Despite starting off soaking wet Saturday to sunburned Sunday, I had a great weekend and I really enjoyed teaching on an offsite or remote range. It offered up some interesting challenges as it was much smaller and didn't afford the wide expanses of my familiar home range. I found myself walking past the marked cone positions, naturally expecting them to be much further than they were. The parking lot we use is nestled between a high school across the street and a small community college and I found my range voice reverberating off the concrete walls reminding me that I didn't have to project my voice nearly as far. I really enjoyed working with Kandice, the other instructor whom I never met before and Michael, my first mentor. We were joined by a friend of mine who used to live here in town but recently moved to Tillamook, he brought his young daughter down to watch us teach as he would like to become an instructor as well.
Sunday evening came quickly and before we knew it we were headed for home. Although I was too tired to drive I was still running on range mode and couldn't sit still. I had grabbed the camera and was anxiously taking in the scenery I had missed coming up Saturday. Asking Brandy to stop the car I jumped out and snapped a few photos of Tillamook's other, yet lesser known crop and s'mores staple...
Giant Marshmallows!!!
This area boasts the ideal climate to grow this soft confectionery and produces some of the world's largest marhmallows.
Harvesting marshmallows is tedious work and farmers sometimes wait several weeks for the marhmallows to mature enough to pick and ship to processing plants where they are either formed into smaller marhmallows and packaged for your enjoyment or shipped to Hershey Pennsylvania where they are packaged with bars of milk chocolate and graham wafers.
A couple from California pulled over while I was taking photos and asked "What are those?"
Needless to say, I made their day.
Good thing they didn't ask me about the giant rooster I saw...
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Hmmm, our marshmallows are a different colour to yours...or perhaps I haven't seen them fully ripened...
ReplyDeleteAre different colours a different flavor?
DeleteGreat post! It definitely brought a smile to my face, but then at the end you had to get cocky. Still, I forgive you :^)
ReplyDeleteThis post reminded me of the great BBC Spaghetti growing on trees April Fools Day hoax. Good stuff.
It must of been quite the trip, between seeing giant marshmellows and cows with earrings.
Thanks,
~Keith,
Circle Blue
It was a great trip and I am glad I could entertain while keeping it 'G' rated.
DeleteYou are a funny man.....you almost had me at the first picture...then I realized what they were.
ReplyDeleteI like the big rooster.
dom
Redleg's Rides
Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner
Thanks Dom, I had the Californians going briefly too but they honestly did not know what they were until I told them.
DeleteYour west coast marshmallows are much different than ours here in the mid-west. Perhaps it is your longer growing season and wetter climate. I'll have to post a picture of our local marshmallow farm. The last pure white one I saw was close to 200' long, but ill formed.
ReplyDeleteA 200' long marshmallow, that makes for difficult transport.
DeleteHilarious, you just made my day!!!
ReplyDeleteMarshmallows grow best in moderate temperatures and under humid conditions. That explains the size. Good you found them mellow (mallow?) and calm. A marshmallow stampede is not for the faint of heart.
You'll never look at a marshmallow the same way again.
DeleteTroubadour:
ReplyDeleteI love marshmallows but I only eat them one day a year, on April 1st only, for some reason.
Your's are so white. All you need is a humoungus cut of Hot Chocolate to throw the marshmallows into
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
That would be a big mug.
DeleteOh my gosh, I loved this post. Marshmallow fields! I always wondered where those things came from. LOL! Pics 2963 and 2967 are my favorites. But I also lik2 2953 with the tired little tractor looking sad as if saying "Damn, I forgot a marshmallow."
ReplyDeleteThanks, I too liked the tractor but wondered why it was left out in the middle of the field.
DeleteCute. We have those marshmallow flavors here too. I was surprised ours weren't melted all over the fields into gunky, gooey messes.
ReplyDeleteWe've heard you've been getting some hot weather. Ick.
Deletesounds like you had a good time teaching. I prefer teaching in the rain to hot sun. looks like I get hot sun for my class tomorrow.
ReplyDeletemarshmellow farm eh? nice.
It really doesn't matter to me rain or shine, but the students seem much more receptive to coaching when dry.
Deleteand thanks.
Good thing you didn't venture near the marshmallow packing plant? I hear the screaming is horrible when they are cut up for packaging...
ReplyDeleteNoooo, not factory farming, the horror.
DeleteLMAO!!! From a kid who grew up up in that marshmallow growing town and parked his car on your range as a HS student............ Dairy air and marshmallows.... life is but a giant mocha grande.......
ReplyDeleteSteve
Everytime we hopped in the car this week all we could smell was dairy air. I had to wash it today and deodorize the interior to get the smell out.
DeleteI don't know how you stayed out of trouble as a kid, the temptation to go marshmallow tipping must've have been unbearable.
This made me smile! Marshmallows yum! We used to tell our daughter these were giant marshmallows & her eyes would get huge! Lovely pictures.
ReplyDeleteI commented on Trobairitz' post that we have marshmallows in dairyland WI, too. It makes the milk sweeter.
ReplyDeleteThree things I've enjoyed most about Tillamook are the ice cream, Three Capes road, and the Airplane museum; sadly I missed out on the marshmellows! Now I'll have to go back!
ReplyDelete