A “Cheesy” Time in Tillamook, Oregon

As Autumn set in, the weather started turning cold, reminding us it was time to start heading south. Our first stop was in Tillamook, Oregon, along the coast. And, yes, we did our research and knew to stay off of Highway 6 from Vancouver–even though our RV Garmin tried its best to route us that way!

We found a great Harvest Hosts/Boondockers Welcome that allowed us to stay for 4 nights and was located in town, but still near the beaches.

The Blue Heron French Cheese Company has a large area for RVers to stay in for up to five nights, and they have a TON of parking spots. We got lucky and snagged one on the end towards the back with great mountain views and very little road noise. This location has no water available and no hookups, and it was cloudy for much of our trip, so we had to use our generator to fill in the gaps when our solar couldn’t charge enough.

Spending the suggested $30 at the location was easy to do with so many things to choose from. They have a great shop of cheeses and other charcuterie items, as well as a menu of food and treats, and a plentiful wine selection. There’s also a seasonal food truck that, unfortunately, we were too late for. The outdoor fire pit, petting zoo, and old farm equipment made for a nice area to walk around in, and their breakfast menu drew us in a few times. Even if you aren’t overnighting here, there is plenty of room for RV parking to stop in and enjoy a bite and the views.

We also made time to get to the Tillamook Creamery, just a few minutes up the road. While they have RV parking, they don’t allow overnights, but we were happy to get to stay close. They offer guided factory tours for both the cheese and ice cream that you can schedule online, but we opted for the free self-guided option. The upstairs area takes you through their history and viewing area of the cheese factory, and has some fun interactives for the littles. It was neat to see the process and sample some of the products.

We then enjoyed lunch at their cafe and ice cream from the parlor before wandering the market and shop for some items to take home. The prices on their cheeses and ice cream were on par, if not better, than what we found in the grocery stores, which was nice! We found their ice cream while on the west coast, and had just started seeing their cheeses back East, so were happy to chat with a staff member who told us of their new plant in Illinois and that we would be seeing more of their products on the east coast.

While the rain set in for the weekend, we had planned to used the time for family activities, catching up on school as well as videos and the blog, and exploring between rain drops, as well as travel planning. But RV life did what RV life does. We had some friends that were passing through nearby, so we packed up early and ventured a couple hours north to spend the weekend with them. That’s one of the reasons we don’t book reservations too far out–we love being able to change plans last minute!

If you aren’t familiar with Harvest Hosts, it’s a camping membership that allows you to overnight at local businesses all over the country for a small fee. We’ve stayed at wineries, breweries, restaurants, museums, farms, drive-in theaters and many more, all as part of our membership. If you are interested, you can sign up and earn us credit towards next year’s membership at no cost to you using our Harvest Host Referral Link (Boondockers Welcome is a part of this and if you like golf, chat with me before signing up)! You can also check out other ways to save on our savings page at https://barnesonmove.com/savings/

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