At the Beach: Day 3

 It was Friday, Jill woke not feeling well and they were planning to return home that afternoon. Jill and Irene had been there since Monday. 

We decided to go exploring on our own. We had some old favorites to visit and a few new places to check out. 

We drove south on Hwy 101 to the turn off to Netarts Bay. My sister Laurie had told us about a good restaurant there and although we were not planning to eat we wanted to find it for future reference. With some driving around we found it and some other interesting streets in the town of Netarts. It's always fun to find new places.

Then we drove north to Ocean Side just because it is so beautiful there. 

We enjoyed the view and then drove back south along Netarts Bay.

Netarts Bay is noted for its oyster beds, but we had also read about salt.

Jacobsen Salt Co. produces sea salt from the bay water. Salt water is very pure here and it is pumped by pipe to these tanks where it is boiled and reduced to a very high salt concentration.

Salt is harvested and the dregs, impurities, are dumped. 

It looks like a small operation, but they produce thousands of pounds of sea salt and ship all over the world. We almost didn't stop here but we're glad we did. We got a personal tour, learned new things, and got some goodies. That salt will be reserved for sprinkling on our home grown tomatoes, which are starting to ripen, and especially caprese salad! 

Now we drove inland, back to the river valley along the Nestucca River, dairy land, and another place  Laurie had told us about.

Nestucca Bay Creamery.

We got distracted by the antiques but then sampled cheese, bought a slice to take home, and some ice cream to eat then. 

We sat at a picnic table on the bank of the river and ate - peach and Marion berry.

The cows were right there across the river. 

The little dairy town right on Hwy 101 looked interesting so we explored.

This was a fun shop.

Someone created a little public garden.

And of course, more cows.

It was time to turn around and head back north. In Tillamook we stopped at the Blue Heron Cheese Factory, always a fun stop. 

What with COVID necessitating outside dining, they have gotten pretty fancy. And popular. We looked, bought a jar of fig ginger jam to eat with chevre cheese, and moved on. 

We had a late lunch at the cabin, a lazy afternoon of reading and a bit of walking, and since our cook had gone home, we had dinner out. :-)

Later there was still Tillamook ice cream in the freezer to eat.