Olympia, WA
6/17/2011
The next morning I went in search of wifi and AAA for new maps. Driving around, I parked at the waterfront, toured a vibrant farmer’s market and drank a terrible Americano in a coffee shop across the street. I e-mailed, facebooked, laughed at youtube videos, looked up campsites, etc – it was nice being in touch with the world once again. At AAA, I speedily received all of my maps, and then headed to a Panera across the street for some food and more vacation planning.
I called around and after being rejected by two completely booked hostels, found an opening in one for the night in Seattle. One of my very good friends at William and Mary, Cassie, lives in Washington near Vancouver. Because clearly she didn’t get the memo, Cassie is in New York City this summer at an awesome internship – but therefore not anywhere near me. Like the annoying moocher I am, however, I message her mom on facebook asking if she wouldn’t mind me crashing Cassie’s room. And thus, I hashed out a slight itinerary for the week.
As I was in the capital and had a few more hours of daylight, I decided to tour a little bit. I walked through the capital building admiring the senate and house floors as well as George Washington’s shiny nose from all the visitor’s wanting to pick his boogers (at least, this is what I imagined). I tapped the top of his nose for good measure, just in case he was actually lucky or something. A public display on the history of some governor was up in the District Attorney’s office and I sheepishly read the posters in front of the gossiping secretaries. I don’t really remember what this guy’s name was, but he seemed your average frontiersman with a little extra money. As it is some anniversary since the civil war, I suppose him being some head of something in the war was what made him significant. Slightly laughingly, there was a “Did You Know?” poster nearby proclaiming the fact that 98% of Washington State residents supported the north. First of all, where did you get that statistic? Second of all, the civil war was fought nowhere near this not even officially created state – how can you try and boast about your involvement? Third, are you bragging that your state was on the “right” side? It’s adorable when small towns try to claim that they are somehow significant, it just seems strange when an entire capital does it. Slightly humored and slightly disgusted that a government agency put this shoddy thing together, I moved onto the Supreme Court across the street. The little courtroom didn’t match the grandeur of the exterior at all, but the smell of the books from the law library across the way was quite enticing. I roamed the manicured lawns that tried to pose as inviting gardens and admired the waterfront before heading back to my car.