Hows it going everyone? Cheese and Ice Cream, two words that would, for most, cause salivation on a grand scale. Unless your lactose intolerant somewhere throughout your life you have partaken in one of these tasty creations. Milk or any dairy product at that, is high in vitamin D and calcium, and builds strong bones.
I vacation in Oregon every year and this year i decided to drive further north than usual and visit the famous creamery of Tillamook with my gorgeous girlfriend Rebecca. Their cheese can be found in most supermarkets around the country and to me has always been of a higher quality than others.
Tillamook also produces high quality ice cream in all sorts of flavors that are sure to delight even the most passionate of ice cream partakers.
As Tillamook had such a great reputation by so many i was excited to see their operation in person. We pulled up into the parking lot and noticed new construction. It looked like they were expanding the parking lot, there were only a few dozen parking spaces outside but with how packed it was i can see why they needed more.
I had a good laugh when i noticed the H in cheese was missing. We decided to walk over to this boat that they had displayed on the lawn of the property. It seemed like a great photo op.
While walking inside, families were all around, Kids running all over, lots of languages that i did not understand and just overall....busy. We noticed the huge Christmas tree in front of us. This was a very well done tree to greet all of their customers.
To the left of the tree was a gift shop with lots of little trinkets that actually had nothing to do with the creamery. It seemed like a gift shop you would see at a liquor store in Las Vegas. To the right of the Christmas tree you had a little Volkswagen Bus with the Tillamook logo for tourists to take pictures in. I will admit, i played along.
Past the tree there were stairs that went up to the viewing area. This area showed the daily operation of the creamery. Huge blocks of delicious looking cheese came out on a conveyor belt and went through several processes before they ended up back out in the refrigerator to be shipped out or sold locally.
Aside from the large viewing glass overlooking the operation, there were several Information towers all telling different parts of how Tillamook came to be. They described how Tillamook was and still is a cooperation and collaboration of local farmers. There also was a large fake cow that i had a hard time not climbing on top of.
And for the kids they could take a picture as a cow. I am a big kid at heart so i decided to partake.
It was all fun and games, but i was starting to think of this dairy more of a tourist trap than an actual business. Kind of like putting on more of a show than whats needed. After all the goofing around we headed back downstairs for some serious cheese tasting. We were both hungry and wanted to try some of their fresh samples.
This is where the whole experience seemed to go south and was like more of a circus show than anything. We waited in line as people passed over samples that were extremely sweaty, luke warm and not that tasty. I was confused! None of the samples were nearly as yummy as what i had tasted packaged back at home. PLUS there were literally only 6 samples to taste. Now i know Tillamook has more than six flavors of cheese and some of these were curds.
I started to think that i drove all this way to learn that Tillamook was better at the supermarket than where it was produced. Rebecca and i made our way past the extremely disapointing samples to see if we could buy a brick of cheese cheap. After all we were at the location where the cheese was produced so one could assume that the cost would be lower as the cheese was never shipped. WRONG! All the cheese was the exact same price it was back home!
I scoured the racks for something i could take home. A flavor not offered elsewhere that would make up for the ridiculous cost. The only cheese i could find that fit the bill was a black packaged ¨Extra Sharp¨ cheddar. This was a flavor not sold where i lived but i could not see myself justifying paying full price for a simple brick of cheddar with no other flavors mixed in.
Will so much disappointment we looked to the one thing that would put a smile on our faces, the ice cream stand. We patiently waited until we were seen and i finally got a look at the prices. When i saw $6 for a single scoop waffle cone i was irate! I held my tongue thinking that the size of the scoop would be what made it a deal. WRONG AGAIN! We received a cone with a meagre scoop of ice cream and we were expected to smile. For the price of two we could have bought a gallon. I was through here!
As we walked out of the building eating our small ice cream cones we both lamented at how our hopes and excitement had been built up the entire time travelling there only to be crushed by a circus of people and horrible samples.
I hope you enjoyed my story. If you happen to travel to the area and decide to visit Tillamook, i suggest you dont get your hopes up, and take it for what it is. Their cheese and ice cream is always offered elsewhere.
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