Tillamook

Tillamook County juts into the Coast Range, trapping maritime moisture and producing a persistently green dairy-farming landscape that supplies the cream behind one of America's most recognized cheese brands. The Tillamook Creamery visitor center, rebuilt in 2018 as a modern agricultural destination, allows visitors to watch cheese production through floor-to-ceiling windows, sample over 50 products, and learn the cooperative's history from its 1909 founding. The Tillamook Air Museum, housed in a wooden Quonset-style blimp hangar built in 1942, is one of two surviving examples of its type in the United States and is large enough to obscure its own weather system inside. The Three Capes Scenic Loop departs Tillamook north and traces 35 miles of headlands: Cape Meares with its octopus tree and lighthouse, Cape Lookout's windswept promontory, and Cape Kiwanda's golden sandstone dunes. Tillamook Bay itself is productive clamming ground, and the Bay City oyster bars serve freshly shucked Dungeness crab and oysters from boats that dock at the marina. The Blue Heron French Cheese Company offers a gentler dairy experience than the Creamery, with a petting zoo and a wide selection of local products.