Leaving the Columbia River behind us we traveled further north to the small town of Chehalis, Washington for a four night stay.  

The highlight of our stay here was driving to Olympia, the capital of Washington.  In keeping with tradition we took a guided tour of the state capitol building. We had a great tour guide who led us through the capitol completed in 1928.  

It has one of the tallest masonry domes in the world and one of the world’s largest collection of Tiffany chandeliers. 

This is the state seal on the floor in the capitol building. 

The front entrance has these high ceilings. 

Missing were the murals and paintings found in most state capitol buildings.  The guide told us that since so much money was spent on building the capitol there was no money left for murals and paintings. Over the years money was set aside each year for future paintings and murals but now that they have the money, the legislators cannot agree on what the paintings and murals should depict.  So the walls remain bare. The guide pointed out several places where murals would look nice, but nothing so far. Sad when government leaders cannot agree on something which seems so simple. 

The House side: 

The Senate side: 

We saw a nice picture of Mount Ranier, we could not see the mountain from our campground directly. 

Outside is a replica of the Washington State Monument in the medal of honor grove located at Valley Forge PA. 

Currently we are in Bothell, WA. Our next blog posting will be a surprise. Can’t wait to share it with you!