Olympia Walk

Husband and I traveled to the capitol of our state for Thanksgiving weekend with extended family. "Extended" is a good descriptor; there were over 40 people crammed into Brother-in-law's house with new little faces to be met and a few friends thrown in for good measure. And, of course, there was feasting a-plenty.

But before all the decadence, Husband and I took a long walk in the morning from our rented lodgings around the downtown area and waterfront at Olympia. So come along with us.

Right around the corner from our rented apartment we passed the community garden, which included assorted vegetables, restful garden decorations, and a little chicken farm.  It was charming.

As long-time readers of this blog will know well, we get very excited when we see a sculpture with which we can interact.  This young girl in front of some health-related state government building provided a lovely opportunity.

Down the way we were amused to find that this lucky chair had been named "Chair of the Month." I wonder what fine behavior earned it that honor?

Reaching the waterfront was an exciting moment for inlanders like us. It never fails to thrill me when I can get back to a place where there is a goodly body of ocean water.  It's like an old friend for this island girl.

As you can see from the map, though, we were nowhere near oceanfront. Note the "You are here" red dot, way down at the bottom of the Puget Sound.

Statues aren't the only inanimate objects with which we interact. Husband couldn't resist doing the Samson act when we reached this pier.  Somewhere under those layers are muscles...big, impressive ones, of course!

I was delighted to look down off the end of the pier and see jellies plying the waters.  It's not easy to get a picture of these ephemeral creatures. Photo editing software helps them show up more clearly.

 By this point in our walk Husband was feeling very cold. I was feeling playful. The two states of mind don't always mix happily. Check out the facial expressions.

There were huge long strings of geese flying over. And yes, unlike some of the silly groups we see on the east side of the state, these were actually headed south!

Headed back toward the downtown, we found these two happy beings near the farmer's market. We couldn't resist doubling the number of happy beings.

Living in a rural area, we tend to forget about some of the "oddities" one sees in a more urban environment. ("Oddities," of course, just refers to something not typically seen. Not meant to be pejorative.) As best as we could tell, this one was an impressive wall mural celebrating the work done by labor unions and other similar advocacy organizations.

You know those stations in touristy stores where you find key chains, mugs, and suchlike with people's names on them?  Well, I can never find mine. I don't have a Ginger mug, Ginger keychain, or Ginger anything. So it was kind of fun, as a tourist, to find that Olympia has a Ginger Street. How magnanimous of them.

While this town didn't serve up a lot of good weather over the weekend--it was raining by the time we arrived back at the apartment from our long walk--there were a lot of beautiful fall colors to be seen, and interesting architecture.  I'm quite fond of big stone buildings such as this one on their main street, which is called "Capitol Street."

And my final shot: a lovely, colorful Japanese maple a few doors down from where we stayed.  A crisp autumn day is an incomparable treat.  But a soggy autumn day isn't too bad if you have some lovely colors.