Olympia — The Road Scholars

Throughout my travels, I've had the opportunity to visit several centers of government, both state and national, in our country and others. In Olympia, the capitol of Washington, I found myself comparing everything to the Lone Star State's capitol in Austin. So we're all on the same page, let me first share a few thoughts about Austin.

I've visited the Texas State Capitol many times since living in Texas and have helped myself to both self-guided and guided tours of the building. The grounds sit amidst a bustling college-town metropolis and are beautifully manicured. Around the perimeter sit highly visible Texas State Troopers in patrol cars. They also roam the hallways on foot of the capitol building itself.

Whether playing Frisbee on the massive front lawn amidst state relics or rambling the halls of the building itself, there are always people at the Texas capitol. The building is clean, modern, and functional, housing all of the state's business offices either in the main rotunda or the underground expansion. Tour guides offer free guided tours during the week and are typically political science students at the University of Texas, which is within walking distance of the Capitol grounds.

Olympia, in contrast, is a quiet little city about 5% the size (in population) of Austin. While the Texas state capitol is an imposing edifice visible for miles, the Washington State Capitol is off the beaten path and definitely requires directions (or Vicki) to find.

Luca and I made the trek from Renton in about an hour, and once we found it, the place was dead. There was so much available parking, we were a little apprehensive about where to park for fear there was some kind of prohibition about parking on the grounds. Driving right up to a point of interest and parking for free at the front door is not usually how I roll. Paying twenty bucks to park a mile away and be bused in is typically more my speed.

The first thing I immediately noticed (aside from the lack of any other people) was the absence of any police or security: no rent-a-cops, no state troopers, no local police. I guess if a crime is committed and no one is around to notice, it isn't really a crime in Olympia.

The second thing I noticed was the layout of the grounds. Unlike Austin, the Washington capitol grounds are like a compound. The main building sits in the middle of a cloister of other buildings that makes the area feel more like a college campus than a government site. We later found out on the tour that very little business actually takes place inside the main capitol building. In addition to the obligatory rotunda, there are four offices (one for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State), a Reception Room, and chambers for the Senate and House. That's it. All the other business takes place in surrounding buildings.

What Olympia may lack in bustle, it makes up for in the quality of the tour. Our guide was excellent. He didn't recite from a memorized script, he simply walked us to the three rooms on the tour and started talking about them. If anyone had a question, he answered it in detail. It was like he was giving us a tour of his own home. Here are the highlights:

State Reception Room
This is where foreign dignitaries are received, constituent groups interact with their representatives, and the post-election ball is held when a new governor is elected. But the crown jewel of the room is the rare 42-star flag hanging in a case on the wall. The flag is rare because there never was an official 42-star U.S. flag in use. Washington became a state in November of 1889. The star is not officially added to the flag until July 4th following a state's admittance to the Union. Flag makers began preparing 42 star flags so they would be ready for July 4th, 1890. On July 3rd of that year, Idaho was admitted to the Union and the 43 star flag became the official U.S. flag the next day.
Bust of George Washington
This brass bust was presented to the state in 1984 by the Mother Joseph Foundation. It is noteworthy because over the years his nose has been worn by students rubbing it for good luck. Hal got in on that action (as did Luca and I)
The Rotunda
The entire rotunda is covered in beautiful Alaskan Tokeen marble, which has a bluish white color. All the light fixtures in the capitol were created by Tiffany and the contract was his last major effort before his death. Hanging from the cupola is the world's largest Tiffany chandelier. It weighs 10,000 pounds.

No excursion in the Pacific Northwest is complete without the f-word, so we left the capitol grounds and let Vicki be our guide. The neighborhood she guided us to looked a little sketchy but we did find our destination. As we drove by the establishment we could see plenty of folks getting head inside, so we decided to give it a go.

When I say sketchy, I mean there were train tracks literally running down the center of the street. This gave way to a slew of puns, as you might imagine, and ultimately we concluded the tracks must be abandoned as the street was about the width of four cars. With parking allowed on both sides of the street, we just couldn't see how the logistics of a train coming down the street would work with vehicle traffic. It turns out we were wrong. As we got our fermentation on (that f-word staple of the Pacific Northwest), we asked our waitress at the Fish Tale Brew Pub about the tracks. She actually had to ask a coworker, but it turns out the tracks are still active and freight trains come down the street daily. This is one place where double parking is definitely out of the question.

The beer at Fish Tale is all organic and overall, not bad, although the pulled-pork sandwich I had was better. The walls are adorned with overpriced for-sale artwork, presumably from a local artist. It's good stuff, but not triple digit good, especially for the size. What did impress us was the rows of shelves along a wall holding people's personal beer mugs. I guess sometimes you wanna' go to the side of the tracks where everyone knows your mug.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

Check out all the pictures from my trip by clicking a gallery below: