So i just recently got a transfer from up here in alaska to olympia so i will be driving down on easter weekend and looking for a place to rent (hoping for a shop but 2 car minimum).

sold my wheeler up here and plan on building another, already have axles.

anyone local have any tips from places to eat, good areas to live, places to avoid etc? also good junk yards, pick n pulls, gun stores, you know all the essentials...

 

AK to Oly? gonna be a culture shock for you. If you want to see real live super hippies in person, Olympia is the place! Let's just say there are some strange folks there...

that being said, downtown area has tons of good restaurants. as for gun shops, don't know of any great ones there but less than an hour's drive there is plenty in Tacoma, puyallup, yelm, etc...

the Marksman is one of the best in the area; located on HI 512 and Canyon road, they also have a small satilite store in Yelm. Also, you are near Cabelas (exit 111 on I-5), wholesale sports (also exit 111) and don't forget to hit up Sportco in Fife(exit 136).

Bullseye in tacoma, marksman have nice indoor ranges. Paul bunyon gun club, (1000m range) and tacoma sportsman club are decent...

Fort Lewis (JBLM) has the nicest trap/skeet facilities in the entire NW if you can get onto post.

and don't forget, Lacey and Oly are intermixed, one giant sprawl. tons of stuff in Lacey.

 

I think that Eugene, OR has that title.

If you enjoy Beer, the NW is the place to be.

 

^yup, NW is king of microbrews... we might even beat Germany for selection of brews.

I haven't been to Eugene for quite a while but I'll bet it's up there for strange and wonderous critters, hahaha. There's the original Rogue brewery there right?

there's like 5 or 6 rogue breweries besides that one, closest one to me is in Issiquah below Tiger mountain, about an hour from Oly.

Oh, and Oly is famed to have the best tasting oyesters in the entire world, check out Tolmie state park (also exit 111 off I-5), good oyester bed there if you like to hunt your own. Oly seafood market down by percival landing (downtown) has excellent fresh seafood. There's a nice wine shop next to it also, we hit those up pretty regular for some good eats and booze.

 

The main Rogue Brewery is in Newport, one of my favorite places to go. Best in the winter when it slows down and they have their full menu.

 

ahh, nice... can't remember what the brewery was I went to in Eugene... oh well...

 

it wasn't a Brewery, it was a Plaid Pantry

 

There's several breweries in Eugene. Steelhead was the awesome one last I lived there. Also, Eugene may be left, but P-Town has it beat for sheer liberal wackiness.

No idea about Olympia, sorry.

 

Wow that is a lot of good info. And rest assured I know what I am getting into, my wife was a duck and I went to visit her often so I have seen the super hippie. I do t plan on living downtown oly. I want some land and a shop if I can find it.

I already knew about cabelas and am super excited about harbor freight! We don't have those up here and everything is super expensive. Pick and pulls ate also illegal in Alaska do we don't have those either.

I am going to have to check out that 1000m range, I have always wanted to get practiced up above 500 yards.

Thanks for the help guys and keep the tips coming.

 

agh! hahahhaha!


I should mention it is actually a 600m range normally, but they do hold 1000yd matches there (I know, meters, yards, whatever) but to get that distance, they fire over the roadway into the gunclub so ya gotta get there on time for there long range matches. (or low crawl, hahaha)
There's plenty of places within 2 hours out towards mt rainier to blast all you want at almost any distance in the national forest.

 

i am really excited for the forest road exploring available around there, i have already been looking for a pre 85 truck i can DD when i get there and let the wife cart the babys around in the dually.

let me know if anyone sees any good houses for rent in the 1000-1500 range within a good distance from south west oly and have a shop or garage and RV parking.

I am willing to pay a finders fee in beer for a house with a shop i can afford to rent....hahaha

also if anyone sees any good deals on pre85 trucks or runners for under 3000 that are street drivable.

i should be in the area monday april 9th, truck is already almost packed.

 

capitol forest is also close by to oly, good place to mt bike or ATV.

Don't forget to get fishing and hunting license, you can get 2012-13 licenses starting april 1st.

Salmon, fresh/saltwater, crab, shellfish package is about $60, elk/deer/bear/cougar/small game is about $100

Nisqually river chinook (kings) start running end of August thru October, Cowlitz river has some spring chinook and some steelhead right now.

 

i am already on that. i have to get recedency first though. also need to get my concealed permit back. up here you dont need one.

i think it is ironic alaska is cheaper to hunt than any other state even though we have the most huntng.

I cant wait for some pheasant hunting though! i miss that!

if i cant get out by hunting season maybe i can trade some caribou for some elk with someone! i have about 50 pounds of kings and halibut i am bringing with me too.

 

Eugene has dairy marts not plaid pantry's!

It may be a little bit of a drive but browns camp will be within range for a nice trip!

 

well i am all loaded and ready to go tomorrow:


23k with 140 gallons of fuel! damn i got alot of stuff!

 

lived in Lacey for the last 23 years of my life

I'm sure you'll find something decent to rent in that price range on the outskirts of town maybe east Olympia, rich rd.. or SE Lacey Rainier rd or Mullen/meridian/yelm hwy...

plenty of places to go shoot up in Capitol Forest which is west of Olympia, you don't gotta drive all the way to the cascades to find forest roads mud and places to shoot.

Cabellas is where I buy my ammo, sports warehouse is overpriced and crap selection. Sunbirds in Yelm sometimes has good prices.

lots of great dining in Olympia and a few decent bars but you better get used to the neclectic mix of people that call downtown their home.

 

x2 on Sundbird, love 'em. there's the original store in Centralia and one in Yelm. Awesome store. Cabela's is for sure the rockin' place for ammo around here... although the wholesale sports in anchorage, AK is pretty freakin' amazing, ours is not as good. They do have more reloading stuff than cabela's though.

If you want to unload any of your king salmon into my smoker, let me know, hahaa.

We don't have many 90lb-er kings down here but most run 15-20 so not too bad. some of the natives will easily hit 30 lbs but can't keep those...

pheasant is expensive here, $90 for every other day or 180 for every day, ouch. Chukars are the big rage here, but I grew up grouse hunting; tons and tons of grouse to be had.

 

Thats a hell of a load!

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I actually unloaded all my halibut and salmon with my mom here in spokane, she is on a diet and was shocked that I had 60 lbs of fish and asked if she could have some but I kept the caribou.

The trip was good I will have to upload some pics. The truck sounds heavy but I weighted it axle by axle and it was right under load limit for the axles onthe trailer and we only had one tire blowout so I think we did pretty well. I was very impressed with the duramax and Allison going up and down the hills, even averaged 11 mpg still! Hope to be in the oly area Monday night.

 

Drive safe mate! Welcome to Washington!