It rained again. Sigh. Everything in the trailer is damp. Our clothes are damp, our bath towels won’t dry and even our high end waterproof rain jackets are damp. Grrr…stupid Oregon coast.
We’re trying to make the most of the bad weather, but it’s kind of hard. Not only is it raining, it’s extremely windy so whenever you go out you are immediately pelted in the face with cold, stinging rain drops.
We decided to just take a drive and visit some of the local towns. Cannon Beach has been on the list of things to do for the last few weeks. While we were at Jack and Trish’s, I read one of the magazines that Jack lent us that Cannon Beach is an off leash beach where puppies can run free. That had a lot of appeal until yesterday when the beach where we are camping was completely desolate and, well, the Boys ran free. Off leash appeal - expired.
Cannon Beach was overrun by 3, yes, THREE, school buses full of teenagers. Uh, no thanks. We’ll move on.
We pulled in to a few of the overlooks and snapped a few shots of Haystack Rock and the coastline. The critters were cool.
We stopped at Arcadia Beach which was much more our style. That style being largely desolate.
The Boys, though stiff and sore from their stick time at the campground beach, were happy to run...okay, JOG...along the water and check out the sniffs. We walked the beach for awhile, headed back to the truck and down 101 towards Tillamook.
What do you do when you’re camping, it’s raining, and you’re on a budget? You visit the Tillamook cheese factory. :P
It was actually kind of cool. The entire cheese manufacturing process is visible to the public – which is funny because the employees constantly glance up to the viewing area to see how many people are watching them at any given moment. Talk about being in a fishbowl. I would hate that.
Anywho…we had…wait for it...wait for it....grilled CHEEEEESE
sandwiches and soup at the café and then picked up some squeaky cheese and a couple of snack bags of assorted cheese cubes. We were proud of our decision to eat before shopping, otherwise, we would have had 80 dollars worth of cheese to take home. Their ingenious “sample bar” practically assured sales from the weak willed. I really wanted some of the habanero pepper cheese but decided wanting and needing are two separate things (this is where an obstinate, strong willed personality comes in handy). Besides, you have to consider the wisdom of putting habanero peppers in cheese. Cheese = constipation. Habanero peppers = diarrhea. The combined consequence is disaster. Happy mouth does not translate to a happy colon. EEEKKKK! It buurrrrnzzzz usssss!!
We drove the rest of the way through Tillamook which took about 3.8 minutes. We turned around and headed back up 101 towards Nehalem. We saw some weird things.
LOOKOUT!!!
They keep detouring the fish to this one location???? :P
I LOVED the name of this place. The logo is even better...
We stopped for gas - the Boys do NOT like it when other people pump our gas - and then headed across the street to the "Honda dealer" because Bill wanted to show me the new mini-ST (NT-700V) that was in the window and we were hoping they had a new VFR on the floor. What a joke. I'll let Bill explain that one...unbelievable.
It continued to rain…we continued to be tired of it, so we called it a day and headed to the campsite. I could never live here...it rains entirely too much.
(Bill's Perspective)
Seriously...How can you work at a shop that sells Honda motorcycles and ...
Let me back up. We tried to walk into this shop but were rerouted three times by "use other door" signs. When we finally got in, it was through the door of a bicycle shop. Weird. So we found the hole that led us to the motorcycles and made our way over. So the older guy asked us if we needed anything or of he could help us or some such mandatory inquiry. I asked if they had a new VFR. Before I continue, let me say this... I tend to exaggerate but this is not the time. I am totally serious when I say that his reply was this: "A what?" My speech was clear and my enunciation was flawless. This is my comfort zone, after all. I waited and wondered to myself if this was some subtle commentary on his part about how Honda North America handled the release of this bike or the quantity that they produced. Or maybe he was one of the skeptics that didn't really appreciate all the buzz only to find out the bike wasn't the hit they expected it to be or something clever like that. I hoped that was what he meant. I was wrong. After a long uncomfortable silence during which I contemplated my reply, I said cleverly, "the new VFR?" His reply floored me. I'm not easily knocked off my mental awareness of my surroundings. This guy got me. I was still waiting for the punchline when he said, "What is that? Is that a street bike?" He was genuinely unaware. I was blown away.
For you non motorcycle types, let me draw a parallel for you. That would be like going into a bank and asking for a deposit slip and having the teller ask you to describe it for you. Or going into a Ford dealership and asking to see the new F-150 and having the salesman look around in wonder and ask which one is that? Oh, how I could go on but I'm going to stop before I get nasty. His buddy, the younger one had acquired a catalogue and feigning some familiarity, he asked which one I was interested in as there were obviously 2 listings under VFR. Ugh. We are so not small town people. There were new Honda dirtbikes all over the place and generators and some scooters. It's a real Honda dealership. How can you NOT know about the BIGGEST THING TO HIT THE MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY from Honda in DECADES?!?!?
Dolt.
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