Cheese! (a.k.a.Tilamook, OR)

  Tillamook, Oregon
Sunday, January 25, 2009

So, on my way to Oregon on the start of my trip, I wanted to take the scenic route up the "picturesque" coast highway.  Normally it is very scenic and beautiful, but during winter it is grey, overcast, and constantly raining!  To me, it still beats highway 5 for scenery and interest though.  You get to know a place better and see more local color by traveling the back roads instead of the big freeways. 

I'm an aviation history buff and I've always wanted to visit the famous WW2 airship base in Tillamook.  It is now an air museum with a great collection of mostly WW2 era aircraft, but they have all the greats like the P-51 Mustang, P-38 Lightning, Japanese Zero, as well as a German BF-109. Of course, the star of the show is the giant wooden blimp hangar itself.  In fact, there used to be two of them but the second mysteriously burnt down some years ago.

"So what about the cheese" you say?  Well, Tillamook is even more famous for the Tillamook cheese factory. And what trip could be complete without getting my hands on some freshly minted cheese "Curds"?!  Yes!  The very food of the gods!  Actually, I've never had them before but kept hearing about them from my friends in Oregon (More about them later).  Apparently, they have a very limited life span so you have to get them fresh and eat them right away.  Since I am a self confessed "cheese-a-holic" I had to check these out.  "What the heck is a cheese curd" you say?  Well, basically it's the fresh nugget of cheese (usually cheddar) formed in the cheese making process when you separate the solids and the liquid whey after processing.  The cheese we get in the store are curds pressed together in forms and aged.  So curds are basically baby cheese.  I know this all sounds way complicated and probably more than you ever wanted to know about cheese, but for those sick and twisted individuals who want to know more about it, check out this link.  (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-cheese-curds.htm).  Now, the best part of eating curds is that they squeak when you eat them!  The other weird thing is that they are a little rubbery. Chewey, squeaky, cheddary goodness for everyone!  How cool is that?!