Saturday, June 24th, 25 of us met in North Plains and headed out right on time to drive to the Dutch Mill Café in Tillamook. In the caravan we had 8 Classic T’Birds, 5 Retro T’Birds and 1 F-150. The weather was beautiful, the traffic was light, and we had absolutely no problems until about 5 miles out of Tillamook there was a sign that read “Parade Downtown Tillamook”. Sure enough, the parade was going North on Main Street, and where is the Café located? 1 ½ blocks South on Main Street. So, we could not get to the Café directly. However, directly behind the Café, on Ivy Street, is a parking lot; but we couldn’t get there because of one-way streets, blocked streets, and traffic. We made an executive decision and spread the word the best we could and headed North out of town for the Tillamook Creamery & Cheese Factory.
Once at the Cheese Factory several took the self-guided tour, and then got ice cream. Others skipped the tour and went right for the ice cream. A call to the Café revealed that they would not be able to accommodate us until 2:00 or 2:30 PM. After that call small groups began making plans and headed out in several different directions for lunch. I went north to Bay City along with Jim and Jay Sweet. There we ate at Pacific Seafood. I didn’t become aware of anyone being upset by the situation and we all just made the best of it. It was a great day for a drive, sunny all the way and very little traffic going. A bit more traffic coming home late afternoon.
My one big aggravation is that I called the Café on Thursday to confirm our group coming and they did not alert me that the parade was happening and that we would not be able to get there. We will have to remember that on the 4th Saturday in June we don’t attempt to go to Tillamook because of Dairy Days. Lesson learned.
Thanks to Jim Sweet for his photos augmenting mine.
Once at the Cheese Factory several took the self-guided tour, and then got ice cream. Others skipped the tour and went right for the ice cream. A call to the Café revealed that they would not be able to accommodate us until 2:00 or 2:30 PM. After that call small groups began making plans and headed out in several different directions for lunch. I went north to Bay City along with Jim and Jay Sweet. There we ate at Pacific Seafood. I didn’t become aware of anyone being upset by the situation and we all just made the best of it. It was a great day for a drive, sunny all the way and very little traffic going. A bit more traffic coming home late afternoon.
My one big aggravation is that I called the Café on Thursday to confirm our group coming and they did not alert me that the parade was happening and that we would not be able to get there. We will have to remember that on the 4th Saturday in June we don’t attempt to go to Tillamook because of Dairy Days. Lesson learned.
Thanks to Jim Sweet for his photos augmenting mine.
