Olympia, Washington

I always think of Washington as L-shaped -- Seattle to Vancouver, Vancouver to the Tri-Cities. If you consult a map, please know that I realize that this does not make a perfect L, but in my brain, it works. In an effort to ensure that our children do not grow up with the same warped idea we spent most of last week in Olympia. 

Despite popular belief Olympia, not Seattle, is the capitol of Washington (sometimes even I forget this, so don't feel bad if you're not from here and you forget too!), so touring the Capitol Building was at the top of our list of things to do, but it was far from the only interesting thing to do in the area. Our new favorite website, TripAdvisor, led us to Lattin's Country Cider Mill and Farm, Nisqually Reach Nature Center, and Tumwater Historical Park and Falls.

Here are some photos and tidbits about our adventure...

Lattin's Country Cider Mill is, you guessed it, an apple farm and cider mill! They have a bakery, produce market, and feeding farm, which we got mostly to ourselves because it was a rainy Tuesday in January.

The bakery had what I am pretty willing to call the best donuts ever made, and the cider was delicious as well. As you can see, the girls face provide ample evidence to support my statement. The super cool part is that from the area where you can sit to enjoy said cider and donuts (or fresh apple fritters on Friday and Saturdays) you can see a majority of the cider making process. John was so inspired that we actually went home with 33 pounds of Pink Lady and Gala apples that he and the kids pressed into fresh apple cider with my family over the weekend. Those 33 pounds produced about a gallon and a half of cider that might even give Lattin's a run for their money. 

There were signs with questions outside each of the animal areas. The big kids had to answer all of the questions before getting to feed the animals.

They also had a ton of these coin operated rides. They're really fun and nostalgic, so if you ever come to Lattin's Farm my two words of advice are as follows -- bring quarters.

These Alaskan kiddos were especially excited to see peacocks.

As always, John and his shadow dressed for the venue.

Sayer wanted nothing to do with actually feeding the animals, but she loved dropping the animal feed on the ground as she walked around the farm. Eventually her siblings figured out what she was doing and started letting her drop it in their hands to extend their animal feeding experience.

We didn't know we would need quarters, so this was the only 'ride' our kids got to enjoy.

And this is my favorite picture of the day.

TripAdvisor is also how we found the Nisqually Reach Nature Center. It wasn't far from where we were staying (really, nothing that we did was) and it was awesome. It's situated in an estuary on the South Puget Sound, which makes it cool in and of itself, and there's a great view of Mount Rainier. 

The Nature Center isn't fancy, It's a one room research center full of salt water tanks and biologists. We loved it. 

A sweet young lady named Betsea spend about two hours explaining to the kids what was in the tanks, letting them check out the shells and lab samples, and answering their five million questions. Betsea was awesome. She was super knowledgeable and attentive. The kids loved her. 

Mount Rainier! 

The biologists keep a white board with a list of notable animal sightings. In the estuary they've seen puffins and snow owls that came all the way from Alaska to the South Puget Sound.

The tanks were full of interesting sea life (like this one with a sea cucumber and sea star) and also provided a little bit of an engineering lesson -- they actually pump water in from the Puget Sound.

After our time with Betsea we spent some time on the beach. Gunnar and Patton found some really cool shells and John found an agate the size of a baseball. It was an afternoon well spent and we will definitely be back if we find ourselves in the area again.

(Also, if you're in the Fort Lewis/Olympia area, they do workshops and summer camps that look super cool.)

The next morning we went to the Capitol Building. I'm sure it doesn't need much in the way of description, so we'll just get on with the pictures.

Checking out the WWI memorial on the Capitol grounds.

Front doors

There's a giant statue of Marcus Whitman in the rear lobby. It's highly controversial. 

With the giant GW head. 

The amount of marble in the building was obscene.

See what I mean? There is marble from five different countries inside the capitol. All of the marble you see here came from Alaska. And. that's us down there next to the Seal of the Great State of Washington.

We were able to visit both the Senate and the House galleries, and as you can see, we weren't the only school there that day. The Washington state legislature is like a mini version of the national legislature, so it was a great way to start talking to the big kids about the legislative branch of government. 

We missed the guided tour time, so we took our own tour, but I don't feel like we missed out at all. The security guards for both galleries were both incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. 

The chandelier in the main hall is the largest ever made by Tiffany & Co. and weighs somewhere around 4,000 pounds. They change the light bulbs every  ten years and they build a scaffolding up to the chandelier to do it.

Cool old pictures of the building process.

From the outside.

The Temple of Justice across the street from the Capitol.

In Washington we fly the American flag, the state flag, and you guessed it, the 12th Man Flag. 

The steps made P nervous. She went up and down like this.

We visited the Washington State Supreme Court...

...and the Law Library. While we were in here I told the kids that I spent years in a library like this before they were born and a child who shall remain unnamed responded with "it must take a lot of reading to be a mom". 

There's a beautiful view of Budd Bay behind the Temple of Justice.

The Capitol complex is incredibly expansive and includes about a dozen additional government offices, several memorial and commemorative sculptures, and lots of green area. We just touched the tip of the iceberg on our visit. One of the coolest things was that we unknowingly visited on Black Thursday. Black Thursday is a designated Thursday of each month when motorcycle clubs from all over the state visit the Capitol to talk with their representatives. Representatives and bikers were meeting all through the halls of the Capitol, on the steps, and even on the lawn. This made it really easy for John and I to point out to the kids that everyday citizens have the right and the opportunity to talk to their legislators about what is happening in their state, which may have been the most important lesson taught that day.

In the Capitol gift shop we bought a State Capitol Passport, which is similar to the National Park Passport, so there will be plenty of trips like this in our future.

After all of the tip-toeing and inside voice talking that the kids had to do they needed some outside time, so we took them to Tumwater Historical Park. 

Tumwater is a suburb of Olympia on the I-5 corridor and it's historical park is awesome. It's actually on the old Oregon Trail and was a popular stopping point on the path to Fort Vancouver. Hudson Bay's Trading Company even had a post nearby. I love it when our studies and field trips overlap, so this was golden. 

The park is a short hike from Tumwater Falls Park and the area is full of local history.

Across the river from the park is this abandoned brewery. It was opened in the late 1800's by a German immigrant and operated until Prohibition. The family tried to keep it alive during Prohibition by making jam and juice, but ended up having to sell it.

After Prohibition the family built this brewery just up the river from the original and it became the home of Olympia Beer.

The falls themselves were a major part of the foundation and industrialization of the area. Over the years several mills operated on the river and utilized the falls. 

The park has a nice trail with markers that tell about the history of the area and the falls. 

John taught an impromptu class on hydropower and water current.

The scenery was beautiful. The history was interesting. The park and the falls were a seriously good find. 

So, we had a great time in Olympia, and by the time we got 'home' we were all so exhausted that we found Gunnar sleeping on the laundry pile...

seriously.

We're wrapping up our time in the Pacific Northwest and are heading south next week! We've decided to travel through central Oregon to the Northern California coast, so stay tuned for more adventures and sunny weather!