Another Beachy Getaway + Air Museum

You may know that I can't stay home ever, and am always wanting to discover new getaways.  This week's adventure found us heading towards Tillamook.  We wanted to check out the cheese factory.  Did you know that they make blocks of cheese that are 45lbs?  But that place is a zoo, I recommend getting in and out and not even bothering for free samples.  Rather, we drove back down the road towards the Blue Heron French Cheese Company which was much more quaint and relaxing.  How can a petting zoo and wine tasting not be??  We bought some cheese curds in lime and dill which came in handy when we decided spur of the moment to stop at the Air Museum.  We ate our cheese and watched through the wind shield as a guy armed with GPS was trying to act nonchalant while (obviously) searching for a geocache.  Hilarious.  Inside the Air Museum, my favorite things were the old hand painted graphics on the planes, the mannequins serving to depict what war was like back in the 40s, and the huge wood structure that housed it all (15 stories high and worth the trip just to see that).  Meanwhile my adorable husband (who is an air traffic controller and completely enamored by anything with wings except birds) explained things like...umm...well I can't remember, but I know he was especially excited by the Tomcat because it has movable wings.  You'd think that would all have been enough of an outing for one day but no, we continued on to the beach listening appropriately and coincidentally to NPR about WW11 and why it has been concluded by scholars with no political preference (of course) that the bombing of Japan was unnecessary in ending the war.  We took extra long getting to Rockaway Beach because there was a horrible accident involving a bicyclist (still sending hope that way).  I've always thought I was just a baby about riding in traffic, but now feel my concerns have been validated.  All that was left of the bicyclist was a shoe and a lot of blood.  Scary.  Finally arriving at a lovely uncrowded stretch of Rockaway Beach, I actually took off my sweatshirt and  got some sun.  I realized that it's not so cold if you stay close to the warm sand.  I read a book.  The kids made sand castles with Matt.  We ate leftovers from the cooler.  As the day ended, the waves turned silver, pelicans fished swooping in line with each other (dinosaurs in our modern sky), the temperature called us back home, and I thought about being thankful.