Smells Like Cows!!!!!

Guess where we are???  You got it ... Tillamook, cow capital of Oregon!  We left Whalers Rest Thousand Trails Park in Newport in the fog, looking for sunshine ... and we found it in the afternoon!!!

The Elks RV Park in Tillamook sports 21 full hookups, including some 50 amp spaces,  TV (no trees) and WiFi (AT&T phone works too), as well as several horseshoe pits and friendly camp hosts.  Does the middle RV look familiar??  We found out this morning that DaPad would be here with Barb and Tom Westerfield.  The Elks Camp Host said this looks like the high rent district!!!

Of course a quick trip to town for a burger was in order ... at Rodeo Steakhouse and Grill.  They have five stars on their building ... I'd give them three!  

The biggest wooden building in the world resides here ... the old Blimp Hangar which has become the Tillamook Air Museum.  More on this later, as we will tour the museum with the Golden Spikes group.

Okay, maybe a little history ... across from the hangar is a sign designating this as a United States Naval Air Station.  In 1942, the U.S. Navy began construction of 17 wooden hangars, two built here in Tillamook.  Hangar B was built first, hangar A which was destroyed in 1992 by a fire, was completed in 1943.  Squadron ZP-33 made up of eight K-ships were decommissioned in 1948.  Since then, the hangar has been an air museum, housing one of the best private collections in the nation.

Next to, and actually going right through the middle of the air museum, is what remains of a railroad.  The end of the line ... several cars are stored here, including these old diesel engines.   Since this is also going to be part of the Golden Spikes Rally, I'll leave it til later.

Soon as I saw them however, I asked Dan to stop, as I jumped out and ran down the tracks for pictures (it's a photographer thing!!).  These are all Port of Tillamook Bay engines, with the exception of one.

This 1906 Baldwin steam engine is a Rayonier 2-6-2  #45 purchased by the Polson Lumber Company and recently sold to the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.  What a beauty, in spite of a little rust!!  She is scheduled for restoration ... hope it's soon!!!

The end of the line ... weeds almost as high as the roof, this rare caboose sits at the end of the tracks.

Back at the rigs, Barb and Tom came back from an afternoon of crab fishing.  I think they ate it all because I didn't see any bags of crab!!!  I'm soooo excited about the train ride in the next few days ... but in the meantime, we'll be exploring the coast and the Tillamook Ice Cream Company!!!