Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Olympia, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Olympia and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Olympia
- Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Olympia:
- 47.038982, -122.900821
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Olympia
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Thurston County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Thurston County
- Since Olympia is near Mason County and also Pierce County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Mason County
- eBird sighting report for Pierce County
- Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Olympia ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Olympia.
There is one other community in Washington which is also named Olympia.
Beyond Washington, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Washington ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- South Carolina
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Olympia ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
- Bush
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south) - Delphi
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Gravelly Beach
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gravelly Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravelly Beach
- Gravelly Beach is located in Thurston County
- Lacey
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacey
- Lacey is located in Thurston County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 54,178 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lacey <5>
- Marshville ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marshville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshville
- Marshville is located in Thurston County
- Mushroom Corner
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mushroom Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mushroom Corner
- Mushroom Corner is located in Thurston County
- Sunrise Beach
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunrise Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Beach
- Sunrise Beach is located in Thurston County
- Sunset Beach
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Beach
- Sunset Beach is located in Thurston County
- Tumwater
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tumwater
- Tumwater is located in Thurston County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 24,272 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tumwater <5>
- Union Mill
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Mill
- Union Mill is located in Thurston County
How Far From Olympia to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Olympia to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Olympia and extending to:
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,348 miles [3,778.7 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Olympia to White House, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take 5 days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 134 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 92 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,819 miles [10,974.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,580 miles [12,198.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,707 miles [9,184.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Olympia: www.ci.olympia.wa.us/
The official website for Thurston County: www.co.thurston.wa.us/
The official website for State of Washington: https://access.wa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Olympia could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Olympia) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Olympia. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.0390, Longitude: -122.9008 |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Olympia, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day. |
| <7> | The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Olympia to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.318 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.917 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.173 degrees. |