Kind of fun to see. Had to walk down hill and find the path to get there. There are signs of…read morehomeless living. Watch your step on the tracks.

The Rainbow Rails is a portion of abandoned railroad track which is near downtown Olympia that is…read morepainted in rainbow colors to represent LGBT pride. It's kind of fun and little bit of a "secret" to get to. Hopefully I'm not spoiling anything but if you drive to West Bay Park and park your car there you would then head towards the south... perhaps southeast of the park. My sense of direction are not exactly accurate here I'm thinking so head towards the Capitol Building. You will come upon a fence which there is a path that goes around it. Then you proceed on the paths to the Rainbow Rails. Definitely be cautious when you are on the rails and watch your step. If you go during Blackberry season there will be berries along the way which is a nice little bonus if you want to pick some. Another bonus which was unexpected on the way to the Rainbow Rails was the wildlife. We saw some herons on and near the tracks which was really cool and I got some good pictures of them. You will reach the Rainbow Tracks then which really is a great reflection and representation of Olympia and where it stands with LGBT folks. It's really cool seeing the different colors of railroad ties going across the water. It made me a little nervous to go from one end to the other so I didn't do it but Steve proceeded to and got some good pictures on the other side. At somebody someone went in and painted the railroad ties black and white which is supposed to represent "straight pride" but it didn't stay that way long and it was restored to it's rainbow colors once again thanks to the local community. The Rails have a fresh coat of paint which makes them more vivid than ever!

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.

Absolutely the best water on the planet!!! I fill the trunk up with the water that comes from this…read morepipe. It is free-flowing & cold right from the ground. There used to be 57 wells that came from the depths. Everyone that lives in and around the Oly area should drink this water, even when it was just a metal pipe coming straight out of the ground. Bring your own plastic or glass jugs, fill them up and enjoy. Sometimes it's a wait, sometimes you pull up and go. It's well worth it. Now you get to see the pretty tiles and visit the nice people that call this home.

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.

Walking around the area, I was drawn to the Bay and saw this memorial…read more Thank you for your service and dedication.

A great memorial in a prime location. Fantastic views and a sobering reminder that this profession…read morehas made many sacrifices. This should be a stop while touring the rest of the Capitol area complex.

The City of Olympia's new Rental Registration for rental homes is 100% provable city corruption…read more It's only about making money for the city. There are already housing codes in place to protect and keep everyone safe. Call in a complaint and code enforcement can inspect the living conditions and force the landlord to make corrects or suffer fines. Other cities with similar registrations always increase fees and have yearly inspections where inspectors are paid several hundred dollars, but never inspect the homes. Hence, the provable corruption.

I'm at a football practice and this BBQ truck catered the after practice shin dig…read more $5.00 for a plate which consist of a pulled brisket sandwich, cornbread, salad, choice of a cookie and a bottled water!!! What a steal!!! The sandwich was on buttery Hawaiian type bun and I chose the Cajun sauce to place on top of mine! Oh my word!!!!! Absolutely melt in your mouth delicious!!! I would have paid $5.00 for just the sandwich because it was absolutely smoked to perfection!!! I didn't try the salad, it looked soggy and I was full from the brisket sandwich! I picked up their flyer and business card because I would definitely hire them to cater an event for me!

Absolutely beautiful area; a little bit of nature nestled into the city. Nice walking path and a…read morepark accessible through a paved trail. Lovely and very soothing.

This is an absolutely gorgeous and well maintained park. I love coming here with family and friends…read moreto go on walks. When it gets warmer in the year, it is wonderful for picnicking. I recommend coming here and enjoying a nice stroll whether rain or shine. My friends, family, co-workers, and I come here pretty often! I'm glad that it is cared for so much by the community and is always lively.

The capital state forest is a huge state forest by any measure. It's geared towards recreation and…read moreconveniently positioned just south of Olympia. The best set of mountain bike trails are 15 minutes drive into the forest. My wife and I explored them once on foot and were only able to see a small segment. There were a fair number of mountain bikers enjoying the trails. The drive to the trail is part pavement, part dirt. As you drive along a dirt ridge and start to think that you are lost, it actually means you're getting close. There are a handful of other trail networks surrounding the state forest, but these seem to be focused for off-road motorcycle use. I wouldn't use them on busy weekends but they are great hiking trails on a weekday evening. Off-road motorcycling seems to be a gear intensive sport and not one easily managed quickly after work. A late summer hike might get dusty, but the views get progressively better the farther you go up. Also, these trails only appear manageable for experienced motorcyclists. That might be another reason I only saw one motorcycle at the beginning flat section and none farther up. There is one mountain biking trail network on the northern side of the state forest near the road. Unfortunately, it is downhill only. I huffed and puffed my way up part of it and was passed by a group of mountain bikers heading up together with their bikes in a pickup truck. This seemed to be the best method. I slowly walked down on the intermediate trail to test the difficulty and confirmed that it was beyond my ability. The trails in Washington generally skew towards the higher end of the difficulty level, probably because the mountains are so steep.

Dear God!!!! Camped at Margaret Mackenney campground in capital Forest where if you have a…read moreDiscover pass keep this in mind for later, you can stay for a total of seven nights for free so that's a great resource and I really appreciate it and I do have a Discover pass and I am staying here for four nights on my way to somewhere else. that being said, the other people camped here most of them are being very loud blasting all different kinds of music that you can literally hear clear on the other side of the campground, I have that going on three sides of me, one of the groups of people have five or six dogs who keep getting in big fights with each other and then trying to attack other dogs as they're walking past with their owners. Kids in the campsite next to me were up half the night, talking really loud and I could hear them from INSIDE my hard sided camper. There's a guy in a battered minivan with plastic for windows camped across from me that looks like he's selling drugs because other people have pulled up and he got out and they exchanged something and then the other people went on their way right away so there's that shady aspect going on. And there are people driving through here all night long!!! if I did not have a hard sided camper, I would not be able to stay here due to the noise at night, especially. This could be such a peaceful place if people would respect it. And the other thing is the camp host? Here is so deaf that he cannot even tell what you're saying to him, I tried to talk to him and he kept saying what??? so good luck with the Campos being able to hear if people are causing noise and fractions. What a joke. and by the way, there are people camping here without a Discover pass. Tons of young people with kids, this is the kind of place where trailer trash lowlifes come with her numerous kids to teach the next hopeless generation of little snot nose, assholes how to camp. And I'm very nice positive person the fast majority of the time it takes a lot to get me in this kind of mood, would not stay here if I were you.

I walked into the Yelm Chamber of Commerce today, Tuesday around 1030 as I noticed it had moved…read morenext to the library. It's a much smaller space than where it used to be but it had an adequate amount of resources and I did like the Yelm Chamber of Commerce community guide and business directory. However, the woman never looked up to say hello or ask if I needed any assistance. she looked down on her computer the entire time I was there. What a terrible way to greet patrons. That's no way to welcome newcomers or people who live in your community. What kind of message are you sending? Get another job if you don't want to deal with people. Shameful. :-(

I love our Yelm Chamber of Commerce! Our director, Line works hard to make sure each of our…read morecommunity business are recognized and referred appropriately. It seems there are always so many great events to attend all over town, I can't possibly go to all of them, but it's so nice to be able to have such a variety of events to choose from to be able to really get to know our beautiful growing community.