Trip to Oregon {part two}

The next couple of days we headed to the coast, starting with the Tillamook Cheese factory.  It reminded me of the Blue Bell Creamery here, but Tillamook has self-guided tours and then you pay a little more for the ice cream.

Katie liked watching the 40-pound blocks of cheese go by.

I think we went through the cheese sample line at least three times. :) So good!

I should've gotten Katie her own ice cream cause she was not very happy she had to share with me.  The mountain huckleberry was yummy.

Next we hiked to Cape Meares lighthouse, the shortest lighthouse in Oregon.  We had borrowed this child carrier for Katie, but as you can see, she was a little big for it, haha. :)  I think it was more of a baby carrier.  Fortunately, it was a short hike to the lighthouse.  I probably could have carried her in my arms or let her walk, but once she was on my back she wanted to stay there.  We could not stop laughing after we put her in it!

Incredible view

Jana stayed down with Katie so Rob and I could go up in the lighthouse.  Kids under a certain height aren't allowed to go up.

So beautiful!!

My sister is also very beautiful! :)

We ate a late lunch/early dinner at Mo's, a popular seafood restaurant on the coast.  We were all pretty hungry and the food was delicious.

view outside Mo's

beach in Pacific City at sunset

Then it was off to our yurt!  This was my first time to camp in a yurt, but Jana and Rob had stayed there in August with my brother and his family.  It has electricity and heat, which we were very grateful for because it was really cold that night.

Katie slept with me on the futon.  We all went to bed around 9 pm since Katie needed to go to sleep, plus I think we were all tired anyway.  Once Katie settled down and stopped putting her bum on my head or her feet in my face, she slept soundly until about 6:30 am.  We woke up to rain and were happy we were in the yurt and not a tent.  I don't think I want to camp in a tent again after this.  At least not with a toddler. :)

We had individual breakfast casseroles made with egg, sausage, bacon, hash browns, cheese, onions, and peppers.  It tasted so good!

cooking breakfast in the rain

Before we left the campsite, we walked down to the beach.  It was Katie's first time to see the Pacific Ocean. (I didn't visit the west coast until I was 18.)  She loved it!  It was too cold to get in, of course, but she touched the water and ran around the beach for a while.

On the way home we stopped at a free aquarium.  They had a touch pool, but Katie wouldn't put her hand in to touch anything.  She was also afraid of this octopus at first, but finally went closer and let me get a picture of her with it.

I loved our visit to the Oregon coast!  I was so amazed at how beautiful it is there.  We also did a little shopping along the way in some antique stores and I found a few fun things to bring home.  It was a great weekend!