Life on a Real California dairy farm: Our Tillamook experience!

As we drove into Tillamook, we were greeted by a herd of Holstein & Jersey cows, enjoying the green pasture just outside the high school stadium. Yes, they are the Cheesemakers!

Thanks to Stacey for the suggestion, we stopped at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company for lunch. We tasted some wonderful Brie cheese and a array (to say the least) of sauces, dips, dressings and more. Lunch was great and the boys enjoyed the petting zoo!

Then for a bit of ice cream! When we first pulled into the parking lot at the Tillamook Cheese plant, we were overwhelmed at the number of cars and people. After being on the road with two little guys, a crowd was not something we were interested in dealing with.

But we were there, so we sucked it up and found a parking spot. The place was packed with people buying souvenirs, t-shirts, ice cream, cheese, taking tours... everything you could think of. I would rate our experience to be a 10! We chose our "treasures" and headed for the closest register. Tillamook has Excellent customer service, and we only waited in line for a few minutes. Whew!

Then to CHOOSE an ice cream flavor! Wow! As you can see, the second photo still cuts off the right hand side of the menu... and the photo below only shows the people who have already ordered and paid, they're just waiting for their scoops! The line was crazy long, and again, we probably waited in line for a total of 7 minutes. We are SO glad that we stayed.

Since this trip was about the boys, we opted out of tours, etc. and just found a place in the shade to enjoy our treats... Yummy!

Clayton chose "Banana Split"... little did I realize that it was actually a 3-scoop delight with a combination flavors to make up the overall experience! So much for a single scoop!

After ice cream, we drove just down the road to visit our good friends, Mark & Stephanie Miranda! We had been looking forward to this visit for quite some time and were so excited to finally be there! Chris was excited to see some cattle we share that are housed up there, treated like queens! ;)

It was the perfect place for the boys... they felt right at home. Clayton was so excited to "do some really hard work" and play with Kirby, the kitty. When Kirby was a little-bitty thing, he went through the Kirby mixer wagon, and was fed out into the feed bunks. They found him later in the day, buried in feed and unphased!

After his ordeal, Kirby never left the calf barn... until Clayton showed up! They were instant pals and before long, Clayton was running around the yard with Kirby chasing after him!