Day at the Beach

A couple of days ago I realized that nearly every day between now and the end of summer is already booked up: we have trips, visitors, occupational therapy camps... you know how it goes. It will all be fantastic, I am sure, but I think our summer days of lounging without a thing to do have come to an end. Don't get me wrong, we will still have plenty of leisure time, just not really any full days to do whatever we want with. So yesterday, the kids and I decided to head to the coast. Even though it's only an hour and a half away, we probably won't make it there again until my mom comes in the middle of August. And, in Oregon, days to lounge on the beach are pretty numbered because it is normally so cool and rainy. I need to get my fill during the summer!
We decided to make a whole day of it. We first stopped off at the Tillamook Forest Center where we learned about the 4 Tillamook fires that happened in the first half of the twentieth century, explored some forest ecosystems, and walked across their really cool suspension bridge. Next stop: Oceanside. The beach was overcast, but it warmed up as the afternoon wore on, and we even ended up needed some sunscreen. The kids had a blast digging and finding shells, and I even got a (very) few minutes to read my book.
On the way home we decided to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for the self-guided tour and some ice cream for the kids. That was insane. It was super crowded and the tour was mostly just informational signs on the wall with a viewing area where you could see factory workers weighing and cutting cheese. Actually, they weren't weighing or cutting.. they were watching machines do it and there just to interfere if something went wrong. And the ice cream line was insane. All I could think of was they had us lined up like we were cows in a dairy, herding us from one space to another. I guess Sunday afternoon in July is not the best time to visit the cheese factory, but I can say that I am not planning to go back anytime soon.