Hunter Pumpkin Patch at 7401 Yelm Highway is an extravaganza of family friendly Halloween fun. They have two corn mazes, plenty of animals to see, wagon rides, a hay maze, a pumpkin sling shot, a pillow jump (like a trampoline), a shop and a snack shop. Mostly it was fun to see the kids running around and having a blast. In December Hunters also has a Christmas Tree Farm with assorted Christmas activities. There website is here and their Facebook page is here.
Yauger Park in Olympia has a lovely wetland area that doubles as a storm water retention pond during times of heavy rain. Per their website, the area can hold 27 million gallons of water which is slowly released into Percival Creek and eventually into Budd Inlet. One comment I noted on Yelp said that the rain water will sometimes cover the parking area also, which is better than local streets! The park also has picnic facilities, sports areas and playground equipment.
The Yashiro Japanese Garden at 1010 Plum Street SE, Olympia is a small, well proportioned public garden. It is a a joint effort of the Olympia-Yashiro Sister City Association and the City of Olympia.There are a few art pieces and a waterfall and some colorful fall foliage. More information can be found here.
Evergreen State College gained a Welcoming Figure by Andy Wilbur-Peterson of the Skokomish Tribe and Greg Colfax of the Makah Tribe. More of Andy Wilbur-Peterson’s work can be seen here and there is more information to be found on the artist here. Information on Greg Colfax can be found here. The statue was constructed in 1987 and the statue stands 12′ tall.
There is a statue of John Rankin Rogers in Sylvester Park in Olympia, WA. Mr. Rogers was Washington State’s third governor serving between 1896 and 1901. He died towards the beginning of his second term. He is best know for supporting the “Barefoot Schoolboy Act” which he had first sponsored while in the state legislature. The Act provided a mechanism of state funding to equalize support for free public education between counties which had a large tax base and those without. (thanks Wikipedia!)
Buck’s Fifth Avenue is a splendid spice store at 209 5th Ave SE Olympia, WA 98501. There website says “We have every imaginable spice” and they told me the same thing in the store. They did indeed have a great selection of spices in hand labeled mason jars and apparently they can get anything else. The joy of the store is that all of the dry spices can be sniffed and most smell wonderful. And you can buy a pinch of anything, which is great for recipes with something unusual. Really, I loved the atmosphere of the store and the outstanding customer service. The owner, Anne Buck, said the store had been around for 43 years.
http://www.culinaryexotica.mybigcommerce.com/
It’s been two years since I’ve started this new place of the day project and as last year I wanted to pick an extra nice new place. Last year I picked the Pagoda in the Chinese Reconciliation Park and this time we went to the Legislative Building in Olympia, the state capital.
A very cool link that explains the 1928 building can be found here http://www.ga.wa.gov/visitor/VirtualTour/explore.html and here http://www.ga.wa.gov/visitor/VirtualTour/tour.html Per the website the building is the tallest masonry dome in North America. The granite for the building came from Index, Washington and the sandstone came from Wilkeson, Washington.
Looking back at the second year of this project, I have some new observations:
The encouragement that I’ve received along the way has meant the world to me! Thank you.
I’ve always wanted to see a mushroom farm and I was delighted when Ostrom’s Mushrooms at 8322 Steilacoom Road SE, Olympia, WA 98513 offered tours as part of the Pacific Northwest Mushroom Festival. The tour began with the plant manager (I think it was the plant manager) showing up how they create the soil out of mostly straw and then how they add the mushroom spores attached to millet. He walked us through each step of the multi-day process. The mushrooms grow in large beds which are stacked one on top of another about seven deep with about a foot clearance between each one. The pickers climb moveable steps and go from the top bed to the bottom. It sounds like very hard work.
http://www.ostrommushrooms.com/
Childhood’s End at 222 4th Avenue West in Olympia is one of my very favorite galleries. They feature Northwest and national artists and have a delightful combination of unusual and lovely decorative and functional items. Today I bought a pair of earrings that feature a tree design.The exterior wall of the store has this dramatic mural.
http://www.childhoods-end-gallery.com/
Friday I went off to the Scholastic Books warehouse at 9631 Lathrop Industrial Drive S.W., Olympia, WA 98512. I was on a mission to purchase books for two school libraries. Scholastic books is the largest children’s book seller in the world and there warehouse is only open to school employees and book fair volunteers. While the shopping itself can be a little overwhelming (so many books and people), the people are wonderful.
While I was there I picked up ten copies of the new Wimpy Kid book (5 per school) because yes, it is just that popular!
