Trails

When we pulled into the RV parking at the Tillamook Cheese Factory I spotted the barn quilt across the road. The conclusion was that they had a barn quilt trail. Turns out, they have a quilt trail, some of which are on barns. This one is on the Alteher/Gienger barn.

Driving around the area, we did spot some barns that might qualify for my "barn of the day" series,

but the most noticeable thing was the number of active dairy farms, both large and small. Researching the quilt trail led to the realization that the valley was settled by Swiss immigrants who introducing the dairy industry.

This quilt is on the south end of barn at the Abbott farm. This is the only barn on the Tillamook Quilt Trail that has two quilts. There is another on the north end of the same barn which is located on Highway 101 at the intersection

leading to the former Naval Air Station Tillamook and its one remaining blimp hangar which now houses the Tillamook Air Museum. I didn't visit on this trip, but was very impressed with their collection of flying aircraft when I visited five or six years ago.

The other trail was very low key. We wouldn't have known about it except that the ranger when we checked in at Cape Lookout noticed our boats and said we would want this info. The Tillamook County Water Trail documents are VERY well done. Unfortunately, boats in Oregon over 10 feet need an Aquatic Invasive Species permit (aka tax) which I need to get for the canoe before we could go paddling.

On a related note, a couple of my friends from the Colorado River trip this past March were key in getting the Black Canyon Water Trail below Hoover officially recognized recently. Congratulations to Izzy and Helen.