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I think I could get inline with Olympia. Looks awesome
As long as you like this for nine months or so:
All sizes | the bus depot | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/poet8/4094867544/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
All sizes | West Oly skyline in the winter | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pugetsound98502/95620462/sizes/z/in/photostream/ - broken link)
In no order: Atlanta, Boston, Phoenix, Sacramento, Denver, Indianapolis, St. Paul, Columbus, Nashville, and Salt Lake City.
I prefer larger capitols, they have more character than just being the state capitol compared to a place like Springfield, Illinois.
Agreed.
Heck Indianapolis just hosted Super Bowl 46 and will be the FIRST northern city to host more than 1 super bowl in the same stadium. Already talk for another bid in 2018 or 2020.
2nd as the media said Indy is America's sports capital. the Indy 500 every year alone draws in 400,000 people and no other city in America can do that as well as Indy.
Very surprised the 2nd largest state capital gets very little mention.
Maybe people just haven't visited Indianapolis or something. Idk
My order would be Indianapolis>Atlanta>Columbia SC>Charleston WV>Lexington Kentucky.
Agreed.
Heck Indianapolis just hosted Super Bowl 46 and will be the FIRST northern city to host more than 1 super bowl in the same stadium. Already talk for another bid in 2018 or 2020.
2nd as the media said Indy is America's sports capital. the Indy 500 every year alone draws in 400,000 people and no other city in America can do that as well as Indy.
Very surprised the 2nd largest state capital gets very little mention.
Maybe people just haven't visited Indianapolis or something. Idk
My order would be Indianapolis>Atlanta>Columbia SC>Charleston WV>Lexington Kentucky.
What? Boston, Austin, Atlanta, Sacramento, St. Paul, Columbus metros are all larger than Indy. Might be more too.
I've visited Indy and found it perfectly fine, but nothing really notable about it, especially compared to some other state capitals. That's just visiting though...Major props for a successful super bowl and I'd agree there is an argument for being the 'sports capital', whatever that means.
What? Boston, Austin, Atlanta, Sacramento, St. Paul, Columbus metros are all larger than Indy. Might be more too.
I've visited Indy and found it perfectly fine, but nothing really notable about it, especially compared to some other state capitals. That's just visiting though...Major props for a successful super bowl and I'd agree there is an argument for being the 'sports capital', whatever that means.
Indy is better than many if not all other Major US cities at hosting Large Events.
Tell me another city that can host an Indy 500 every year with 400,000 people coming as well as Indy?
As you said Super Bowl 46 went well and im glad it did too brings pride to my hometown. Plus being the First Northern city to be on the Super Bowl host rotation is nice.
Plus i see the Pan American games coming again and maybe even someday an olympics.
I'll give you that Olympia WA has some charm, but you have to drive a ways to get to those natural spots, since it lies at sea level. Certainly better than Salem OR. However, if you ever pull off I-5 and go downtown to get a bite to eat in the evening, you will be surrounded by granolas, hipsters and/or Evergreen State College students (the and/or is for any combo of these 3, obviously). I don't think Olympia is for conventional people.
That's not Olympia. Incredible natural areas are within walking distance of downtown. The boardwalk downtown along the bay, Capitol Lake, Tumwater Falls. The Black Hills start on the city's western edge. The Black Hills and Capitol Forest is loaded with mountain biking trails, equestrian trails, hiking trails, ORV trails, shooting pits, camping grounds.
Just south of downtown is Watershed Park, an old growth forest with spring fed salmon streams, the old water source for Olympia. North of downtown is Olympia's flagship park, Priest Point park encompassing the point, the entire shore of Ellis Cove, and forest land.
There are four fingers of Puget Sound within 10 miles of Olympia and also the Nisqually Reach. You can paddle a kayak from downtown and visit numerous parks, coves, bays, and islands. Hope Island State Park covers an entire island.
The hipster, granola factor is only present in a few neighborhoods. Even downtown. You could have avoided them by eating at the waterfront restaurants, which cater to Olympia's large professional class that you would expect to find in a state capital city.
Olympia is very diverse. The hippy factor is a small, but vocal part of the community. Evergreen State College feeds that group. On the other side of town is St. Martin's University, which attracts a totally different student base. There is a large professional class, many suburban neighborhoods, ultra wealthy waterfront and golf course neighborhoods, retirement communities, blue collar rural, white collar rural, large military community (Ft. Lewis is in Thurston County too), etc., etc.
I don't think you have spent enough time in Olympia.
Capitol Lake (lower left) has a very popular walking, jogging trail around the entire lower bowl and along the western shore all the way to Tumwater Historical Park and Tumwater Falls at the south end of the lake:
Tumwater Falls (lower falls):
Town square (Sylvester Park) in front of the Old Capitol:
Olympia Farmer's Market (#2 behind Seattle's famous Pike Place in WA):
View of Olympics (Olympia's namesake) from downtown:
Indy is better than many if not all other Major US cities at hosting Large Events. Tell me another city that can host an Indy 500 every year with 400,000 people coming as well as Indy?
As you said Super Bowl 46 went well and im glad it did too brings pride to my hometown. Plus being the First Northern city to be on the Super Bowl host rotation is nice.
Plus i see the Pan American games coming again and maybe even someday an olympics.
Plenty of other cities can host that many people and much more, hosting the largest single-day sporting event is indeed impressive but not nearly impressive enough to say that Indy is better than all other cities at hosting large events. Plenty of other cities have hosted successful SBs, and plenty of other cities have festivals, cultural events etc. that attract more visitors than the Indy.
It's a great city for sporting events, but you can't jump from that to "it's the best ever!" It seems you're laying on the homerism a little too thick.
Like:
Lincoln, NE (my favorite although I'm biased, nice small town feel, beautiful trees and parks, nice downtown, great restaurants, fairly relaxed for a good-sized city, beautiful imposing state capitol building filled with murals and mosaics detailing the pioneer history of the state
Hartford, CT (downtown looked nice a lot of clean tall financial-style buildings)
Boston, MA - beautiful historic Northeast city, always felt safe there, tons to do
Santa Fe, NM - beautiful natural setting, beautiful Southwestern style buildings, one of the few state capitols that to me is also a big draw as a tourist destination!
Dislike:
Montgomery, AL (a lot of areas seemed unsafe, Eastchase area seemed too strip mallish)
Atlanta, GA (skyscrapers are impressive but traffic is a nightmare, drivers drive so fast there its scary, sprawl is unreal and crime is terrible - really couldn't Georgia have chosen a more bucolic setting for its state capitol?)
Indianapolis, IN - looked like it had a lot of bad areas
Topeka, KS - has a lot of crime
Jackson, MS - other than the state capitol building, Jackson gets run-down in a hurry, surrounding suburbs and the Ross Barnett Reservoir are beautiful though
Trenton, NJ - may have been nicer at one-time but run-down former industrial city
Harrisburg, PA - other than the state capitol building, not a lot of nice areas to this city
Columbia, SC - Oppressively hot in the summer, high crime, has some beautiful historic buildings, nice riverfront, and beautiful state capitol grounds, but also a lot of dangerous parts. Tensions seem high between blacks and whites there.
Salt Lake City, UT - was not very impressed, downtown area looked average, beautiful mountains in backdrop, but surrounding area looks like miles and miles of nearly identical houses with grid-patterned boulevards
Richmond, VA - while Richmond has some beautiful areas, does not feel very safe
Charleston, WV - maybe I saw it on a grey cloudy day but the city itself did not look very economically vibrant, the surrounding terrain and river was very pretty though
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