The tour starts at the state capital, and the Capitol Christmas Tree will move up U.S. Highway 101 to Quilcene for a stopover this afternoon.
The tree, on a tractor-trailer, is expected to arrive in Quilcene at 3:15 p.m. for an hour-long visit.
It will be escorted by the Brinnon Fire Department to the Quilcene Community Center, 294952 U.S. Highway 101.
Speeches are expected by Pat Rodgers, Jefferson County commissioner, and Dean Yoshina, Hood Canal District ranger for Olympic National Forest.
On Tuesday, it will arrive in Port Angeles, where it will be greeted with song, and later in Forks, where it will be blessed by a Quileute dance.
PHOTO: The Capitol Christmas Tree moments before it is cut.
The 65-foot-tall Pacific silver fir was harvested from the headwaters of the Wynoochee River, approximately 35 miles north of Montesano, in Olympic National Forest last Wednesday.
After its tour of the state on the 90-foot truck bearing two banners created by Port Angeles company ASM Signs, the tree will be trucked to Washington, D.C.
There, it will be displayed on the west lawn of Capitol Hill, facing the Washington Monument.
Olympia ceremony
Today, before it heads first to Shelton and up the Hood Canal coast, the tree will be celebrated at a ceremony in the rotunda of the Legislative Building in Olympia.
Included in the Olympia kick-off ceremonies this morning with Gov. Chris Gregoire will be a drawing for the name of the one student out of about 3,000 who will win a trip to see the tree lighted in the nation's capital on Dec. 6.
The drawing includes the names of the students in kindergarten through 12th grade who donated handcrafted ornaments to decorate the tree.
Quilcene 4-H members are among those who donated ornaments -- 34 of them. (Read More)
