UP! No sign of crazy bird, no bird droppings anywhere, and my eyeballs are still in tact. Phew!
9:30 am:
CHEESE FACTORY TOUR!!!!! YAY!!!!! Tillamook makes cheese and there’s a factory where you can see how it’s done! It’s like Sesame Street but in person! ‘Member??!
It was AWESOME!!!! The workers didn’t look too pleased that there was a whole bunch of people staring at them. It’s set up like an autopsy room in college, where everyone is on the next floor up behind glass and they are doing the autopsy on the first floor under really bright lights. They also looked COMPLETELY bored out of their minds…
After the self-guided tour I gots some ICE CREAM! I asked for the smallest one and the guy told me that the junior cone was only the size of a golf ball, so I opted for the “small” instead. Tsssss. Should have went with the junior ‘cause that small was HUGE! I asked him if he could help me with it, which consequently, embarrassed the ba-jesus outta him. Edit your words, Amber…please!!
All fine and good, hanging out on the picnic bench in the parking lot trying to eat this Strawberry ice cream cone when…wha? Yea, you guessed it. Some duchetube drives by and says something leering and jerk-like about me and the ice cream cone and…well, you get it. REALLY???!!! It’s ice cream. BAH!! Leave me be! I just had a cheese factory tour and am really happy right now. Jerk.
1:00 pm:
I went back to the State Park I was at yesterday to get a campsite. One night in a hotel with a pool and Jacuzzi and bed made me allllllll bettah! But, wha? It’s all full? And the same guy was at the registration booth and asked me if I found a room alright and if I slept ok. Awwwwwww! (heart) OH! And I didn’t stay at the first hotel I stopped at because the parking area smelled like rotten garbage and the main office smelled like cat piss! EW! No!
Why is it full??? Wha happened? And then he looks at me with a pitiful look and says “It’s fourth of July weekend. You’ve been on the road for a while, huh?” (smirk/smile). HA! Yea! Fourth of July weekend huh? Uh. Oh. That means the hotels are all gonna be booked and the hostels and the State Parks, right? State parks=full [confirmation by nice dude at booth]. Ok, can I hang out in the day use area? Yes, yes I can! All day long until sunset if I want to.
So I sat on the beach and watched a bunch of people…who had campsites or homes or hotels to sleep in that night. Yes, please. Feel pity for this girl!!!
Back to my car, changed into jeans and t-shirt, because I needed to be prepared for the worst…which was what? Zombie attack?? Apocalypse? Sleeping in my car on the side of the road? READY!
2:30 pm:
I’m sitting in my car (tailgate party style!) looking at my books and maps and such and I have just confirmed that yes, all of the reasonably priced hotels are all booked and the hostels are full. Awesome. I’m pretty sure that if I pull up in that far corner there, no one will notice me during the night…hmmmmmm.
Just then this amazing old Chevy drives by (it’s dark tan—purdy) with a camper attached to the back. The gentleman smiles at me as he passes, then parks and heads to the beach.
20 minutes later the gentleman comes back to the parking lot and heads straight for me. He asks what I’m doing/where I’m from/where I’m headed. We talk about Jezebel and his camper…he’s a certified camper inspector (I didn’t know there were such things!) and I told him he should have been with me when I got Jezebel. He asks where I’m staying and I told him…honestly, I have no idea. Everything is full so I thought I would just sit here and procrastinate until they kicked me out! LOL! Huge Amber smile/laugh. He introduces himself to me as Tony and then proceeds to tell me that he’s going to go find his daughter to see if they have room for me at their site. I would just have to pay the extra car fee ($5) and his daughter has 3 girls so if I can handle all of that, then he’ll see what he can do! WOW! Really??!! That’s the most amazing thing evah!! I (heart) you Grandfather Tony!! He asks if I’m going to be there a while yet and I tell him for at least another hour or so.
4:30 pm:
No sign of Tony…and it makes me sad…like he set me up for a fall, but maybe his daughter said no and he doesn’t want to tell me that…
You know who I have 1 ½ hours away though??? Rita Minjarez!! Yep! I’m not supposed to arrive until the 3rd, but um…it’s either that or the side of the road and if I wrote THAT story in my blog me mum would be quite upset with me!!!
Rita’s amazing and we met in high school in Germany
The last year I was there, we realized we had the same friends and hung out together a couple of times. We bonded and since then, well, nothing has come between our friendship and most likely never will. Oh except that one time we went to see Jane’s Addiction and on the way back I was playing them too loud on the boombox…the stereo didn’t work in the car…she got mad…Rita’s scary when she gets mad! She’s even scary when she pretends to be mad!!!
6:00 pm:
Pulling in to Portland Oregon Germany
- Grilled Salmon with reduction sauce
- Spinach with onions and raisins
- Mashed potatoes
- Garlic bread
- Blueberry cobbler with Mascarpone cheese
- PBR
- Whiskey shots
Yes, that was dinner. You’re totally jealous, huh? And yes, I ate the salmon and it was so frackin’ delicious!!!!!
Then we hung out for the night and I got to hear Rita’s laugh over and over again…she has the most contagious laugh EVAH! <3
Sleep! Content. Happy. Crushed.
That night there was a bright white glow coming from outside my window. Maybe I was dreaming? Hmmmmmm…
You are totally making me want to have a solo adventure! That's too bad about Tony, but hey! Your dinner sounded amazing! <3
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