A fun, historic place to walk by. Beautiful architecture. There was not much information posted…read moreabout the history, but still enjoyable.

This is also called OSPI: Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Directly…read moreacross the street from Sylvester Park. If you still can't find this place because the GPS told you I that you arrived in the middle of the street near the farmer's market, look for Hotel Olympian Barber and Styling Shop and then you will see it. Ring the doorbell on the castle and they will let you in. Friendly folks.

The Capitol building has that rustic charm you've likely come to expect when visiting state…read morecapitols. It's big, with a big dome, and big columns, and a big atrium. There is certainly lots of granite and marble. There is a quaint little propaganda gift shop just inside the East entrance with all things WA State, if you're into that kind of stuff. WA has seasonal Legislature, so half the year, it's pretty quiet around here. There is a nice fountain near Capitol Blvd. Enjoy!

I visited over the weekend in December, and unsurprisingly not many people were enjoying the…read moregrounds during the drizzly, blustery weather. I came here for the guided tour, which I thought was well done. The tour starts right at the entrance, with the mention of the heavy exterior doors and Tiffany lamps. Inside, the docent goes over the origin of the materials used in constructing the building. Since the rotunda lobby was decorated for the Christmas holiday, there were three evergreen trees adorned with stuffed animals and snowflakes. The guide said that the holiday tree used to be one very tall tree, but the change was made during Covid to swap out one tree for three smaller ones for the ease of decorating. The tour takes you into the gallery overlooking the House of Representatives chamber. This area is normally accessible when they're in session, but otherwise if you're hoping to get in when they're not, this tour is the only way to visit. The House chamber walls are lined with French marble and the perimeter of the ceiling is decorated with the names of Washington State's forty-nine counties (each section has paired names, and Walla Walla gets its own section). Be warned though, this area is kind of dusty so if you have allergies you might want to sit this part out. Overall, this was a great tour. I liked how they didn't have visitors walk through metal detectors unlike in other Capitol buildings in other states.

The rose garden and decor are wonderful. The victorian saloon is gorgeous! It's worth it to go…read moresee it! The wine is just average - we did like the white reisling and the malbec, and the port was also good. We ordered the trail mix which is actually a small charcuterie plate. The crackers were stale. The music was KZOK radio (Seattle). Rock and roll did not fit the beautiful decor. So it's kind of a mixed bag. But go see the saloon and beautiful light fixtures.

Very good news!…read more This winery has been operating irregularly the last year or so. The owners, who are friends, have been dealing with some health issues. But as I said - good news! They are both past those health issues and now open week ends again. A side benefit (if you can call it that) to their being closed is that much of the wine laid down in barrels before their health issues hit has only become better. It is now being bottled. The Stagecoach blend is better than ever! The Cab is super smooth! Keep an eye on YELP and FB for news about their 19th anneversary party August 8th, by the way.

Great place to boat, kayak, or swim in the summer. The western public water access (Mason Lake…read moreRecreation Area) has been purchased by a private company, this it is private and is only accessible to the public on certain days. But you can still park at Mason Lake County Park where there is one boat dock and a small picnic area. The water here is more green since it is a shallow inlet but it is extremely clean, perfect for swimming or kayaking. You can kayak or SUP past the inlet but boats will be zooming past you. In any case it's a great spot for the summer, but there will be lots of boat traffic at loading and slow boats trying to get out of the inlet and into the lake

Perfect hike. Love it! I wasn't expecting it to be so great and it IS! Coming back soon.read more

Very photogenic. Beautiful 1890s historic Queen Anne Victorian. Great architecture. Worth taking…read morea look at and snapping some pictures.

How bizarre to review a business park, huh? Except that this business park contains the remains of…read morea never-completed nuclear power plant, most notably the two massive cooling towers associated with a traditional power plant. While the Hanford Site in Eastern Washington was instrumental to the Manhattan Project, there is a noticeable lack of nuclear energy projects in the Pacific Northwest (with only two active reactors that I know of- at said Hanford Site, and the student run reactor at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.) Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Oregon has been closed for many years and it's distinctive cooling tower was demolished back in 2006- so where can you go for some photo shoots and pseudo-urban exploration? Well, Satsop is within daily driving distance from Seattle and Portland and considering the price (free,) it is well worth stopping by.

A short 13 minute detour off the highway on our way to Ocean Shores. Pretty cool to see the…read moreabandoned (unfinished) nuclear power plants up close - even though they are a gentle reminder of the government wasting more of our hard earned money. A few side items to note - the business park has hundreds (I mean hundreds) of brand new Volkswagens waiting for their forever home, so feel free to look around. BUT don't look too closely because there is a security guard with a lead foot who loves to mad-dog you from the comfort of the front seat of his Ford Focus (1989 - 92 model). There is also a huge boring machine on site which begs the question - are there tunnels below these nuclear structures and if so did the forgiving tax payers of the beautiful Pacific Northwest pay for this rusting eye sore? In any event - the power plants are pretty cool to see.

Great shows, proper old school theater with good acoustics and local orchestra, easy to get in by…read morechecking surname

It's great that there's a place like this in Olympia. The staff were friendly, the movie screen and…read moreacoustics fine. But. Oh. My. God. The seats!!!!!! I can't go back. The seats are all old, springs broken, the seat portions slope downward. We tried a few in our one trip--and more on the way out (with our backs sore). Almost left a great movie due to the pain of these awful seats. I hate to rag on an local establishment run by volunteers and a fil society. But I feel the need to warn people for the sake of their butts and backs. Someone seriously need to get a fund raiser going to fix the awful seating. At the very least, bring your own pillows.

What a cool thing to have right in the middle of the town! There's a nice parking lot a few feet…read moreaway from the well, so it's easy for people to fill up multiple jugs of water and load them up into their vehicles. The water comes out from a pipe and empties into a metal grate so there's no pooled water to worry about. It wasn't busy when I went, and so I just took a sip from the stream of water coming out. It was cold, refreshing, and slightly metallic tasting. Not too bad. There are advisories to not boil the water as it was tested and noted to have high levels of manganese, which boiling would concentrate and potentially cause health issues if consumed in large amounts.

Truly life-saving water! It's worth every effort on your part to stop by and get some That's it…read moreplain and simple. The Yelp won't let me post unless I say more. There is no more to say. The water is excellent. Do you need more? Come and get some, it's still there and it's still free.