Millersylvania State Park, Another relaxed Week

It's been a quiet week for us. We moved on about 58 miles to another Washington State Park, Millersylvania, which is eleven miles south of Olympia.

Since we have visited the Seattle and Olympia areas in the past, and since the weather continues to be quite hot during the daytime, we did not feel particularly inclined to go to the cities or do much other than relax in the campground, reading and napping as the mood struck us. 

Our space was in a fairly open field area surrounded by very tall trees. I choose it by looking at Google Earth hoping to get satellite reception. But, even with the open field, there was at least one tree that blocked the signal.  Not a big deal. The soccer World Cup is over.

The trees were so tall that compared to them, the campers on the far side of the campground seem like toys.

On the first day we were here, I noticed some more blackberry bushes heavy with ripe fruit. I picked some more, and now have a full freezer!

We did do one "touristy" thing this week: we went into Olympia to visit the state capitol building. We have been to many state capitols and enjoy the grandeur and history. A free tour is aways appreciated! The volunteer guides seem to love giving the tours.

Looking Up

We were able to get a better view of the chandelier in the picture above from one of the upper level balconies.

One interesting fact I learned is that the funds to build and maintain the capitol building are derived from lumber sales off public land dedicated to that purpose.

Renewable resources!











After freezing lots of blackberries on our first day, I kept thinking about all the ones that were still out there.

So, on Wednesday, I picked more and made a blackberry pie. We ate it warm with Tillamook vanilla ice cream. Yum!

The weather report for Thursday was for considerably lower temperatures, so we planned on getting out for a walk early in the day.

There is a wonderful network of trails in and around the park where we enjoyed the towering trees overhead.

And, some cozy tunnels through the green. I'm not sure why, but there were no mosquitos. I aways carry a couple of bug wipes, but we didn't need them. Although the forest was green, the state has experienced drought conditions for the last couple of years.

The trip took us to "Deep Lake". On the opposite shore were some pretty nicely landscaped homes.

The fishermen in the boat above were the only ones we saw on the lake that day, but is was a weekday not a weekend.

Speaking of drought, on Saturday it rained quite hard several times in the afternoon, but it cleared in late afternoon and all the campers and kids came back out. The rain cleared the air and dropped the temperature quite a bit.

Rainbow at the end of the day.

On Monday we drove another 70 miles North, but that is for the next post.  

Life can't be much better!