Nancy Conner, ABR - Olympia/Thurston County WA

Olympia's Farmer's Market is going strong with autumn harvest goodies and a color feast for the eyes!

Admire - and taste - the different varieties of apples. Then buy plenty so you can munch some raw, bake up a pie or two, maybe even cook up some apple sauce. Yum!

Then move on over to the intriguing shapes and colors of gourds and pumpkins. Imagine the fall display you can take home to decorate your table or front porch!

And don't miss these peppers which just glow with the summer sunshine captured within (and some come with a bit of the blazing heat of that summer sunshine as well!)

Enjoy this season and all of its bounty for the eyes and tummy!!

For many years, Lattin's Country Cider Mill has been the go-to place in the Olympia area if you are craving apple cider or yummy apple bakery treats like apple fritters! Through the month of October, you can visit the cider mill as they put on their Apple Festival each weekend from 9-5:30.

You can sample and buy apples just picked from the trees, listen to some toe tapping bluegrass music, & for kids (& to take you back to your childhood) there is also bobbing for apples, wagon rides to the pumpkin patch, farm animals to visit and pat.

Admission is free though there are charges for some of the various featured activities and for whatever goodies you buy to take home with you. Lattin's is at 9402 Rich Rd SE Olympia - their website www.lattinscider.com has more details.

Tomorrow through Sunday, you can enjoy the 36th annual Harbor Days Festival (www.harbordays.com) in Olympia - with the main attraction being races of actual vintage tugboats! This is a very cool weekend of fun, celebrating Olympia's maritime heritage. The tall ships Lady Washington and The Hawaiian Chieftain will also be in town as will the steamship Virginia V (www.virginiav.org)

The festival starts Friday (Sept. 4th) at 5 PM and that is when the tall ships will be arriving at Port Plaza and the steamship at Percival Landing. The vintage and working tugs will also be at the docks at Percival Landing, and most are open for viewing Saturday from 10-4.

Along with the various watercraft, there will also be numerous arts and crafts booths to browse through, loads of entertainment and food so that you can really make a day of it!

Dirty Dave's Pizza & Spaghetti Parlor (www.dirtydavespizza.com) restaurant has been a family favorite of ours for years. It features some yummy pizza concoctions, including unusual ingredients like cashews (very yummy by the way!!) as well as pasta dishes, sandwiches, salads (my fav is the shrimp salad with blue cheese dressing!) or salad bar, etc.

I think its casual, family-friendly atmosphere is part of what makes this a super popular place as well as the commitment to supporting the local community, especially youth and local sports teams of all ages. Almost nightly there will be some local team of kids or adults taking over one of the separate rooms to celebrate victory or lessen the sting of a defeat. During our son's high school years, Dirty Dave's was the regular destination for pretty much the whole basketball team, including many of the parents after each game, home or away.

Its separate rooms also lend themselves nicely to birthday parties or other special occasions for groups. And the entire restaurant entertains with walls covered by a huge collection of posters, signs, bumper stickers and pictures - actually even the ceiling is covered! There is a drive-up window for take-out orders, but eating in the restaurant is just a fun, relaxing experience for lunch or dinner!