Two Air Museums and a Chamber Concert

The short version is while staying at Coyote Rock RV Park south of Lincoln City we drove north and toured the Tillamook Air Museum which is housed in a blimp hangar that is a remnant from WW II – it is LARGE!  It held nine blimps for servicing at once.  There were two of these hangars.

While driving from Lincoln City to Portland we stopped in McMinnville at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.  The major attraction is The Spruce Goose, the largest wooden airboat ever built.  It is as large as a 747 (of which there is one forming the roof of water park!) It wingspan is 20 feet longer than a football field.  A DC 3 is on the floor tucked in under a wing between the sponson and the body with room to spare. There is also a P 38 WW II twin boom fighter.  I have read extensively about this plane and this is the first I remember ever seeing. 

When we arrived at the Beaverton OR Elks Lodge #1989 We started looking for tickets to the Altenberg Trio which was playing at Lincoln Performance Hall at Portland State University.  Although we could not reach the box office we went on in to town, in heavy traffic 15 minutes, and located the hall and found a place for Thai dinner nearby.  When we returned to the hall it was filling with people and we were able to get seats together, way up near the back, but the hall is so good we were not bothered by the distance.  It was a wonderful concert, Beethoven Trio in D Major, “The Ghost”; Martin Trio of Popular Irish Melodies (it is in French actually); and after the intermission Brahms Trio in B Major Op 8.  Take a deep breath.  From large and small airplanes to large music in a day with a stop off at an Elks Lodge bar for small talk and to register for the RV park. 

The longer version: It has hardly stopped raining, yet.  We had a delightful dry day, mostly, on our run up to Tillamook.  In addition to  the Air Museum we took in the Tillamook Cheese Factory self guided tour.  I remember why I do not usually eat cheese made in vast quantities.  It is all very consistent and has no surprise and no great flavor.  They do not even age it beyond 4 years, and very little of that.

As we circled the scenic loop we parked the car and took a 2 1/2 mile hike on a trail that eventually brought us out onto the beach for the return to the car.  We stopped along the road to watch hang gliders doing their thing including landing almost on top of me.  A bit further along we came to one of the shortest lighthouses ever at 25 feet high.  We returned to the coach tired and ready to have dinner and read.

On a previous day we came out of our campground and instead of turning left to get back to 101 to explore the coast, we turned right and circled inland on a 25 mile search for excitement or least something interesting to see that was not in the guide books.  We founded a hidden Elks Lodge when I pulled off the road to let traffic through and found I had turned into Toledo Lodge facility.  Who knew!  We also found another railroad museum tucked away on Siletz.  It is a leftover from the logging era and the docents may be too.  On yet another day we took a walk on the beach from North Jetty Road in Lincoln City.  Carol wanted me to get a photo of her with a wave washing over the toe of her boots.  I was using her camera.  I will leave the rest to your imagination, the photo I took does not show the aftermath as I was running up to help her regain her footing.

More about our explorations in Portland in my next post.