Visiting the charming town of Tillamook, Oregon, and wondering what else you might do after you’ve enjoyed some world-famous Tillamook ice cream? The cheese factory may get all the hype, but there’s much more to do in the area. Feel free to mix and match these things to do in Tillamook depending on the weather and your interests — you can easily fill a relaxed day or two with beach walks, museums, local history, and all sorts of cheese.

Have a Waffle Cone at the Creamery

Tillamook cheese put this small town on the map, so no visit would be complete without a stop at the Tillamook Creamery. You can take a tour, sample cheese, explore farm exhibits, and purchase dairy-themed souvenirs at the home base of this farmer-owned dairy cooperative. You may have to wait in line for half an hour for ice cream, but it will be worth it.

Go to the Beach

Tillamook makes for a great base for exploring dozens of beaches: Oceanside (above), Happy Camp, Rockaway, Netarts Bay … you’ll be spoiled for choice. The water won’t be warm, but the walking is great – and if you’re lucky, you’ll hit low tide at just the right time to see all sorts of sea creatures (you can read more about them in my Oregon tide pools post).

Check the tide charts before you go if you want to catch sea stars, anemones, and more.

Dive Into Local History

The Tillamook County Pioneer Museum feels like a local history museum, a natural history collection, and someone’s very-well-organized attic all in one. You can see all sorts of things here, including a recreation of the spruce stump in which Tillamook’s (sadly racist) first white settler and teacher lived, the winner of best in show from the Rural Industrial Modelers’ Congress, Victorian clothing, barbed wire samples, old maps, and recreated historic rooms.

As a second-floor surprise, after learning about history and lumberjacks and the fishing industry, you’ll find a room of taxidermy wonders. In 1955, an ornithologist by the name of Alex Walker was engaged to curate a natural history collection here – so there are birds, insects, mammals, rocks, and dioramas galore.

None of this looks like it’s changed much since the museum left Mr. Walker’s charge in 1975, but who cares? It’s a fascinating (and sometimes jaw-dropping, for a variety of reasons) collection.

Visit Hangar B: The World’s Largest Clear-Span Wooden Structure

The building here is the big attraction. Welcome to Hangar B, a former US Navy blimp hangar that now houses the Tillamook Air Museum. Beyond the building itself, which is huge and fascinating (it once housed eight blimps!), you can tour a variety of airplanes and aviation-related stuff.

Celebrate Fabric Arts

The Latimer Quilt & Textile Center isn’t big – it’s in an old schoolhouse, so it’s pretty much the opposite of Hangar B – but it’s charming. There are just four rooms: one for weaving, one for quilting and other textile crafts, a small gift shop, and a space for rotating exhibits. If you can catch a show there, you might see something special.

Tour the Shortest Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast

That’s it: stumpy, adorable Cape Meares Lighthouse. Built in 1890, it’s all of 38 feet tall, but it does have a real claim to fame: it boasts one of only two eight-sided Fresnel lenses in the United States (the other is at Makapu’u in southeastern Oahu). If you want to go inside, note that hours are seasonal (often around 11-4 daily), so it’s worth checking the times before you go.

Cape Meares is an Oregon State Scenic Viewpoint, so there are good walking trails with excellent signage about the wildlife you might glimpse there. If you visit in the winter and early spring, you might be lucky enough to see migrating whales. Otherwise, you’re likely to catch a bunch of birds (bring your binoculars) and perhaps a sea lion or two. In any case, you’re sure to have wonderful views.

It’s also worth taking a short walk from the parking area to see the Octopus Tree, a many-limbed Sitka Spruce.

As a side note, if you like that t-shirt, it’s from Tillamook’s Salty Raven, a store that crafts and sells “seriously cool goods” downtown.

Picnic at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company

I don’t know how many cheeses Blue Heron actually produces, but they have a killer gift shop with all sorts of great food products and knick-knacks. They also offer an excellent sandwich menu, outdoor picnic tables, and a petting area.

Blue Heron is a lovely place to sit outside and enjoy a sunny day – and the animals provide an entertaining bonus.

Take in a Movie at The Coliseum

For brand new blockbusters shown in renovated 1920s-style glory (complete with purple seats), look no further than Tillamook’s independent movie theater on Main Street.

Seasonal Tillamook Bonus: Watch a Parade

The June Dairy Parade offers small town fun at its best: floats and fire engines and bookmobiles, cows and tractors and horses. You’ll have to time your visit very specifically to catch this event – it only happens one weekend in June every year – but what entertainment! I came away with fistfuls of candy, a sticker that said “I met a REAL princess today!” (from the Oregon Dairy Women), and big smiles.