After a good night's sleep, it was time to release from the mooring buoy and head to our next destination, the state capital of Washington, Olympia. It was an uneventful journey in overcast skies and minimal winds, so it was a day of motoring. Entering the port of Olympia is relatively different than most. With a very shallow shoal directly in the middle of the bay about 2 miles from the port itself, the navigational markers of red and green buoys take a large jog which then splits into two distinct harbors separated by a large dock stacked with wood logs ready for shipment to other locations, either for lumber or paper. The left harbor contains one of the nicest private marinas, and the right harbor is comprised of a public marina and the Olympia Yacht Club. We were able to use our reciprocal privileges for free moorage at the very nice, yacht club facilities.

We have taken advantage of the yacht club facilities: showers for both of us and a nice clubhouse with great wifi where I sit as I write this blog. After lunch onboard, we walked up to the state Capitol, first along Capital Lake and then several switchbacks up a hill to the buildings which are at the top. We entered the legislative building, the largest of 5 buildings in hopes of having a guided tour. We lucked out as a docent was standing just inside the doors ready to start the next tour. The building is set up much like the Capitol in DC with a dome in the middle and each house of the legislature located on either side. There are also offices for the governor, secretary of state and treasurer. At the center of the building, directly below the dome, lies the Seal of the State of Washington, which was the 42nd state to join the union.

Hanging from the center of the dome is a very large chandelier, one of all of the interior lighting fixtures designed by Tiffany.

After leaving the legislative building, we took a quick peek into the supreme court building directly adjacent to the legislative building. They had several displays showing some interesting history of the court, including a legal fight over the location of the capital where the City of Vancouver tried to have it relocated there from Olympia. Obviously, the effort failed. There was also a court case regarding the women's right to vote back in the late 1800s where the court had to void the law creating the right due to a technical error in the process, only to have been quickly corrected by the legislature.

We returned to Lion's Paw where Debra decided to remain while I took off to explore the business area of the city around the harbors. It was unfortunately fairly depressing with many storefronts closed and what I discovered as a very large, homeless tent city, directly across the street from the main bus terminal.

If you think your city has a significant homeless problem, Olympia is not a particularly large city, and this tent city surely demonstrated a significant issue. Fortunately, it seems to have kept the situation under control, as I did not find many homeless people wandering the streets.

We are finishing our stay in Olympia with a nice dinner out. We move back into more remote settings as we head tomorrow for Hope Island, a small, uninhabited island with numerous trails to explore. We will finish this journey on Saturday when we return to Bainbridge as we continue our efforts to complete our new home.