Olympia

Olympia sits at the very southern tip of Puget Sound, where the long inland sea finally pinches out into tidal inlets at the foot of the mountains. Named for the Olympic Mountains visible to the northwest, it grew at the head of navigation on the Sound and became the territorial capital in 1853, keeping the role at statehood in 1889. Its domed capitol overlooks Capitol Lake and the water.

The setting is classic Pacific Northwest — saltwater inlets, evergreen forest, and frequent rain, with the Olympic Mountains rising across the Sound and Mount Rainier looming to the east. Olympia is a government town, smaller than the Seattle–Tacoma metro to its north but sharing the same maritime, forested character at the Sound's southern end.

• Washington
  The Evergreen State, the wet and dry sides of the Cascades located in
• Seattle
  A Pacific Northwest city between sound and lake same state