There is no reason a cheese factory should be any fun. I mean, it’s a factory. It makes cheese. It’s not like you’ll be seeing the cirque du soleil. Or a real hobbit.

But it’s one of the MUST-SEE things in Oregon.

Here’s why we made the drive with Baba.

The Top Five Reasons to See the Tillamook Cheese Factory

• You kinda have to if you love cheese. It’s kind of like if you love cars, you’ll like a car factory. The Prettiest-girl-in-the-world wishes they had a Dwayne Johnson factory, where they, you know, made Rocks. But that science is not yet with us.

• They give free samples. Lots of free samples. You could pretty much eat so much you would never poop again.

• It’s mesmerizing watching them take the huge bricks of cheese, cut them into smaller bricks, then cut them into smaller bricks still, then wrap the bricks, label the bricks, and finally pack them up in boxes. I can’t explain why. It like why some people like Star Wars the Phantom Menace. It defies logic. They just do.

• They use Monte Python’s Holy Grail to help explain why cheese is cool. However, I would have gone with the cheese sketch, something that still cracks me up.

• It’s totally family friendly. There’s interactive displays for the kids. Nerdy history stuff for me. There’s cheese to sample. Elevators for those that hate stairs. Picture spots where you can be a cow or a farmer.  Or a nifty weird car to sit in.

So, here’s the thing. One of my great discoveries in life is that doing stuff with others is way better than doing it alone. No, I’m not talking sex here, I’m talking adventures. Doing the laundry. Shopping. You know… life.

And on this outing we had the kids along with us – which always gives me a different perspective on whatever we’re doing – and Baba. She made the trip a billion times better by sharing even more of her history with us (as it related to milk, dairy and cows.)

Yup, it was the best time. Young and old multiplying the experience and making it so very memorable.

At the end of the visit, we did what all good cheesy visitors do. We ate cheese sandwiches. HUGE grilled cheese sandwiches. With pickles (that Baba approved of.) I won’t lie. They were the best grilled cheese sammiches I’d ever eaten. Simple. Buttery. Cheesy.

Yum.

A great way to spend an afternoon before we headed off to look at planes.

And now for something completely different…