Tillamook Cheese Factory, Tillamook

This is a good day trip destination for the family. Its about 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive out of Portland. At the factory, you will experience all the products produced as well as a general history of the founding pioneers of the area. There are free samples of cheese to taste, but you will definitely have to stay for lunch at the Farmhouse Cafe and try the Grill Cheese sandwich. Whether its cold or hot, you have to end your visit at the Ice Cream Counter...There is no admission fee to tour the facilities...

My sister, her daughter and I were on our way back from Idaho, and had a blow-out 34 miles past Pendleton, toward Idaho. We were stranded, in the middle of nowhere, with a "donut" spare, and a jack we couldn't even figure out how to work. We watched hundreds of cars and trucks go by, and we contacted state patrol to find someone to come change the little donut tire for us ... A silver truck passed us, and stopped just past the off-ramp, and began to back up.. I had hope that he was backing up for us..My sister, on the phone, desperately trying to find help agreed to pay someone $120 to come put our little donut tire on. And then we would still have to find a tire place to put on a REAL tire. I was near tears, when I looked over and saw a truck backing up the "on" ramp and it occurred to me that he might be doing that for us!! And he rolled down his window, and tried to talk to me. I couldn't hear over the road noise, and he got out,climbed up the hill toward us, and when he found out we had a really bad jack, he went back to his own truck,dug around for HIS jack and hiked back up the hill again, dug out a hole for his jack, hiked up our car, put the spare on....And it didn't end there. Robert followed me all the way to Pendelton, 50 mph, and I thought when we exited that he would just drop us there. But he saw that we had exited at the wrong place, and he followed us. I pulled over, and he came up along side. He told me that I had exited too soon, and to follow him, HE knew where Walmart was. We followed him, and he led us exactly where we needed to be. He also stuck around to make sure that the tire people at Walmart put in the anti-vibration ring that he had removed from our tire 40 miles before. He stayed until our car was ready to get back on the highway. Robert Wybanis, and I am SO not sure I have spelled his name correctly, Robert Wybanis is my HERO. He not only stopped, he had to back up on an off-ramp. He replaced our blow-out with the little 'donut' tire, and he followed us at 50 mph, in a 65 mph zone....for 43 miles...and I thought he would just drop us there....but he didn't. He followed us off the ramp, and all the way to Walmart, where we purchased a new tire...He is my hero....a real day HERO....Robert, you rock! You will be getting flowers from me. ...I love you, for being there, for getting us home! You are my hero. Robert Wybanis, my hero.....I spelled your name phonetically. I hope it's close. We got home safe, thanks to you!!! Any company would be so lucky to have you....Tillamook Cheese Factory is VERY lucky to have you.!! And WE were very lucky to have you that day! I was so scared, and there you were! thank you, Robert. No one else gave any sign of stopping. You were a real man! Thank you so much, for getting my sister, her daughter and me home. I work at Riley's, in Seaside. Come see me ANYTIME. I will buy you drinks and dinner!! I am so grateful to get home safely. thank you, Robert Wybanis, for being at the right place, at the right time, and for giving your time, very unselfishly. We owe you a BIG one., We will pay it forward, and we will pay it back!! Becky and Kathy, Seaside, OR

Everyone has always talked about how great and cool the Cheese Factory was and I've never had the chance to go check it out. This weekend, a friend made the suggestion and I jumped all over it. The two of us go there about 12:30 and we walked around for about an hour looking down at the cheese making line and reading all of the facts about how the cheese is made and how it came to being made. It was really interesting and I throughly enjoyed it. We went down stairs and got to sample different types of cheese. That was really cool. The cheese curd otherwise known as the "squeeky cheese" was really great. My only suggestions for going to the cheese factory to anyone who has never gone. Go during the week if possible. The cheese processing line is closed on the weekends so we didn't get to see too much cheese being made. Go early. We did go on the weekend so it was a bit crowded but we arrived early and there wasn't too many people there until later. My last peice of advise and most important. Make sure to take a cooler if your traveling a long distance. Also, buy up an cheese that you want when you see it. We went there early and were going up to Cannon Beach for lunch and when we got back 3 hours later the cheese we wanted was gone. So sad. Other than that, we had a lot of fun.

The factory is impecably clean. The products are far superior to any other American cheese I have eaten and I am a 65 year old cheese lover of the first order. My only dissapointment was being unable to purchase your special reserve aged SMOAKED CHEDAR anywhere but at the factory. I had to smuggle a one pound package of this great cheese back to New Mexico in my luggage on the plane. You folks at Tillamook are dedicated to perfection and you certainly have acheved it. Thanks, Lon S. Aucker PS - - - Please let me know where I can find Sliced Colby, as well as, how I can lay my hands on more of your Special Reserve Aged Smoaked Cheddar

If you're traveling through Tillamook, be sure to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It's a self-guided tour and you can actually see the cheese making process from beginning to end. There's a large shop where you can sample and purchase cheese and other "tourist" items. Be sure to have an ice cream before you leave. I purchased a strawberry cone, and it had large chunks of strawberries in it. YUM!