Anything I should know about Olympia? (Tacoma, SeaTac: real estate, neighborhoods, calculated)

[Metlakatla]

I am moving to Olympia in Dec. Native Oregonian/Alaskan; self-employed in Alaska and this move gives me better access to SeaTac, although I am planning on becoming semi-retired so won't be traveling so often. Will be living near Grass Lake Park and maybe taking my American Eskimo to McClaine Dog Park unless it turns out to be a bad place. Can anyone tell me anything about that dog park or recommend another one? Let's not indulge in dog park debates here, thank you in advance.

[Diana Holbrook]

I spent much of last year going through that area a couple times a week taking a friend to and from her Cancer treatment appointments in the medical complex area.

I looked up the dog park and it must be very new, the google earth image of it is still undeveloped land. Hopefully too new to be spoiled!

I don't remember seeing any homeless encampments or anything like that in the area, but I don't know where all of them are, and it's not hard for them to hide... for a while.

I did sit and have breakfast or lunch at the Shipwreck Cafe many times while waiting for her, and I do highly recommend that, just a ways down Mud Bay Road toward the tide flats.

[Diana Holbrook]

As an aside, if you travel frequently you probably already have a plan, but for anyone going to/from SeaTac, I do highly recommend Capital Aeroporter for rides to/from the Olympia area. Door to door. Nice.

[Metlakatla]

Thanks, I will check out Capital Aeroporter. I haven't really looked into it that much because I won't be going anywhere until spring. Definitely will visit the Shipwreck Cafe.

It looks like McLane Dog Park is a little over five acres and is pretty new.

[rantiquity]

It's Washington state capitol and the money grabber of Great North West.

[E Roy Slade]

ill assume its a disgusting city-the state sucks now

[SusVelo]

Originally Posted by E Roy Slade

ill assume its a disgusting city-the state sucks now

You live there, why would you need to assume, just put your experience living there now.

[jabogitlu]

Olympia is lovely and relatively bustling for its size and location. There's good and bad in every town, city, village, country. But the plusses of Olympia far outweigh the negatives. The beautiful scenery with the lake, the historic neighborhoods with bungalows, very nice town to spend some time in.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Portland here. When I think about moving north one thing bothers me. I'd need to live on high ground. I also lived in Alaska for 3 years back in the 80's

Moderator cut: see note

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Wile E. Coyote

Portland here. When I think about moving north one thing bothers me. I'd need to live on high ground. I also lived in Alaska for 3 years back in the 80's

That's quite a catastrophic and fatalistic POV considering the most extreme case - a 500-1000 year eruption. I look at more as a spectrum of risk. And let's face it, we all accept some level of risk from natural disasters even here within the greater Portland metro area.

There's a big difference between living in the foothill towns in the volcanic path to all the way out in Olympia. Look at the the last big eruption of Mt. St. Helens as a real world example and the actual deaths as a result. Most were given fair warning and some chose to remain to their own peril. Look also at the Hawaiian Islands with active volcanos. They are more realistic in assessing risk and then making calculated risk decisions in terms of where to live or not. We actually experienced a major eruption on the Big Island that wiped out entire communities. But they were also in the highest risk lava flow zones. They likely also got a better deal on real estate 'building right on' a prior lava field.

Notice the Mt. Rainier heat map from USGS with varying degrees of intensity and very specific paths. Its doesn't cover an entire city like Olympia or Tacoma uniformly. Rather, its more targeted like a flood zone is within a specific city.




-- Volcanic Hazards at Mount Rainier


Derek