Some have Mecca. Some have Temple Square. We have the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Our final two days in Oregon were as much fun as the first. Upon leaving a vacation spot, I generally find myself making a mental checkmark, "Done that, on to the next," but this is a place we will come to again. Mainly for the salt water taffy (buttercream mint is my ultimate favorite) and the aforementioned heavenly bread pudding. Haven't done the post-vacation weigh-in yet. The reason for my hesitation is obvious.

We continued to spend hours at the beach.

We took the girls to play at Regatta Park.

Our last day took us to Tillamook, by way of the Three Capes Scenic Route.

I'm sure this giant rock has a name, I just didn't catch it.
Kiki, as usual, refused to show her face in pictures.

Here is a truth that Bruce can not dispute. His navigational skills are far inferior to mine. It's not to do with brainpower, just lack of motivation on his part. When I am the navigator, I say things like, "Our target is at mile marker 63.9. Our landmarks are such and such, after which you'll be turning right on Bug Farm Road. You might want to start slowing down, and... there it is." When Bruce navigates, you get this, "So. What you're going to do is take the 101, the 6, maybe or maybe not the 405 or the 26, you'll have to read the signs, then the 84, then we're home. (Big sigh/groan, leans back in the seat.) You're on a scenic route now; wake me up if you see anything good." (Rose- the traditional division of labor "I'll drive, you spin the hits." doesn't even begin to apply here either. I listened to a dreadful SIX HOUR book on tape.)

Against all odds, however, we did arrive at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.
My kids love cheese like it can love them back.

See, when we do get a face shot, you also get the "Stink Eye."
The cheese factory was pretty fascinating. Did you know it takes 10 pounds of milk to make ONE pound of cheese? I missed out on a lot of interesting facts because the girls wanted to get to the (unlimited, free) samples post haste.

Here's the factory. I shamelessly plugged the benefits of a college education.

And, back to the travel position.

A few more words about Kiki- she has vindicated me twice over the last few days. First, at Crater Lake, I wanted to buy her a stuffed bear, and Bruce wanted to buy her magnetic rocks. Bruce insisted she'd lose interest in the bear where the rocks would be HOURS of entertainment. I bought the bear, and she has played with it endlessly. Second, we went to Coldstone, and I let each girl get their own ice cream, to which Bruce said, "You know they are both going to eat less than half and they are just going to waste the rest." Well, Kate manged to eat more than half of hers, but that Kiki, she ate every single bite. When she'd finished anything solid, she picked up the cup and DRANK what was left. I only take such pleasure in being right over such miniscule things because I am so frequently wrong about important matters.

We drove yesterday until we couldn't take it anymore, then stopped in Twin Falls about 11:30. This morning, we let the girls swim. There was a man reading the paper in the hot tub, and I was trying to keep Kate and Kiki from totally disrupting him, and I was doing an okay job until Kiki pointed at him and said very loudly, "THAT'S NOT MY DADDY." I thought, 'That's right, kid, since that guy is Asian.' He laughed and, I'm sure, felt waves of relief wash over him that he was, indeed, NOT the father of such a loudmouth.

We made it home today at 1:30, and a good time was had by all.