Wednesday, August 25, 2010

West Bay in Olympia, Washington

Something went kablooey with my Live Writer and I'm doing this the old-fashioned way....Blogger.  We'll get the LW fixed as soon as we have time.

I would like to welcome new "Followers" to my blog today.  They are BW and Carol.  THANK YOU very much folks for joining my group, I appreciate it very much and hope you like visiting with me.

When we had our vacation from babysitting a few weeks ago we took a little trip over to West Bay in Olympia.  It is an area that has undergone (and still is) a little renovation.  We drove into the downtown area of Olympia from our Tumwater location and turned left onto 4th Avenue.  We crossed over a new bridge that was built after the earthquake we had on February 28, 2001.  That was a real shaker and it ruined the old historic bridge.




We had no specific plan for being here on this day, we were just out enjoying a beautiful and sunny day by the water.  There is a very busy marina here, naturally called West Bay Marina.



There is a wide variety of watercraft here, including some great looking houseboats.



Many logs are floating in West Bay waiting to be shipped someplace.  This is a working marina as well as a pleasure boat marina.  You can also rent kayaks here at dockside.




There is also a great restaurant here called Tugboat Annie's.  We have eaten some great seafood there.  They have a flagpole here.  Our United States flag and flags for both Washington State and neighboring Canada fly proudly.



As we drove away from the actual marina we stopped to take a photo from above.  It really is a beautiful location.



Heading back toward town we spotted a new park that was part of the recent urban renewal projects along West Bay Drive.  We pulled in to enjoy the view from this location.  It is just a small park with a few parking spots, some tables and benches and a nice place for launching a kayak.  There are two large dock cranes across the bay.  You can also look toward the south end of the bay and see boat houses, which are plentiful in the various marinas in Washington.





We saw a family getting their kayaks ready for a trip around the West Bay.




Looking across the bay you can see more of the logs that have been trucked in for shipment.  The scene beyond the logging area is East Bay.


Our final look toward the north end of West Bay shows us the way to sail toward the greater Puget Sound and out to Seattle and beyond.....if we were to have a boat, that is.  We don't because we prefer to do our traveling by the wheels of a motorhome! 



It was a nice day just looking around this renewed area.  There is always something interesting and beautiful to discover here in the greater Olympia area.  I hope you enjoyed this short tour of the West Bay Marina. 

Until next time.....so long for now!

12 comments:

Dennis and Donna said...

West Bay looks like a great spot to relax and spend the day...AND get some fabulous seafood!!! You both deserved a break...

Carol K said...

Yes, I did enjoy the tour of West Bay Marina. It looks like a fun area to visit. I like marinas because I like to look at the boats. If I didn't enjoy RVing so much, I might be seriously interested in boating. But RVs can go so many more places!

Gypsy said...

Very pretty. It's a wonder the logs don't get in the way of the boats, or vice versa.

Anonymous said...

Margie and Bruce thank you for becoming Followers of our blog also. Hope our paths will cross some day while traveling.
We are 2 days into the defrost and the sheets in the freezer are working great. All the frost is attached to the sheets and not the wall of the freezer. So far, so good.

Al Bossence said...

The name, Tugboat Annie, brings back memories of a long ago half hour TV comedy in the late 50's or early 60's. Tugboat Annie was played by actress Minera Erkle I think. Her nemesis on the show was another tugboat captain by the name of Bullwinkle. I don't expect many, if any, people will ever remember this series.

Kathy said...

I did enjoy this little tour of the area. The kayaks gave me "kayaking fever!" Glad you had a good day and hope you get your LW fixed although this post looks very nice! K

Rick said...

I always enjoy seeing pictures of boats in the harbors and to see all of the other activities going on as well. Great pics and thanks for the tour!

Chuck and Anneke's RV travels said...

Looks like a great area. Wasn't tug boat Annie a TV show way back when?

Merri and Steve said...

Thanks for sharing! There's many days I miss my home state.

An English Shepherd said...

Looks like a lovely place to go sailing :-)

Wizz

ThE MidLiFe CrUiSeR said...

Oh wow! That's a beautiful area. Thanks for the tour. I love water and will keep this on the list of places to visit :)

KarenInTheWoods said...

Nice post today Margie. I like the sights and smells of a marina too. But not enough to want to live on a boat, I would rather live in an RV instead, thank you. But colorful interesting pics ... thanks!

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