During our time in Seattle, we realized that Crater Lake National Park pretty much closes for the season on November 1st. Our calendar has us in Crater Lake on… November 1st, so we needed to cut a day from somewhere. Despite some great recommendations from Dusty B and several others, we were forced to cut most of Oregon Coast.
With our only 24 hours on the coast we stopped in the sleepy off-season town of Seaside. Hotels were so cheap that we decided to splurge and get a hotel room at the Shilo Inn and gave the RV the evening off. We had 2 beers, ate dinner at a place where the average age was 75, and then went to bed. The next morning we took a run along the promenade and watch Bryce play in the sand and then the pool before beginning our 4 hour journey to Crater Lake.
Our 1st stop on the journey was the town of Tillamook, whose prominent attraction was one big dairy factory with a museum, tour, food court, and ice creamery. After several years in Wisconsin, my cheese senses are acute. Danielle and I split a cheese curds appetizer (she ate 2 curds and I ate the other 1500 calories of cheese curds) then we ate full meals. I finished off my glutinous display by “sharing” an ice cream with Danielle and Bryce. I use the word “sharing” loosely.
Final stop for the day was Eugene Oregon in the Willamette Valley, famous for Pinot. We parked the RV at a campsite and took an Uber downtown for some Pinot Noir tasting at Sweet Cheek tasting room. We skipped dinner as we were still full from our afternoon dairy overload.
