Thursday, January 16, 2014

A Day Off

All work and no play makes for a dull life.  Today we played.

When I left my sister Laurie after the family Christmas party she said let's get together before your surgery.  Well, you know how that goes.  Good intentions and all that.  So I emailed her a couple of weeks ago with an empty week on our calendar and told her to pick a day.  She and Arnie live in Winlock, about an hour and 45 minutes away from Seattle.  We agreed to meet in the middle, in Olympia,  at the Falls Terrace Restaurant,  for lunch.

This was the view from our table.
 We had a lovely lunch and good visiting, and then we went for a walk in Tumwater Park, along the Deschutes River, where the river cascades over Upper and Lower Falls.  

This was an early settling place in Oregon Territory before Oregon and Washington became states.  The falls supplied power for mills and industry.

 The large building in the background (above) is the now abandoned Olympia Brewery, which functioned here for many years.  The brewery whistle at shift changes regulated the neighborhood's coming and goings.  Tom lived in this neighborhood as a young child.  Construction of the noisy freeway above, drowned out down below by the rushing water, took out his old home a few years after they moved.

Tom and Arn walked and talked.

So did Laurie and I.


After our stroll, we had about an hour before Laurie and Arn had to go pick up grandsons from school.  They live here in Olympia.  We spent the time at an antique mall looking for treasures.
 I found some Shiny-Brites for Far Side.  I admit that I didn't know what these were a few weeks ago.  Just another example of how we learn from our blog friends.  Sorry.  I didn't buy them and ship them to you in 'Minnesnowda'. 

I also found a cache of McCoy pottery, but I resisted.  I already have many of these and now I restrict myself to a few on my "must have" list.  None of these were those.
Laurie and Arn went off to pick up grand kids and we hit another antique mall before ending up at a Starbucks for a refresher.
Then we went across the street and strolled around the grounds of the Old Capitol Building.
It now houses the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the headquarters for Washington State Public Schools.  
On the grounds is a monument to John Rankin Rogers, an early governor and a champion of free public education. 
As it says here, he was the author of the Barefoot School Boy Law.  His favorite quote is very timely right now as our nation struggles to maintain our middle class and pull others up. 
I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves.

10 comments:

  1. A good old relaxed visit and tour out of town does wonders.

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  2. I enjoyed this! I've been to a couple of Olympia nurseries and been on a couple of garden tours there, but I've never actually seen these areas of the city or walked them. The falls look pretty cool.

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  3. I enjoyed this post and the pictures! My sister and I are the only two left in our family. We keep planning to meet for a day together! We live only 45 minutes apart and still can't seem to find the time.

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  4. Those are pretty Shiny Brites and antiques, but the walk, and the pictures of you and Tom are my favorites. I love to stroll alongside you on these journeys. And yesterday it was sunny all day long! Hope you were able to enjoy a bit of it, too. :-)

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  5. fun to see more of Olympia, my son graduated from Evergreen College there and we made a trip many years ago to attend his graduation but didn't see all the sights.

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  6. to see your day away at Olympia. Those were some pretty Shiny Brites! I love walking through Antique Malls anew discovery might be right around the corner:)

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  7. I would like to tour the PNW someday. If I do, I would love to meet you and DJan. These photos of Olympia are outstanding.

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  8. What a lovely day off you had. Good food, great scenery and good company.
    That old Capitol building looks positively medieval.

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  9. Oh darn! I goofed up my comment and it disappeared. Here I go again. :-)

    I love your wonderful day of catching up with your sister, exercising and shopping. I popped over to Far Side to learn about Shiny Brites too. Have a great weekend, Linda.

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  10. Now I want to go and explore Olympia more. It's only 30 minutes away and I seldom stop for more than a nursery visit. You do the coolest things!

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