount.

At the OMSI 

With Ant Bee in the foodcourt of the OMSI (which has a really great sandwich called the Yammy Bar)

Image of the installation of the Paradise exhibition by the artists Fallen Fruit. The images for the show and their juxtapositions were semi-interesting to me, but I really loved the hanging of the installation and the custom wallpaper. 

Sam dancing inside Kenny Scharf's Cosmic Cavern

We took the long way back home by driving to the coast and visiting Tillamook, the motherland of almost all of the dairy products that we consume. Before we reached the cheese factory, we took a slight detour to visit the Munson Creek Falls. This was a really short hike (about 1/4 of a mile from the parking lot to the waterfall), but it had a lovely payoff. This is one of the longest waterfalls that is located on Oregon's Coastal Range.

We then headed to Tillmook for a self-guided tour of the factory. We ate lunch there (and all of our meals included some variant of cheese), and we had ice cream cones before we went home. We really love Tillamook products, so it was fun to go there. Sam liked to see the production line for the cheese, too.

We also stopped for a quick twenty- or thirty-minute detour at Cannon Beach on our way home. It started to rain really hard just after we got back to the car. I'm glad that we were able to spend just a few momens

I'm glad that we were able to have this fun getaway trip. I look forward to exploring Oregon more, hopefully sometime this summer. The next week and a half after this trip were quite difficult (we all were sick with colds one week, and then Lucy had a fever for about four days afterward). It was nice to think back on this trip while we were feeling miserable; it helped to lift our spirits!