Olympia

The capital of Washington State is a small city on the Puget Sound with backdrop views of the Olympic National Park mountains. This town is filled with coffee shops, bakeries, and scenic water views! It is about 1-2 hours away from Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks, which made it a great location to work as a traveling hand therapist.

What To Do

Stroll along the Heritage Park Trail to Percival Landing

The views were amazing along the Heritage Park Trail from the Capitol building to the water. The state Capitol building finished being built in 1928. It is a beautiful structure and reminds me of the buildings in Washington D.C.

From the Heritage Park Trail, we continued to walk to Percival Landing. Sam Percival was the first in the town to make a commercial-sized wharf in the mid 1800s. The wharf is now a boardwalk along the water, known as Percival Landing. The observation tower here is a very touristy thing to do!

Shopping

The downtown historic area of Olympia made for a really great and diverse shopping experience. We loved the local art studio, called Splash Gallery, which has a variety of artists’ works. We purchased some greeting cards and small paintings to support locally. We also shopped at Compass Rose on multiple occasions. It is a cute boutique-like store with their sections organized by color (my favorite!). There was also an urban plant store called Underhill Plants. Other pit stops were Bittersweet Chocolates and Burial Grounds for Coffee.

Olympia Farmers Market

This good-sized farmers market is close to all things downtown. It started in 1975 and is still going on every Saturday!

Dancing Goats Coffee Tasting Room

As this area is known for its coffee, we went to the most well-known roastery in the area, Batdorf and Bronson, also known as Dancing Goats. It was established in 1986 and is working on rebranding to be known solely as “Dancing Goats.” At their roastery, they have tasting room hours Wednesday-Sunday. When ordering coffee at a Dancing Goats location, I recommend trying the “hip” drink of choice: lavender latte with oat milk. Or my new favorite recommended by a coworker: Americano with 4 shots of espresso, whole milk, and white chocolate flavoring (you can make these shots decaf or half caff!).

Where To Eat

Row

We went to this restaurant for brunch once, and for dinner on my birthday! Both times we had amazing meals! They have a lot of different options on their menu, but during dinner I saw them bring out a delicious-looking burger and french fries and decided on that… It was the best burger I’ve ever had! We all ordered something different and everyone was more than pleased with their food choices. They have really good drinks as well. It is at a great location next to Percival Landing in a modern building and is very well-decorated.

Wagner’s Bakery

This bakery was founded by Rudy Wager in 1957. Wagner’s Bakery was a highlight for me as I love to bake! I recommend ordering the world-famous cinnamon bread to-go and getting the sticky bun to eat at the nearby park on the water. You won’t be upset about it.