Placer County agricultural bounty reached all the way to Hurricane Ridge in Washington’s Olympic National Park recently.

Wine from Mark Adams’ Villa Roble Vineyard in Lincoln, a regular vendor at the Loomis Farmers’ Market, was the centerpiece of a simple picnic enjoyed near a 5,757 peak. Hurricane Ridge is just one of the many rugged mountains that surround majestic Mount Olympus.

After lunch, my family hiked one of the many trails, thoroughly enjoying the views of ancient forests and rare wildflowers. Patches of snow on mountaintops provide a stark contrast to Placer County’s parched summer landscape.

Washington abounds with rich green forests, deep blue skies, and crystal-like waters off Port Angeles, Sequim and Seattle. You can also get a glimpse of Canada across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

You don’t have to travel all the way to Washington state to find 70-degree weather, but it’s not a bad place to spend a long weekend in late July.

Just a few hours in Seattle were enough to win me over. It’s a city I hope to explore again.

I didn’t get to spend enough time at Pike’s Place Market, either. But I loved what I saw. Flowers filled vendor stalls and hung in baskets throughout. Produce stands offered samples of peaches all the way from California. I’m sure local growers of heirloom tomatoes, such as Mary Pierce of Loomis, would like to get the $7.99 a pound these beauties were selling for at the market.

Crossing Puget Sound via ferry may be ho-hum to locals, but for me it seems like such a quick and eco-friendly way to get where you’re going, whether it’s to a nearby Washington island or Victoria, Canada where Loomis News sports guy, Mike Ray, just happened to venture to the same day I was at the ferry terminal.