My favorite stop on my ‘Jeff coast tour’ is taking visitors to the Tillamook Diary. Watching the workings of the cheese factory and then getting ice cream cones while all the while taking in the warm aroma of waffle cones is very satisfying.

Jasmine got two scopes – one of chocolate and you guessed it chocolate again. We tried to convince her to mix it up – she said no – this will do for her. My dad and I got a scope of rootbeer float – to continue our rootbeer theme. My second scope was black cherry and dad got vanilla.

On the way out, Jasmine did some improv dancing to work of those sugars.

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Rachel once again picked a good restaurant. As a bonus our booth had a wonderful view of the coast.

Dad and I ordered a bowl of clam chowder. OMG – what came out of the kitchen was a monstrosity sized ogre cauldron. The size of the thing isn’t done justice by the photo. We also got our usual rootbeer – even though it wasn’t draft.

My dad or mom (I can’t remember who) convinced Jasmine to try a clam. You can see the photos of her reaction before and after. To summarize – she didn’t like it.

Oh the garlic infused fries that came with my french dip sandwitch were amazing. Vampires beware.

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It is hard to say what is more scenic – the coast or the gorge. I say they are both spectacular.

On the drive to the pacific, we stopped at ‘scenic outlook’ that as luck would have it – gave us an amazing view of Mt. Saint Helens. Pretty neat. We had such perfect weather today with great visibility.

We walked around the town of Cannon Beach a bit and strolled along the oceanfront.

We then drove south along the famous 101 – stopping now and then to take in the views.

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For dinner, I took them out to a Mongolian Grill. On the east coast, they have one in D.C. that they have been too. But us lucky Portlander’s have several around town. We all made interesting combinations. They said if they had one in their hometown they would be there every week.

It got a little awkward when the check came, we had a little tug of war – but I eventually won.

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Today we headed up to Mount Hood. It was a rainy misty drive which turned to a nice snow shower at Timberline Lodge. My parents were amazed.

I think they enjoyed the historic lodge atmosphere. The lunch was very good. Dad and I continued our taste testing of draft rootbeer and clam chowder.

Afterwards, Jasmine and I played ping ball while they checked out the gift shop.

When we got back down to Portland the sun peaked out.

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