Leaving Astoria we crossed the bridge into Washington state and headed for Cape Disappointment. Seriously! The mouth of the Columbia river’s other bank (opposite Astoria) was so christened in 1788 by English sea captain, John Meares, as he mistook this large expanse of water for a bay rather than a river entrance. 

All of a sudden we were into a heavily wooded tranquil area. It was sparse on people and traffic. Strolling to the beach we chatted with leisure fishermen who, with their permits, were hoping to catch some salmon, steelheads (trout) and other rock fish. Fishing has long been a mystery sport/attraction to me and being sat in cool overcast conditions on a rock was still unattractive but the seals bobbing up and down in the sea did make the prospect of several hours hoping and praying for a bite less miserable. We drove on.

Our arrival at a hotel in the early afternoon was timely to watch England vs Argentina play their Semi Final in the World Cup. Suffice to say England simply returned the football to the Argentinian team for around 40 minutes until they scored two goals. It was a holiday low, however, as always there was something ahead to look forward to.

Olympia is the state capital of Washington. Washington became the 42nd state in the Union in 1889, which seems just like yesterday to us Brits! It had previous existed as a ‘territory’ of Oregon. We had a brief tour of the capitol legislative building. Despite the grand exterior you’re left with a fairly gloomy impression inside due to all the grey and white marble they hewed in Alaska and then clad virtually any wall including the toilets. Tiffany & Co (the Audrey Hepburn one) provided all the light fittings (400!) of from chunky lights on the stairways to the chandeliers including one that weighs over 4.5 tonnes. The Tiffany sales rep will have made a remarkable commission on selling all that.

The building was completed in 1926. The population of the state now is less than 9 million and just under 4 million of the population live in the greater Seattle area. Given the Left leaning nature of large cities then the Right leaning farmers in the east of the state will, probably, never hold sway in terms of politically running the state ever again. One guide said the farmers in the east of the state were agitating to break away from Washington and form their own state!

Downtown had a relaxed ambience and that’s helped by cannabis outlets. Recreational sale is now legal in 24 US states and so possibly only of note to a Brit rather than your average American. A quick Google says there are problems with this liberalisation eg. wider health issues, car accidents (whilst under the influence) and the high tax attached to it still encourages an illegal market. A positive is the need to enforce the previous prohibition laws have stopped and education programmes have reduced. This was a considerable cost and, no doubt, enforcement was a losing project that increasingly looked hopeless. Sadly, I’m still not comfortable with this legalisation but nothing is more useless than an unenforceable law. 

Whilst strolling through the Downtown, Anna pointed out, rather helpfully, a record store. She has no interest and will hover outside the establishment waiting for me to emerge. On my holidays finding some vinyl or CDs is always a great activity: this trip has been no exception with a few investments at various places. I’m always interested in a few specific albums or a genre when I enter a store. At this second hand store I strolled in and unbelievably found something I was looking for, not a popular or recent release, as the third record I flicked through. 

Another pursuit throughout our time here has been a quality coffee shop. Olympia didn’t disappoint. However, I do like to imbibe in peace. I admit to being grumpy and old but maybe having a little British reserve is also true. Not for the first time on this trip I listened, involuntarily, to a woman blathering on to an unwitting friend about her life and upcoming foreign trip. Her loud volume revealed no sensitivity to the rest of the cafe or, frankly, how dreary she was. In this situation one person always does the talking seldom stopping to breathe before their next stream of consciousness is delivered. Opposite this vacuous oracle sat their captive listener, unsurprisingly, starting to slump into a stupor. Eventually, as there must be a God, they both stood to go and her immortal words of ‘we must meet up on my return for a debrief’ must have struck terror into her companion, it did me. I felt like putting a consoling arm around her with the advice to enjoy her absence or maybe, even better, relocate to another town.