We spent two nights at the tiny town of Pacific City (it is somewhat misleadingly named!) Our friends recommended a little campground there, which had lots of wild bunnies running around it – they were so cute!

One of the highlights of the beach there is a giant sand dune which we climbed up – it was a killer climb but offered amazing views over the beach. We spent several hours exploring the sand dune, the surrounding hills and the beach – we even found a place for a nap, only to be woken up by a small child kicking sand on us and asking “Are they real?” Not only real but also now sandy!

We happened to see a sign for the Tillamook county fair and saw that Smashmouth was playing. We decided to go along for the flashback to our high school years and really enjoyed the show. We also had a great time exploring the rest of the fair – there seemed to be competitions for everything from baking (which disappointingly we couldn’t sample) to quilting to art and photography – not to mention the various cows, pigs and other animals on display. There was also a snakes and reptiles room where we saw all kinds of live specimens. We had such a fun night at the fair – it brought back memories of A&P shows at home.

While in Tillamook we also went to the Tillamook cheese factory. The best thing there was the free sample line…that you could go through multiple times. Piako was most disappointed that we didn’t take him!