Alaskan Cruise - Part Nein

In our last thrilling chapter, our heroes were left on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon.   Who knows what adventures await them as they make their return to Pomona, CA?   Let's tune in and see....

As I mentioned, our first stop the next day was Tillamook, to visit the Tillamook Cheese / Ice Cream factory.   (Warning!!!   Cheese puns ahead!)  Let me tell you, it was a Gouda thing we stopped.   I love a good factory tour, and this one was great.   At the end of the tour they had a line of cheese samples where you could help yourself, and I went back four times before I saw the sign reading "Please, only one visit to the sample bar."   I took that in stride and only went back three more times.   I was a regular Muenster!  Some of my favorite cheeses. such as the cheese curds, were only available there at the store, and were not available in Southern California.   This seemed pretty unfair - Cantal the cheeses be available everywhere?  Either way, it was a good place to Gruyere cheese cravings.   I Edam all until I was all feta up!   (okay, we're going out on a limb now...)   On the way out, I ran into Rick Moranis.  His handlers asked me if this was a good place to take Mr. Moranis, and I said, "Ricotta go right in."   I hope it wasn't out of his whey.

Anyone still reading?   Wow, that's remarkable.  Seriously, it was a great tour and the best part, beyond the cheese samples, was the fact that they had all the Tillamook ice cream flavors available for purchase.   I had blackberry and huckleberry....  yum.   Well worth the stop.

At that point, we began driving down the coast.   We were determined to visit as many tourist traps as we could find along the way, so the going was pretty slow.   Stop number one:   Sea Lion Caves, outside of Florence, Oregon.   This tourist stop has been in business since 1932, and despite the addition of an elevator in 1961, it hasn't changed too much in all those years.   In fact, one of the original familes still owns and runs the caves.  When we arrived is was very foggy and pretty late in the day, so I had my doubts that we'd see any sea lions.   The clerk in the gift shop, however, was very nice and promised us a full refund if we were unable to see any sea lions.   Well, with an offer like that, how could I refuse?   I put a blindfold over my eyes, paid the admission and down we went into the caves.  

Sea Lion Caves in the 1930's.  

Sea Lion Caves today.   As you can tell, the changes are minimal...

As it turned out, the fog lifted, I lost my blindfold and we did indeed see some sea lions on the beach below.   However, there were no lions in the main attraction, the caves themselves.   It was explained that the sea lions seek the refuge of the caves in the winter months, when the ocean is cold and stormy.  They stay through early spring, when the babies are born and raised, then head out of the cave at summer.   Below are some pictures I pulled from the internet of the caves when the sea lions have taken up occupancy.

We made it  to Florence and decided to spend the night there.   Three factors made us decide to spend the night in Florence:

1. They had a Kozy Kitchen there, which is one of my favorite small chains of diners,
2. There was a big scary bridge at the end of town that I didn't want to cross in the dark, and
3. BJ's Ice Cream.   Florence is the home of BJ's ice cream.   They had 48 different flavors to choose from, and even more flavors in salt-water taffy.  Despite the fact that I had just eaten a big meal at Kozy Kitchen, we made a stop at BJ's and tried a few different flavors.   The ice cream did not top the ice cream at Handels or Fosselmans (reviewed HERE) but it was still great ice cream and well worth a stop.

 

We stayed at a hotel with no air conditioning.   They said that no one needs air conditioning by the ocean.   They were wrong.   After an uncomfortable night of sleep, we began our journey anew.   NEXT:   We journey back in time and face off with prehistoric creatures!   Really!   You won't want to miss the next thrilling chapter in our drive down the west coast!   I cheddar to think about it!

Restaurant review: Fosselman's Ice Cream

As summer slowly draws to a close, I am drawn to my favorite ice cream spots to enjoy one last scoop before the summer is over.   It's not like I won't enjoy ice cream the other three seasons, but there's something about ice cream in the summer that makes it taste especially good.   And one of the best places to get some great ice cream is Fosselman's Ice Cream Parlor in Alhambra.

Ice cream is one of my favorite foods, and Fosselman's is one of those places that does it right.   Family owned since 1919, the current owners still produce a high quality product in a large variety of flavors.  They have all the regulars you'd expect, from chocolate chip to spumoni, but they also have several flavors unique to the store, such as chocolate covered strawberry, chocolate raspberry mousse and green apple sherbet.   They have a few exotic flavors as well, such as lychee nut and taro but fortunately these flavors are kept to a minimum.   Most of the flavors are the regular crowd pleasers, and they usually have about 46 flavors available on any given day. 

Best of all, Fosselman's has a full-service soda fountain with people who actually know how to use the equipment.   This is a big plus in my book.  I am a big fan of strawberry ice cream sodas, but unfortunately making a good ice cream soda seems to be a dying art.   No one seems to know the correct way to make it right.   You have to start with a "starter" then add the syrup, then the soda, then the ice cream...  you do it wrong, and either the syrup doesn't mix right or you get ice crystals on the ice cream.   Worse yet, you have to know the right amount of syrup to use, or the soda will be either too week or too strong.   I have been many places and tasted quite a few ice cream sodas, and I can say with some certainty that Fosselman's is one of the best.   They use a strawberry puree for the syrup that makes a perfect soda every time.   YUM.

Fosselman's great claim to fame is their designation as "The best place in the world for a milkshake."  This honor was bestowed upon them by several food critics reporting "The 50 Best Things to Eat in the World and Where to Eat Them" for Guardian Magazine.   I admit, they make a great milkshake, but I'm not sure I'd deem it the best.   Besides, there are so many other great reasons to come here.   From my own personal experience, I'd recommend the blueberry ice cream and the raspberry ice cream.   I mix them together to create a berry ice cream that is simply delicious. 

This is one of my two favorite places for ice cream.  In a coming post, I'll give you the second place.   Until then, enjoy a trip to Fosselman's!