JUNE 23, 2016 // 23
BOOK SHELF // GLIMPSE // WILDLIFE // POP CULTURE // WORDS // Q&A // FOOD // FUN
NW
word
nerd
By RYAN HUME
Tillamook
[tɪ•lə•mʊk]
PHOTO BY MATT LOVE
No one has ever ordered a shot of pumpkin pie-fl avored vodka in Rod’s Bar & Grill in
Warrenton.
A G LIMPSE I NSIDE
By MATT LOVE
Rod’s Bar & Grill
It was a clam tide
morning in Warrenton and
my associate and I strolled
into Rod’s Bar & Grill after
building a driftwood fort
at Fort Stevens State Park.
The joint was packed.
In a corner booth, a
birthday party unfolded
for a 6- or 7-year old girl. I
did a double take. I’d never
seen a kid’s birthday party
in a bar. I dug it. It was
just mom, dad, the kid,
presents, a stuff ed animal,
balloons and streamers.
There was a big chocolate
cake, with candles, too.
My associate and I
ordered Rainiers in cans.
We also ordered a basket
of clam strips, and I asked
to substitute onion rings
for French fi res. The female
bartender agreed with a
smile. A few minutes later,
the order materialized
with fries and no onion
rings. I didn’t say a word.
A clam strip basket with
fries is a clam strip basket
with fries. They have real
problems in Rod’s.
I surveyed Rod’s liquor
selection. It was some-
what odd, a little lacking
in spots, a little all over the
place. I dug its asymmetri-
cal mystery.
A couple of vodka
fl avors I’d never seen
caught my eye: pumpkin
pie, marshmallow and
whipped (cream). The bot-
tles had little graphics of
pumpkin pie, a marshmal-
low and whipping cream.
My god! I thought to my-
self. Who orders whipped
cream-fl avored vodka on
the Oregon Coast?
I asked the bartender
about it. She told me for
a spell, whipped was hot
stuff , and she couldn’t
keep it in stock. Then the
fad dried up just as fast.
She also told me no one
had ever ordered a shot
of pumpkin pie. My faith
in drinking humanity was
partially restored right
there.
It was time to go. As I
was leaving, a man sitting
at the bar turned toward
me and made eye contact.
He said, “Is your name
Tom?”
“No.”
“You look like someone
I used to know, a music
producer in L.A.”
“That’s not me.”
Or maybe it was. May-
be I did have a former life
in the industry, scored a hit
record with Sniff and the
Tears, and hung out with
The Bangles. Maybe I was
living incognito on the
Oregon Coast, surviving
on royalties from a forged
song credit or two, trying
to write my rock ’n’ roll
memoir.
I liked being mistaken
for a record producer from
the mid ’80s. I considered
showing my appreciation
for the compliment by
buying him a whipped.
But I just couldn’t do it. I
liked him.
noun
1. a native Salishan
people of the North Oregon
Coast or a member of that
people
2. the extinct language
of the Tillamook people
3. a town and coun-
ty on the North Oregon
Coast. The city, which is
the county seat and had a
population of 4,935 in the
2010 census, is located near
the southeast end of a bay
of the same name
4. a popular brand and
cheese factory located on
U.S. 101 that produces a
variety of dairy products,
including yogurt and ice
cream. More than a million
people visit the factory
each year
5. Tillamook Head: a
high promontory located
in Ecola State Park fi ve
miles south of Seaside.
The jagged bluff , which
rises more than a 1,000 feet
above the Pacifi c Ocean, is
part of the Oregon Coast
Trail and is also notable as
Lewis and Clark crossed it
in 1806 to buy the blubber
of a beached whale from
natives, which is how the
park got its name
6. Tillamook Rock: the
larger of two basalt sea
rocks lodged in the Pacifi c
Ocean and visible from
Tillamook Head. Tillamook
Rock is famous for hous-
ing a lighthouse that was
operational between 1881-
1957. For many decades
the lighthouse acted as
a columbarium, a resting
place to intern crematory
remains, before its license
was revoked in 1999
time that the county was
created.
Tillamook Head also
takes its name from William
Clark’s journal as he record-
ed his legendary crossing of
the headland to trade with
the people living on the
coast south of the rise in
what is now Cannon Beach.
The Clatsop Indian word for
Tillamook Head was Nah-
se-u’-su.
Origin:
From the Salish lan-
guage. First recorded in
William Clark’s journal in
1806 as both Killamook
and Kilamox, other vari-
ations of the name have
been recorded as Killam-
oux, Callemeux and Killim-
ous among many others.
The ‘T’ in Tillamook does
not enter into the picture
until the 1850s, around the
— “Summer Resorts Along Oregon
Coast Draw Vacation Throngs,” The Morning
Oregonian, Saturday, Feb. 4, 1911, P. 3
“Seaside and Gearhart lie on a
beautiful stretch of beach which is
broken on the south by Tillamook
Head, a wooded cape that juts
abruptly into the ocean. The walk
from Seaside to the point of Tillamook
Head is one of the popular Clatsop
Beach excursions. Those who make
it are repaid by a close view of one of
the most remarkable lighthouses on
the American coast.”
“Near Seaside, another large
landslide brought down several more
trees and cut more than 50 feet out of
the Tillamook Head trail, leaving hik-
ers to make their own route around
the destruction.”
—Edward Stratton, “Triage on
Tillamook Head,” The Daily Astorian,
June 3, 2016
Matt Love is the author/
editor of 14 books,
including “A Nice Piece of
Astoria” and “Of Walk-
ing in Rain.” His books
are available at coastal
bookstores or his website,
nestuccaspitpress.com
SUBMITTED PHOTO
“Tillamook Head Sunset” by Solfrid Price at Trail’s End Art Association.