A Little Bit of Home

cropped-cropped-cropped-img_03461.jpgIn my quest to get to know my city a little bit better, I spent the morning wandering the streets checking out a few of my favorite spots and discovering a few new ones.

But first things first, had to have a little morning pit stop at The Bread Peddler!

Fresh LoavesOrdered a fresh Pain au Levain ~ Heavenly ~ to take home for dinner! Along with a little cheese puff and a coffee for my travels. The place was bustling. And to prove what a small world it is, one of my mom’s friends from the other side of the state in Walla Walla ended up in line behind me at the counter. She and her family were grabbing a little bakery treat before doing some thrift store shopping.

With my coffee and treat in hand I headed out for a little local people watching. I found this beautiful bench in the shade to take it all in.

Octopus BenchTourists and locals, girls with red hair walking dogs with pink tails, packs of kids on a summer camp outing and dogs walking two-by-two. It seemed like everyone was out to enjoy the sunny summer weather before it get’s too hot this afternoon.

IMG_0330The centerpiece of downtown Olympia, our beautiful capital, was a site to see on this perfect summer day. Runners and walkers were cruising around Capital Lake today and a few vendors were taking stalk of the area in preparation for next weekends Lake Fair festivities.

And there is nothing that the kids love better than splashing around the fountain at Capital Lake.

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Such a lovely way to spend the morning! More stories and pictures to come during my discovering home tour.

 

 

 

Discovering Home

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Washington State Capital

I have lived in the city of Olympia for nearly 11 years now and I have to admit I barely know this city. My job has required that I travel a large part of the time and when I am off work I tend to either want to stay home and not interface with a bunch of people or I want to get out-of-town on vacation. It hasn’t left much time for me to get out and explore my own city.

So my summer resolution is to really get out there and discover Olympia. I am going to get out the local activities newspaper and check online and do all those things I would do when I go to a new city. I hate to admit this but I have never been to our museum, I have never been to a play or a concert here, I have only been to about a half-dozen of the 100’s of great restaurants here, I have never in 11 years attended Lake Fair(the big town shindig), I haven’t watched the fireworks over the lake on New Years or the 4th of July. I always hear the fireworks when I am home in bed with my dogs, but I’ve never gone to watch. So many other cool things to do here too that I don’t even know about I’m sure.

So in a salute to summer I will begin my discovery of home and will share what I learn and any tips I get from the locals as the summer rolls on.

Do you have a favorite way to discover a new city? If you are a local Olympian, what should I check out first?