Chez Cascadia and Olympia

No thanks to Karen, our extremely untrustworthy and befuddled GPS, we made it to our hostel in Olympia, Chez Cascadia. We stopped to get gas and snag a photo of a Sasquatch themed pizza shop before getting rather mixed up around the interstates near town. At any rate, we arrived in time for check-in and were greeted by our most delightful host, Collin. With a cheerful greeting and quick tour of the hostel, we were all set for the night.

The hostel stands out upon arrival as a colorful home within a quaint neighborhood. The name of the hostel is prominently displayed on a toilet lid hanging next to the front door, below which is a microwave bearing a sign that reads "I'm a mailbox of course." The interior of the hostel is warm and welcoming, as were the inn-keepers, Collin and Hisham. There are two bedrooms in the main house, one a dorm style that could accommodate 5 people in bunk beds, and the other room a private room with a queen bed. We opted for the cheaper route and chose to share the double bed in the dorm-style room. A bathroom was situated between the rooms, painted in vibrant greens and purples to look as though the paint was oozing down the walls - very funky. A communal living room and vegetarian-only kitchen provided ample space and amenities for our two-night stay. Thankfully laundry services were available because after several days of camping and hiking, our clothes were smelling fuuuunkay! The hostel had a very Eco-conscious vibe; recycling and composting were encouraged, chickens roamed the back yard, communal food supplies were available for use (spices, canned goods, an assortment of teas, cooking oils - all of which we were greatly encouraged to use throughout our stay), a garden grew verdantly in the backyard, and rain barrels were situated to collect water for gardening. Even the dishwasher was only used as a drying rack. The hostel and it's residents made us feel quickly at home and embraced us during our stay. There was a separate dorm style room located behind the main house as well, which appeared to be occupied primarily by people contributing to the operation of the hostel by cleaning, gardening, and running the seed exchange which seemed to be a community effort encouraging community members to grow their own produce.

Collin informed us about a local food co-op a few blocks away, to which one of the residents volunteered to accompany us. It was a short walk under grey skies that gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs after our drive and get a better look at the neighborhood around the hostel. The houses were cute, many of them with a great deal of personal character and overflowing flowerbeds. Along the way, Michael shared with us his stories about life as a film-maker and actor, as well as his knowledge and thoughts about Olympia and the Northwest.

The food co-op was a pretty excellent experience. Gwen was sold on the fact that they had not one, but several varieties of essential oils, and even a kambucha starter kit. For those of you who don't know what kambucha is, it is a fermented tea that helps with the digestive system. Anyway, the food co-op was well-stocked with delicious, organic, locally grown or sourced foods that had our mouths watering. The staff were super helpful, many of them volunteers. Eastern Indian music played in the background as we procured some food for breakfast and lunch the following morning, including a delicious baguette, goat Brie, fresh eggs, and a tomato. Michael was kind enough to wait for us to show us the way back as neither of us had paid much attention to directions as we walked and talked with him on the way to the food co-op. Given that it was about 9 and we still had not showered, we decided to get cleaned up and make our way downtown for some dinner, nightlife, and a good cold beer.

Once we were showered, Collin pointed us in the direction of Fish Tale Ales, a local brew pub, for dinner and a drink. His directions were spot on, sending us straight through Olympia's small downtown on our way. Downtown Olympia is made up of a strip of many taverns and restaurants that is hustling and bustling on a weekend night. Fish Tale Ales is just off the beaten path and had a lively atmosphere and local art displayed on the walls. We shared an amazing meal of coconut encrusted red snapper and a pitcher of amazing clams! We thought it might have been too much for us, but our appetites were up to the task and we gorged ourselves on the delicious fare. The beers were a tasty reward as well after the days travel. We finished our evening downtown with a post dinner saunter, noting coffee shops and other spots we might like to check out on the following day. Gwen was really digging one restaurant that was packed, called King Soloman's Reef. We didn't stop in as we were full from our dinner, but it definitely looked like a good time. Much like the downtown scene back home, the streets and bars were populated with young folks looking for a drink or causing some kind of rowdiness in the streets. We found it hard to fit in amongst the bar scene tattooed nightlife of downtown Olympia.

Back at Chez Cascadia, Collin was still up and happy to hear that we had enjoyed his recommendation. Tired from the day, we hit the sack. What we had hoped would be a great nights sleep turned into a nightmare. Our roommate had perfected his art of snoring. It was terrible. Neither of us could get to sleep. We attempted to drown out the cacophony with wads of toilet paper in our ears, though this did little to lessen the brutality of our slumbering neighbor. Somehow a few short naps were managed during the night. Anderson had a strange dream that his mom had tooth surgery and couldn't talk right, so she kept making this strange mumbled sound over and over whenever Anderson would talk to her. Anderson awoke from the dream only to realize that the strange noise was actually the evolution of the snoring going on in the bed next to him. Gwen awoke before 6:00 (if you know Gwen, then you know this is totally out of the ordinary) and hung out with her buddy Colin, catching up on his life's adventures. In their conversation, she disclosed to him that Michael SNORED! Collin seemed very aware of this, and Gwen got the feeling that Michael was aware of this too. When Michael joined the conversation with Gwen and Collin in the kitchen at about 8:30, animatedly sharing his most recent music film festival invitation in New York, Gwen saw an opportunity for a quiet nap. While Gwen caught a couple hours of much needed rest, Anderson began experimenting with the blog! Updating pictures has been particularly difficult as you may be able to tell (note: please refer to the picture album for pics of the trip, though they are unorganized we hope you are able to identify our words in these snapshots).

