With cows outnumbering people by more than two to one, Tillamook (pop. 4,352) sprawls over lush grasslands at the southern end of Tillamook Bay. Its motto, “Cheese, trees, and ocean breeze,” conjures a clear sense of the place. Tillamook (a Salish word meaning land of many waters) is dominated by the Tillamook Cheese Factory at the north end of town, one of the busiest tourist draws in the state. Inside, a self-guided tour with informational placards traces Tillamook cheese-making from the last century to the present, and a glassed-in observation area lets you watch the stuff being made and packaged.
Tillamook’s other odd attraction is east of US-101 and south of town. One of the world’s largest wooden structures—300 feet wide, 1,100 feet long, and nearly 200 feet tall—has been preserved as the Tillamook Air Museum (daily; $9.50 adults, under 7 free; 503/842-1130), wherein the story of the WW II surveillance blimps built and maintained here by the U.S. Navy is recounted. There are also displays about these dirigible craft as well as other vintage airplanes, a theater, and a restaurant, all making for a fascinating and unusual stop. This used to be one of a pair of hangars, but the other one burned down.
