Tillamook Cheese Factory, Oregon

A fun stop along the Oregon Coast on Highway 101 is the Tillamook Cheese Factory which was established in 1909 by a small group of farmers. It sits between the tourist towns of Depoe Bay and Cannon Beach and is a nice stop for a bite to eat.

The day we arrived, a Friday in May and before the end of school, the parking lot was filled with tourists and school buses delivering students for factory tours. Initially a bit worried about the competition with students, we were relieved to find out they had self-guided tours, meaning we could enjoy free samples of cheese and view the factory at our leisure.

There were two floors we could visit and the top floor had large windows overlooking the factory floor. The machinery was impressive as were the conveyor belts that moved blocks and slices of varied types of cheeses in multiple stages of completion. On the first floor is a large cafe, gift shop and ice-cream counter. There were loads of people but the lines were quick and service was efficient and surprisingly pleasant. Craving sweets we ordered scoops of Tillamook ice-cream for $2 a scoop. The chocolate mint and rocky road were heaven. They also make fresh fudge which was amazingly tasty. We ordered a 1/4 of the rocky road flavor at $10.99 a pound. It was well worth the price.

While it hadn't been on our intial list of things to do we were glad we stopped. It was really entertaining and a nice break from the drive.