Slightly better rested and eager to explore, we set out for the city. We were given some suggestions of things to do in the area by the innkeepers and residents, but mostly decided to follow our noses. We began driving and decided to head towards the capital. Being that it was a Sunday, tours of the capital were unavailable but we were able to explore the building, which was beautifully built in marble and decorated with a gigantic chandelier and fire pots from Tiffany's. The state flower of Washington, the rhododendron, decorated the capital lawn in bright bold colors. On the upper levels of the capital building, we found a photography exhibit documenting the effects of homelessness for children and families across the state of Washington and the nation. It was a very moving exhibit, with poignant images and stories captured in black and white. We found it particularly encouraging that such a serious and devastating issue was being put on display in such a prominent location where senators and delegates would be confronted with it frequently. As we explored the building, a high school choir group from Bellingham, WA assembled in the main corridor under the rotunda. Their voices filled the building, showing off the acoustic qualities of the space. A particularly interesting effect was achieved when the choir assembled around the four balconies of the second floor, arranged by pitch, and sang together. Their voices were beautiful and we both felt fortunate that we were able to share in the experience of the choir.

Our next stop was at the farmer's market. Forest Hill may have the best farmer's market in Richmond, but it is nothing compared to the farmer's market in Olympia (and probably a lot of the rest of the northwest). The farmer's market here was full of amazing greens and produce, scented bath goods, bakery items, plants for the garden, and other handcrafted goods. To make things even better, it was all totally covered by a really beautiful permanent structure, which was obviously a great idea given the consistency of the rainy weather in the state. We picked up a quick gift for Amanda (a friend who we will be staying with in Portland) and then checked out the boardwalk at the harbor. It was a pleasant enough place to check out and we dug the barnacles, oysters, and clams that had congregated on the mooring pillars. We figured they probably would not be too good for eating given the amount of boat traffic in and out of the harbor.

We then made an attempt to find the visitor's center that we had seen a sign for in town. Our search led us all over the vicinity, but not to any visitor center. We headed out of town toward Lacey, discovering a behavioral health center that we thought might have some job openings. With it being Sunday, we couldn't do much with that, and so we headed back to "downtown" to find a coffee shop and hang out for a bit. We had a hard time finding a coffee shop, which was surprising given that we have seen tons of them everywhere out here! We finally found a spot called Burial Grounds. The morbid name intrigued us and the vibe inside was definitely somewhat in keeping with the name. The was a kind of dark theme to the restaurant, and the bathroom was decorated with hand drawings of various kitsch sayings and pictures related to death or burial grounds and coffee. Anderson asked the barista about what folks do for fun in town, and the barista replied that mostly drink. This was not too encouraging. We sat outside and enjoyed our coffee and chai, talking over job potentials and thoughts about Olympia. Our verdict was that while Olympia had it's good points, we were not overly impressed with it and figured it was not substantially different enough from Richmond to be worth considering a move. We had the interesting pleasure of meeting one gentleman who was a professional viola player and had played with Arlo Guthrie in Richmond and a proclaimed singer/songwriter who sang us a little ditty and spout out a slew of facts about Mt. St. Helens (a cubic mile of debris blew out of the mountain). The affect and general demeanor of this fellow led us to believe that he was certifiably diagnosable.

We then decided to visit a bookstore that we had passed earlier. On our walk to the bookstore, we passed a parking lot with a pipe coming out of the ground and water flowing from it. A young dad and his little girl were filling up several gallon jugs with the water. Perplexed, we stopped to inquire about what they were up to. The father informed us that it was an artesian well, which we later learned simply means that it is a self-propelled well that does not need a pump to continue to supply water. Apparently the well has supplied many local businesses with water for years and maintains a steady flow that this fellow proclaimed to be "the best water in the state; it's been tested." He went on to tell us that he and his family only use this water to drink and cook with because "he's kind of picky," noting that they have to come and refill their water about once every few weeks. We got a total kick out of this and headed for the bookshop, making a note to return to fill our water sources here.

The bookstore turned out to be quite cool, and we enjoyed the time out of the rain by looking through new and used books and finding a few freebies to take with us. From here we headed back to the hostel to take a walk over to the food co-op and also to check out the nature trail that Collin had told us about the previous day. During our quick stop-in at the hostel, Collin informed Gwen that he would be moving us to the private room for the night so that we could get some better sleep, with no additional fee! This was a welcome relief after the rough sleep that we had the night before. We headed out for our walk feeling extremely grateful for Collin's amazing hospitality. Despite the rain, we enjoyed a walk through the nature trail, viewing more ferns and moss along the way before its terminus at a riverside park with plenty of open green space. At the food co-op we picked out foods to make dinner using a great simmer sauce, mushrooms, red pepper, onion, and bulk couscous. We figured our bill would be huge, but we got everything we needed for under $15. Back at the hostel, Gwen cooked (she is a total rock star, especially in the kitchen) while Anderson set to the task of writing blog updates and posting photos. It's a grueling process, this trip haha! Dinner was amazing, and we still had food left over. Dinner therefore came out to roughly $5/person. Not bad for shopping at the local food co-op. Healthy and cheap, can't beat that. We finished up some blogging before bed, relishing in the fact that outside of our room we could already hear Michael snoring away like a log, but inside the room, peaceful quiet.

The next morning we enjoyed delicious egg sandwiches for breakfast and washed our laundry. This provided us with some relaxing time to drink tea, upload photos, and write blog entries. Look at how hard we work at keeping you all informed and up to date! It is a lot of work this blogging thing! You don't know it, but a good deal of this post was actually written laying in a tent in the rain at the foot of Mt. St. Helens! That's right, we risk volcanoes to bring you all the juicy details of our trip. Hopefully you are enjoying them and not just getting totally bored. It has been a fun process for us to share our stories and experiences with you all back home, and a fun way for us to capture some of the memories that we are making while traveling. As I mentioned, this post was written at Mt. St. Helens, so you know where we are heading next . . .