Epic Road Trip 2017 - Day #18

We packed up the campsite and headed out for Cape Meares Lighthouse. A short drive up the coast took us way up a cliff and above the Lighthouse. We could see the light at the parking lot and there was a neat informational display to view. The hill was very steep but it was super cool to see the building up close. There was also a great view of the three arch rocks across Cape Lookout.

After the lighthouse we went into Tillamook to check out the Cheese Factory! We grabbed lunch at the Creamery Cafe and had some amazing grilled cheese and macaroni. We also had some fantastic ice cream.

In Tillamook's downtown we stopped in at Tangled Yarns. I found some great local dyed yarn, Alexandra's Crafts from south of Salem, Or. The shop owner told us all about the dyer and her trunk shows at the store and then mentioned she lived in Gentry, Ar for a while. It's always so nice to meet someone who has connections with home.

We then drove across the Coast Range and into Portland. Before we checked into our AirBnB for the night we went by Nitro Knitters in Beaverton. I loved this store. They had a great selection of local dyed  yarns. I bought a couple skeins. One from Nano Stitch Labs and one from Candy Skein.

At our AirBnB we got to order in Shogun Sushi and do lots of laundry!

What We Learned: Today we learned about the common murre.  When we went to the lookout point at the Cape Meares Lighthouse, there was lots of information about the murre.  From the viewpoint we could see the "Three Arch Rocks," which are a nesting place for hundreds of thousands of birds throughout the spring and summer.  One of the species that nest on the rocks is the common murre, and the rocks provide the largest nesting colony south of Alaska.

For the day we drove 111.4 miles and saw license plates from 20 states and 2 Canadian provinces.