Olympia Washington

Olympia Washington

Trip Dates

How We Got There

How We Got Around

Where We Stayed

What We Did

While driving into Olympia you can’t miss a gigantic mountain in the distance. It’s size becomes even more impressive when you realize its roughly 60 miles away from town. We wanted to watch the sun rise so we headed to Mt. Rainier at around 4AM. Two hours later we entered the national park, and then spend the next 3 hours making our way up the mountain with very frequent stops to take in the beautiful vistas, wildlife, and waterfalls.

Once we reached the top of the mountain, I had breakfast at the Paradise Inn and we headed back to Olympia. We stopped by Browsers Books where I picked up way too many books including a real Gem called “Olympia” by David Scherer Water. This comedic nonfiction book about the history, culture, and people of Olympia was one of the best local history books that I have ever read. We passed out at the hotel afterwards and were late to a dinner with a new friend that we made on Facebook. We felt really horrible about this. We ended up meeting her at a bar and watching a local cover band play some tunes before heading over to Quality Burrito for dinner.

We started the next day by visiting the Olympia farmers market. Afterwards we went to the capitol, walked around the piers and ended the day at Tumwater falls.

The next day, I turned 29. It was really great to spend the day with my brother. After reading “Olympia” I emailed David and asked if he would be able to meet us. He agreed and it was a really great birthday treat to be able to meet and talk to him for an hour about history, writing, Olympia, and life. I ended by birthday by watching “Lost City of Z” at an old theatre, eating Russian Dumplings, and getting ice cream.

The next day we left Olympia early and headed down to Salem along the Washington and Oregon coast.

What Was the Fuss

I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t have any museums. They used to have a history museum but it has been closed down for years. Instead of art museums, it seems that local artists use alleys and streets instead, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The capitol building itself is very impressive. It is one of the largest mason domes in the world and the interior and surrounding grounds are beautiful. Looking out into the distance past capitol lake you can see a mountain range.

Besides the government, it is not clear if Olympia has any other industry. Despite these shortcomings, I really enjoyed our time in Olympia. It was a peaceful town, with beautiful scenery, great people, tons of culture, and a whole lot of “weird” stuff.