More than 1.3 million people visit the Tillamook Visitors Center each year, up to 10,000 per day. Although I was disappointed I wouldn’t be able to see the factory work itself, the temporary visitors center (in a large red barn building) was pretty great on its own. – but after a two-hour drive from Portland, I found out that construction on their main Visitors Center would be running until 2018 and could only check out their temporary visitors center. I was really looking forward to seeing the dairy operations – milk being processed, cheese being made, then packaged, etc. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I also grew up with Tillamook dairy products, and had read about touring the Tillamook factory on blogs for years. I had a “cool” experience in Tillamook, Oregon, at the Tillamook Visitors Center. Needless to say, we were not disappointed and so happy we took the time to get a little treat before heading to our next adventure.I’m currently spending the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in Australia, where it is their summer and very hot, so I thought I’d write a post about some cold food (carrot cake ice cream). Thus I decided to try the sherbet, while Gene went for the basic chocolate. While we wanted to try EVERY flavor, I had heard that the orange sherbet was only available at the facility. How can you visit the Tillamook Creamery and NOT get some ice cream? Lol. We weren’t ready to leave yet, so we walked around some more, took some “cheesy photos” and got some ice cream. I guess it shows why they have been in business for over 100 years. Once things opened back up, they were able to return to their previous jobs if they wished to do so. It was great that they were able to keep working instead of laying them off or letting them go. ![]() One thing our tour guide said that really impressed me about the company was that while the building was closed to guests during 2020 the guides, store workers, etc were able to work on the processing floor. □ We also learned a little bit more about the company and the cooperative they joined in 1909 with other small creameries in the Tillamook Valley area. Apparently, they use to have a lot more samples that guests could try, but I guess that’s another thing stupid Xi Jinping and the china virus took away. I have to say I think I liked the 2016 sample the best of the four we tried. We tried four different types and they were all quite unique. That is a LOT of milk and cheese, lolĪfter our tour, thankful for the headsets to hear our tour guide, we were led back to the room and were able to sample some of the different types of cheeses they have made at the facility. The Tillamook Creamery actually produces more than 170,000 pounds of cheese each day and packages approximately one million pounds of cheese on-site each week. One other interesting thing to note is that they get about 1.6 million pounds of milk a day and that milk is all made into cheese within 24 hours. It’s amazing that these blocks can weigh up to 40 pounds. If a block of cheese is not the exact weight they are looking for it gets shifted to the side. We went up to the observation deck I guess you would call it, and our tour guide shared a lot about the history of the Tillamook Creamery, how the cheese was made (as this was a cheese tour) and explained each step of the process, including packaging which I thought was quite interesting. ![]() We made our way to the tour booth right before the tour and were led into a small room when we were given headsets and were able to leave coats, bags, etc. The store even had clothes for sale, lol. I knew they had a few other things, but way more than I expected. While I had only had their cheese and ice cream before, I was happily surprised by all the other different items they had available. ![]() We were a little early so we walked around their little store and checked out some of their product. We had a ticket for a regular tour and made our way to check-in. After walking in we also noticed the steps leading up to the second floor where you could start your own self-guided tour. We definitely knew we were in the right place, lol. It was definitely worth the drive to visit the area and their facility.Īfter we parked we made our way into the center and couldn’t help but notice the huge dairy cow picture above the entrance to the building. While in the Portland area in February of 2022 we decided to take a drive out west to see the Pacific Ocean again, the Tillamook Air Museum, as well as the Tillamook Creamery, yum! This amazing factory and visitor center is about two miles north of the actual city of Tillamook on Route 101 and about 1hr to 1 ½ from the Portland area. Mention the City Tillamook in Oregon, and most people will immediately think of the Tillamook Creamery.
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