labor day 2010: olympia

The last leg of our weekend excursion involved a quick visit to Olympia, the state capital. J and I wanted to see the Capitol Building, and we knew that Sam would like to visit the Children's Museum there. And to be honest, those two places seemed like were the main attractions of the small city. It was too cold to visit any parks, so our trip was fairly short (which was fine, since we were on our way home).

Here are some pictures from the museum:

Sam with Current Obsession #1: Dinosaurs.
(On a side note, I can't believe how much I have learned about dinosaurs (especially dinosaur identification) since Sam began this dinosaur phase. Did you know that the Brachiosaurus has nasal openings on top of its head, high above its eyes? I've also learned that "saur" or "saurus" does not have to appear at the end of the dinosaur title, but "saur" can appear in the middle of the word, as is the case with ParaSAURolophus.

Sam with Obsession #2: Sea Animals.
(Especially sharks that like to munch on the legs of unsuspecting moms.)

And here we are: the Washington State Capitol. There were really interesting column capitals around the drum of the dome, with a large flower was placed in the center of each capital (see below). I wonder if they could have more symbolism or significance beyond the idea of beauty, but this government website seems to attribute all the other flowers in the building to signify simply "beauty". Harrumph. I wish there was a more interesting response. It would be cool if the flowers were specific to Washington or the Northwest, but they seem a little generic to me.

And, that was our fun little trip. I think we'll visit Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens next year, but I don't know if we'll make another trip to Olympia. We'll see. Sam loved the museum and has wanted to talk about it every day since we came home, so who knows? Maybe we'll come here again, too.