Or what we like to otherwise call

The 8 hour Field trip to Munson Falls, Tillamook Cheese Factory, Cape Mears Lighthouse, the Octopus Tree, the Fish Hatchery and Pacific City –

Morning started with Georgia stopping by for breakfast.
She invited quite a few of her friends,
the Mallards, Coots, Grebes, Mergansers and her foe- the Blue Heron.

We hit Highway 101 North with a friend in her lil’ blue car to Munson Falls.
I printed out Letterboxes from AtlasQuest to find along our route.

Rain, overcast, early sun, tall son, – not a lot of breathtaking postcard shots of the falls, can’t wait to “hear” them this spring when they are FULL!

Salamander, Slug, Frog – Quite a few creepy crawlies on the way to the falls.

Signs of the coast – Skates and Pots!

Signs of Tillamook, Milk Stations and Cheese Factories

Samples and Ice Cream Cones.

A little research for the FLL Food Challenge – We are studying Salmonella and Ice Cream Production. Watched a lot of Tillamook Cheddar Cheese Production!

How does this happen? Sigh. Kink in my neck tells me he’s 4-5 inches taller than I stand.

Squeeky Cheese Fix!

Wonder how many times we can pass by the Fudge Counter and empty that tray before she realizes we are 4 of the 15 people in the building right now eating 100% of the fudge?

Tummies full of Mocha Chip, Peaches and Cream, RootBeer Float, Bing Cherry, Blackberry Revel, and Mocha Madness – We head out to the Lighthouse.

Totally can’t show you how awesome this was – but there is a 3 mile long raft of American Wigeon. (Ducks). I looked it up last night and this morning and have read about counts of 4,000 Wigeon in this spot in years past. I’m thinking those 4,000 had babies and they all came back for the winter. Wowza.

Letterboxing – Go to AtlasQuest.com and type in your zip code – or the zip codes for your route – then print out clues to find the boxes. There were 3-4 for each of our desired destinations. I picked one or two from letterboxers that I trusted and knew I enjoyed their clues and stamps. You bring stamps to mark in their journals, then use their stamp to mark in your journal. I usually like to spend time with a snack and a park bench in the sun filling out a memory page of the visit, but with the rain, and a stomach full of Cheese Curds, Peach Ice Cream and Root Beer Float Ice Cream, there weren’t a lot of “on the road” snacks.

A big shout out to my Friend Randy who had the desire to drive to Tillamook and invited us along. What a FUN Field Trip guide she is!!! We laughed for the entire 8 hours.

The Thinker – Funny Pose. Makin’ sure we’re thinkin’ on these field trips!

The views were so breathtaking, watching the waves crash through the holes/caves in the outcropping rocks, watching the birds, amazing. Got back to the car and realized I didn’t even get a photo of the lighthouse! Our Letterbox was in the history series so we did learn quite a bit about it.

Heading south on the coastal road – the Capes Scenic Highway??? and stopped at the Fish Hatchery.

Beautifully landscaped park property, found a letterbox, toured the facility, fed the trout. Headed south to Pacific City to feed the bunnies at the RV park.

We had to head south to be at Lego League in time so we didn’t play at Cape Kawanda or play on the dunes at Cape Mears –
but we still got to see a lot!
6 Letterboxes, 45 + miles each direction – a whole lot of fun.
A wonderful break to our in door studies!

Thanks Randy!