UPDATED: February 12, 2021
This is the 4th of a series of posts dealing with my 2018
trip to Olympia, Seattle, and vicinity. I’ve made minor corrections to these
reports (typos, bits I don’t feel like making public). Also, I’ve added
additional thoughts with the hindsight of two years later or to add further
clarification. These are indicated by
“NOW”.
Typing this outside even though my vision isn't as good
outside, getting in some fresh air. Overcast this morning. As I was about to
leave Ground Inn, I noticed my memory card had a little over 1,000 pictures
left so I went and grabbed another, correctly figuring I would need it before
breakfast. I was to the Capitol and
wandered around there. As I started on the winding path to Capitol Lake, I saw
a fawn I think (maybe a doe; no antlers). It watched me as I photographed it
until a jogger went by. I walked along Capitol Lake a bit, then downtown, then
back to the hostel for breakfast.
The forecast was for rain (didn't happen) so I packed my
coat. I walked to the Greyhound Depot, explored Sylvester Park across the
street a bit and then returned to the depot for the 40 bus (Gray's Harbor
Transit). For my destination, the driver, a friendly East Indian guy who
recognized me from yesterday, recommended a cheaper and faster alternative for
my return, RT, which goes to Tumwater (which I knew was part of Greater
Olympia).
I took the bus to Elma Station in Elma, where I had a 90-minute
layover; around McCleary en route I saw a group of horses who all had different
colours; I also briefly got off and on the bus in McCleary for fresh air, so
technically I've now been to McCleary.
Leaving Elma Station I walked east and south, crossing the
highway to Vance Creek Park, the bulk of which is Bowers Lake. I circled the
lake, seeing two baby rabbits. Heading back towards downtown, to kill time I
visited Shell's Food Mart and Chevron's Astro Express Mart. In downtown Elma I
visited Elma Dollar and Thrift and Elma Variety. A store called just General
Store was not yet open. Back at Elma I took a small shuttle 45 bus (Grays Harbor
Transit) to Centralia Amtrak in Centralia. While I had gone from zone 2 to zone
1 earlier, my transfer only covered zone 1, so I had to pay another $2. I had
to surrender the transfer but took photos of it earlier, expecting that.
[NOW: The park is actually just outside of Elma city
limits. Elma Variety Store has since closed.]
In Centralia, Anderson Books wasn't open. I visited
Tillikum Books & Bindery, Cosmic Comics and Games, Book Quest. I wanted to
walk to my nest stop, but the route took me to an area where pedestrians were
prohibited, so I doubled back a ways and took a 30 bus (Twin Cities Transit) to
Yard Birds in Chehalis. Yard Birds is a flea market setup. One store there,
10,000 Titles was pretty well organized so I bought a few DVDs there. Another
place whose name I blanking on (Cowlitz Movies?) had a large selection of $1
movies but not order for the most part so I didn't buy any. After lunch at a nearby McDonald's I walked to the
downtown core of Chehalis. There I visited Diversified Games and Books 'N
Brush. The downtown core was nice, so I wandered randomly. The library has a
nice statue and a nice staircase to the entrance so i got photos from the top
of the steps.
[NOW: Cosmic Comics and Games has since closed. The other Yard Birds store was probably Cowlitz River Antiques. The McDonald’s
is on Median St.]
One bit of bad news: A routing for the bus back changed and there was no notification at the
old stop so I missed a bus I needed to connect to one that runs hourly. I took
a later 30 bus (again Twin Cities Transit) back to the Centralia Amtrak Station
after a 12 driver (same) pointed out the correct stop. I wanted to explore
downtown Centralia more, but my OCD insisted I walk to Fords Prairie even
though the bus there was long gone so I did a long walk. I grabbed some water
at a Safeway in the broad vicinity of Fords Prairie. I'm pretty sure I made it to that
municipality despite lack of signage, asking for help a few times.
[NOW: It appears according to Google Maps that the Safeway
is in Fords Prairie itself, but that area is thought of as Centralia by most
people.]
Returning on foot to downtown Centralia, I visited Star
Exchange and wandered downtown a bit, partly in search of an RT schedule. One
tourist info place had no schedules and told me they recently changed the
times. Anderson Books was still locked. An Amtrak dealer figured from an older
RT schedule they ran at 4 and 5.
I explored a tiny bit more, not as much as I would have
liked, then saw a 4 RT bus (Rural
Transit) arrive before the Grays Harbor bus. The driver confirmed that I could
take that bus and connect to another to Tumwater for $1 so I got on. I could
have gotten on one hour later and explored more but had to make a fast
decision. It turns out their transfer system is at timing spots, whichever bus
arrives first waits for the other, then they exchange connecting passengers. In
Tenino I switched to the 2 RT bus and took it to Tumwater Square, Tumwater. A
13 Intercity Transit bus was arriving so I took it to downtown Olympia. So in a third of the time or less I paid
$2.25 instead of $5.
I was hungry but decided to visit Heritage Park Fountain first,
as it was very nice out now. Across the street, closer to the waterfront, there
was a group protesting Trump. The group wasn't that big but numerous drivers
honked their support. My camera problems seemed to finally clear up, though it
remains to be seen if that will continue the rest of the trip. No real lost
photos today.
I got plenty of
photos before deciding to head to the McDonald's from previous days, visiting
Orca Books again en route; no cat. After dinner I returned to the fountain;
most of the protestors were gone but a few were left for a few more minutes.
One woman at the fountain was letting her kid run naked so I was careful to
keep the kid out of any fountain photos I took. I took the usual path past Capitol Lake to the Capitol,
seeing a rabbit briefly. I revisited Tivoli Fountain there before returning to
Ground Inn to type this outside.
[NOW: Orca Books has moved. Ground Inn has closed.]
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