Oregon Coast, Tillamook, & American Sign Language Thrill (OR)

Today we went to Willamette National Cemetery for Find A Grave (footnote 1). This is about an hour from our campground. It was very cold, in the high 50s, dark and damp. This place is huge, over 200,000 graves. It is on hills and up and down. Sadly, to us, the headstones are flat; boy, this place would be stunning if the stand up white headstones were placed on these hills and curves. Each columbarium was big and some had over 400 in rows of 5. We walked a lot and glad to have our raincoats.

Sourdough Herb Rolls, Buxton, OR 09/26

Sourdough Starter: I made Everything Sourdough by Charlene Yoder’s Herb Rolls. They were really fun to make; you roll dough into 1-inch balls and then put 3 in muffin tin. They were very delicious! Rated: Kevin Wanted Rating Set At Once A Week, However, I Don’t Have That With My Star Rating. LOL Once A Month It Is. (My start rating on Paprika App: 1 star – yuck, 2 stars – once a year, 3 stars – once every six months, 4 stars – every month, 5 stars – every day!)

Autumn Colors, L.L. Stub Steward State Park Campground, Buxton, OR 09/26

Later I wanted to walk so Kevin came with me. It was sunny and no clouds and perfect temps. We saw the motorhome with the electronic sign with eyes on it. The guy was outside packing up and Kevin told him he liked the eyes. That started a very fun conversation. The guy showed us how he can change the sign to pictures, words, etc. Very fun.

I saw a couple, who are volunteers here, doing a lot of trimming in sites. I decided they would get some Sourdough Herb Rolls. As soon as we got back home (footnote 2), they zoomed past. So we watched for them and later I was able to catch up with them. I told him thank you for keeping this campground so beautiful and he was very thankful for my words and for the rolls. So fun to share.

We’ve Been Here Quite A Few Times In The Past Years, Cannon Beach, OR 09/26

Today was a lot of driving on this exploring day. HA We took Hwy 26 to the Oregon coast, down Hwy 101, east on Hwy 22 & 18, north on 99W, over a mountain on some road, east to Hillsboro, west to Hillsboro, north on Hwy 47, west on Hwy 26, north on Hwy 47. It was a full day of driving – more driving time than not. But that is what we wanted to do today. Our first stop was at Ecola State Park to see the rocks and Haystack Rocks at Cannon Beach. This state park is high on a cliff. Drove through Cannon Beach main road and it was really packed with cars. Since we have been to this beach at least 3 times in the past years, we didn’t need to stop and do anything.

Cheeseburger, Fried Cheese Curds, & Sourdough Pretzel Pieces Mac & Cheese, Tillamook Creamery, Tillamook, OR 09/26

We continued on Hwy 101 and stopped at several view areas. A stop we always make whenever we are in the area is at Tillamook Creamery. Lots of cars and people but the visitor center with store and food court is big enough to handle them. We went to the food counter and he got cheese burger (nothing special tasting, he said) and I got Mac and cheese. Why? Because the description said it had Sourdough pretzel crumbs on top. HAHA It was very tasty. We got fried cheese curds to share. They were much better than Beaver, Utah, Creamery, we thought. We couldn’t eat them all.

As we were sitting at the extremely long tables just visiting (in American Sign Language, since I am deaf) with each other, I guy came over to us. Very well dressed, a bit older than us. He started signing fluent American Sign Language and fast, voice off. Kevin couldn’t read what he was signing but I could. He pointed to the fried cheese curds and asked what they were. I signed to him. We offered one to him and he tried it. Oh yes, he liked it. Since we were done we offered him the tray with a bunch remaining on it. He was thankful and happy to take it. He walked over to a stand up table and started eating. Kevin got up and went over to the ice cream counter for yummy waffle cones of cooke dough for him and orange cream for me. Deaf man signed to me across the way and asked if there was dipping sauce. Yes, want to come try it, it is spicy. He came over and tried it, liked it, we gave it to him, and he had a happy face as he ate it and waiting for his food to come. That was so very fun to experience!

Jane’s Fabric Patch, Tillamook, OR 09/26

I needed a fabric store for fabric to make my October yard flag. There was nothing around the campground so I found Jane’s Fabric Patch in Tillamook. It is a former house, painting pink on the outside and nicely organized inside. I was surprised they only had 2 autumn charm packs. I thought they would have a variety. We bought one of each.

Durant Vineyards – Olive Oil Grown & Processed Here, Dayton, OR 09/26

On down and around and back up to Durant Vineyards in Dayton. I needed olive oil and found that this place actually grows the olive trees there and does all the processing. I like that; supporting local. It is also a huge winery. We didn’t walk over to the olive trees but did get several bottles of plain olive oil. My different Sourdough breads uses it so I didn’t want a flavored one. Also got hostess gifts for some friends. There are more vineyards in this area than you can count! The fields are gorgeous!

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/about
2. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.