The primary business of state capitals such as Olympia, Washington, is governing: drafting and passing bills (or not), floating budgets, gladhanding and strong-arming—so much to do. As a result, when the legislative season is in full swing, Olympia buzzes like a beehive.
But when I was there at the end of summer, all of those state senators, representatives, lobbyists, the governor and their staffers had left town, leaving the capitol building and its domed rotunda as quiet as a marble mausoleum.
