Category Archives: WA State – Thurston County

Buck’s Fifth Avenue, Olympia

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8476851353_b6c04c8f7b_zBuck’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/

Carlson Scott Cabin in Yelm

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The Carlson Cabin in Yelm at 301 West Yelm Avenue was constructed in 1945, so I’d consider it old but perhaps not historic. It was constructed by Yelm’s Lions Club and Axel Carlson (co-owner of the Sundown Logging Co.) made all of arrangements. The logs were hand hewed. The space is used for Lion’s Meetings, Scout Meetings, weddings, parties and other social events. The Yelm Lions Club, which was chartered in 1939, offers a free dinner every Thursday to anyone who is hungry.

I went to Yelm for a holiday gather and had a lovely time both there and on the drive to and fro. Yelm has a population of about 7,000 and per Wikipedia, “the word “Yelm” is said to come from the Coast Salish word shelm or chelm, meaning “heat waves from the sun” referring to heat mirages.”

 

 

Nisqually Delta Wildlife Refuge

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The Nisqually Delta is one of 23 National Wildlife Refuges in Washington State and the only one in Thurston County. Today I went to visit because I had to get out of the house and into the sunshine. Dear husband got up extra early and opted for a nap and dear daughter was under the weather. I was afraid that the eagles would carry away the dogs (and it turns out they weren’t allowed anyway), so I went alone. I was surprised to see that the visitor center was open and there were only a couple of parking spots available.

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/nisqually/

The dairy barns above were built in 1934 as part of the large Brown family farm that had been on the site. The eagle below was perched on a tree near the barns. One of the highlights of the hike was an older man with a very nice telescope showed me a Northern Shrike, an unusual bird for this part of the country. Apparently this charming little bird will sometimes eat other birds! Live and learn.

 

Sisters On The Fly at Cabela’s

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A group of women with vintage campers that go fly fishing and camping together? How cool is that?! Of course I had to go check it out when they convened at Cabela’s at 1600 Gateway Blvd NE Lacey, WA 98516. The mission statement of Sisters on the Fly is “Offering empowerment and sisterhood through exceptional outdoor adventures. As a group of women we challenge ourselves in all that we set our mind to. There is no age, color, religion or political group. All women who want to share in the adventure of “sisterhood” are welcome. This “sisterhood” has grown to more than 2,400 women since inception in 1999.”

As you can see from the photos the vintage trailers are darling and lovingly decorated. Bare in mind that these are little spaces which usually have a bed, table, stove, fridge and some storage. Because of the size, they are difficult to capture in a photo, but the website has more photos and there are a couple of books available. The women are really nice also!

http://www.sistersonthefly.com/

Cabela’s is the world’s foremost outfitter (that’s their tag line!) and it is indeed a huge store with a large display of animals arrange in a nature setting. There is also a piper cub plane hanging from the ceiling. Besides an abundance of merchandise, there is a gun library and a restaurant. It reminds me of REI, but with more of an emphasis on hunting/fishing. There are 39 Cabela’s with more being planned.

http://www.cabelas.com/

Legislative Building in Olympia and Year Two

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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:

  • I’ve traveled further this year. 154 of my new places are in Tacoma, compared to last year when 257 of my new places were. Lakewood, with 16 places came in a distant second and University Place with 11 and Puyallup with 9 were after that.
  • This year I’ve added some great faraway places: England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, as well as Texas and California.
  • My most popular type tags are Tacoma, WA, Lakewood, Art, Coffee and Restaurant.
  • I sometimes get spam contents. Almost all of it revolves around my one Eddie Bauer post. I don’t know why.
  • Some of the places I checked out alone, but I often brought my husband, daughter and occasionally dogs along for company. They are good sports about the whole thing. Especially the dogs.
  • I did miss a couple of days. There were a few days that I was sick and the weather was bad and a couple of days that things just got away from me. It’s OK.
  • 30 places were tagged “their future is in question” last year and now that number is up to 57. Most of those that were vacant are still vacant, though a couple of leased to new businesses. The Red Dragon, the Elks Building and the Heidelberg Brewery are demolished, as is the Ruston Tunnel. The Kalakala is still afloat after getting some help. Camp 8 Logging Camp is gone and the old Borders Books space is now Ashley Furniture.  Some, including most of the schools, maintained their use.
  • I went to some unusual places including a mushroom farm, a food truck festival, two lighthouses, on a hunt for the Lock Ness Monster, the Roman Baths, a blueberry park, the church where I was married, the Museum of Flight, a submarine,  rocket ship and yoda statue in San Francisco and a robotics competition in Seattle. We went to see indoor skydiving, Tacoma’s Buffalo Soldiers Museum,  Santa diving in the shark tank and a temporary skating rink. We went to markets: Small, medium, large, Co Ops  German, Russian, Japanese, produce and seafood.
  • I plan to continue until it isn’t fun anymore or I run out of places, whichever comes first 😀

The encouragement that I’ve received along the way has meant the world to me! Thank you.

State Capital

Ostrom’s Mushrooms

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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/

http://www.pnwmushroomfest.com/

Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia

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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/

 

Washington State Surplus

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Washington State sells equipment that it no longer needs at their General Administration Surplus location at 7511 New Market Street, Tumwater, WA 98512.  My dear husband thinks it is great fun to go there and buy stuff for pennies on the dollar (if we need it or not). Today we bought a couple of VGA cords for me and some speakers for him. In the past he’s come home with a nice, rolling desk chair for $15 that we’ve used a great deal. Mostly they stock office furniture and equipment, but they usually have a nice selection of knives taken from people flying in commercial planes. Last time I was there, they were selling large crab traps!

http://www.ga.wa.gov/surplus/index.html

Need a book?

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Need a book? by Gexydaf

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.

http://store.scholastic.com

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!

http://store.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_Diary+of+a+Wimpy+Kid+6%3A+Cabin+Fever_51022_-1_10052_10051

 

Apollo’s Pizza and Pasta

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Apollo’s Pizza and PastaOriginally uploaded by Gexydaf

A while back there was a competition for the best pizza in the Puget Sound area and Apollo’s Pizza and Pasta at 2302 Harrison Ave NW #202 Olympia, WA 98502 came in second. And ever since I’ve been wanting to go try it! Today was the day. Dear husband and I went for the lunch special ($6.99 for two slices of pizza and either soup or salad). The pizza was cheese with a choice of two toppings. I had mushrooms and ricotta cheese and dear husband had mushrooms and hamburger. He had their famous African peanut chicken soup, which was very tasty and I had the salad which was OK.

http://www.apollos-pizza.com/#!

http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/promotions/2010/12/advertise-tournament-of-pizza-2010-greater-tacoma-olympia-area/