We lived in Olympia for a number of years--I lived there 20 years, and Sam lived there 8 years before we moved north to the Seattle area in 1999.  Over the years I oddly enough didn't get many pictures of the area, but here are some, and I'll post more from trips I make down there to visit friends.

Olympia is the capitol of Washington, a lovely town nominated as one of America's top cities to live in some years back.  It is home to The Evergreen State College (my alma mater) and St. Martins College.  The downtown area still feels like a smaller city downtown.  Stop at the Oyster House if you want good fish or chowder, take a trip to Wolf Haven less than half hour's ride away in Tenino, attend a performance at the Washington Center For The Performing Arts; go seal watching down on the pier and if you are *very* lucky, you might even see a whale (we did, once--small one and her baby that got in there and couldn't get out until the tide shifted).

Olympia Ice Storm--December 27, 1996

Most often, weather in this area is moderate, but we've had more than our share of floods, and we've also had some pretty nasty extremes.  A winter storm rolled into the area on 12-27-96.  By the time it left, the Northwest was a frozen tableau of its former self.

• 200,000+ homes and businesses were without power in Washington and Oregon and it took up to 7-10 days for some areas to resume service.  We were without power for 3 days and it about froze my lungs off.  We ended up having to hunt down an empty hotel room so I wouldn't end up in the E.R.

• At least two deaths were blamed on the storm.

• Snowfall amounts in Western Washington ranged from six inches in Seattle to 13½ inches in suburban Mountlake Terrace. Oregon was swamped under 2 inches of freezing rain.

• In Washington's Thurston County (Olympia included), only 4 inches of snow fell, but freezing rain created a mess by felling trees and power lines.

• Dozens of holiday travelers and skiers were stranded in the mountain passes when they closed down.  At SeaTac Airport, hundreds of people were stranded after dozens of flights were canceled.

• In Port Orchard, a marina roof collapsed due to snow weight, sinking boats as it caved in.

• Thousands of trees were were killed--snapping from the weight of the ice like toothpicks.  In fact, the next spring, it looked like somebody had come through the forests and thickets and shredded row after row of trees.

In the Target parking lot.	Our driveway-iced over.	Coating of ice on trees.	Our front lawn.
Trees in parking lot.	Tree, bent over with the weight of the ice.	Plants, iced over.	Icicles hanging off plants.

Budd Bay Inlet--On Percival Landing

Budd Bay Inlet is beautiful, leading out into Puget Sound from the Port of Olympia.  Bayview Market became one of the best places to sit and watch the water.  Whether out on Percival Landing in back of the grocery/deli, or up on their second floor deli watching out the window, it's a great place to sit and relax and think.

Gulls on Percival Harbor.	Gulls on Percival Harbor.	Low tide at Percival Harbor.	The new bridge after the 2001 earthquake.
Percival Harbor.	Low tide at Percival Harbor.	Across the harbor, the west side of Olympia.