This is, hands down, the most charming little post office I've been to. It's pretty much a cute…read morelittle house, but with all the necessary USPS stuff inside. The woman working there was very cheerful. They are observing all COVID precautions. I wish this was closer to where I lived!

It's about time: Fox Island finally has a new post office!!…read more The old P.O., which had been in operation for decades, was housed in a cramped little building next to the Fox Island Store. I don't know any specific facts or figures on the number of people served or packages handled, but every time I visited the place it was obviously inadequate for the amount of traffic it was receiving. I'm sure the entire population of the island was excited to see this new facility being built! The new Post Office, now located right across the street from the Fox Island Store, still isn't a very large place. At least now there's room for people to queue up INSIDE the building to do their business, though. More space also equals more P.O. boxes and mailing materials and such. There is also more parking available. One thing that did NOT expand, however, are the business hours: 08:00 - 16:30 (closed for lunch from 13:00 - 13:30) M-F and 09:00 - 10:30 on Saturday.

Maybe my personal expectations are getting higher, maybe I just don't like the Post Office....but…read moreas far as Post Offices go, the Des Moines Post Office is tops! Clean, safe, and it's still got that "new Post Office" smell. To get my 5 star rating, it would have to have a third line, all lines would meed to be "easy access" (or straight out, vs. around a corner) and free beer!!

Horrible, horrible service. Brought my WET mail to the PO and a manager told me we live in Seattle…read moreand I should expect wet mail!! Totally rude and unhelpful.

Part of the exhibit…read more The Castle Rock Exhibit Hall, dedicated on the 10th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St.Helens, is one of North Cowlitz County's featured attractions for visitors. Operated by the nonprofit Castle Rock Exhibit Hall Society, the facility has three galleries of exhibits, displays and photographs portraying the area's history and culture. Those exhibits include Cowlitz Indian artifacts, logging carvings, sawmilling, logging displays, a Smithsonian Institution exhibit depicting the Mt. St. Helens blast zone, pre-eruption and post eruption pictures of the mountain and Spirit Lake, and other exhibits. The Exhibit Hall also includes a demonstration area that hosts annual quilt shows, holiday wreathmaking and other events, and a small store featuring books by several local residents among its merchandise. In the front of the building is a Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center that provides tourists brochures, maps and information about Mt. St. Helens and other Washington and Oregon tourist attractions. A historic city jail built in 1907 is located on city property behind the Exhibit Hall. Murals featuring Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake, a logging train and a Sternwheeler water vessel grace exterior walls of three buildings near the Exhibit Hall. Visitors may tour the historic city jail, which has been unused since the mid 1940's.

We absolutely LOVE the Centralia Timberland Library and feel it's the best Timberland branch in the…read morearea! The staff are extremely friendly and helpful in whatever you might need - whether it finding a book, getting something put on hold, or answering general questions. They all are eager to help and support. There are thousands of books to browse through and check out. They really have a robust selection of all the genres that you would be looking for. Because they are a part of the Timberland Library group, it's easy to request a book at any of the many branches in the area and they'll get it delivered here. There is a smaller second floor that houses all of the teen and young adult books. There also is a teen only space up there for book groups and studying. I think it's great to have that genre of books all set up for them like that. In the whole library space, it really works. Best of all (at least for us), is the children's section! It's huge ... and it's walled off so the noise does not travel out to the rest of the library. :-) There is a ginormous selection of children's books and videos here. Additionally, there is play space that has lots of creative toys and traditional toys for the kids to play with. My boys love going here and spending time reading and playing. Plus, they have children's scavenger hunts around the entire library and offer stickers for the little ones who complete the hunt and/or clean up the toy space when they're done! The library also offers several classes or groups in various topics or arenas. Lego Club, Creator/Maker Space Club, Read Aloud/Storytimes, etc. Lots and lots to chose from. Regardless of your age or your book genre preference, the Centralia Timberland Library is the place to be! It is one of our GO-TO places in town!

With all the financial problems why are there people sitting around? Everytime I go in I only see…read morethe same older gentleman doing any work. The rest are sitting around talking to each other.

We were exploring small towns south of us and happened into the Toledo library. What a quaint town…read morewith some wonderful people. I was able to educate my kids on what a microfiche machine was as they had a working one with a large variety of newspapers dating back to the 1800s. Two sweet ladies working there helped us login to the public computers and my kids and I explored the town's history. Just lovely. We bought a few historical pictures/post-cards, and one of the ladies said there was a farmer's market running in nearby Winlock, WA and that she had a table there with handmade goods. Off we went to explore Winlock and we stopped in to purchase a few of her items at the farmer's market. We wish all towns were like this.

I spotted this area as we were driving along and we pulled into check it out. It was actually such…read morea nice stop and we probably spent at least 30 minutes here exploring. There's a big parking area where people can stop and you can take some steps down to a cemented area where there were multiple people fishing. You can see the huge cement damn across the water and it's actually really peaceful. We let our dog run around a bit and read about the dam. This was a totally impromptu stop but definitely a memorable one. For me, some of the most enjoyable things you can do is to learn about nature and science in a real life beautiful setting and Mossyrock Dam is a good example of that.

I have always enjoyed exploring different dams in the many states that I have traveled to…read more Mossyrock Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam and is the tallest dam in Washington state. It is 606 feet high and opened in 1968. Its purpose is to produce renewable hydroelectric energy to supply energy to several homes in the Tacoma area. Mossyrock Dam impounds Cowlitz River which created Riffe Lake. I was able to stop at the overlook and spend some time walking around the top of the dam. There are some really pretty views of Riffe Lake from this location. There are two parks in the area around the lake that provide outdoor recreation. Both Taidnapam and Mossyrock Park have day-use facilities, camping, fishing and boat launches.