Breakfast in Washington: A scramble of best places around the state

Breakfast is a meal that matters across Washington.

It fortifies us for outdoor adventures, and indoor plotting. Seattle is scene to years-long breakfast groups, e.g. Madrona residents meeting at the Hi Spot for more than two decades. Certain places become Saturday morning destinations of renown, examples being Geraldine's in Columbia City and Chace's Pancake Corral in Bellevue.

Sitting down for an interview at Lowell's in the Market, here on book tour, Theodore Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris focused on a neighboring table where four people balanced breakfast, referenced computer screens, and carried on an animated discussion. "You're up and engaged early out here," said Morris.

He could have been talking about blue collar folk at The Junction Diner in Poulsbo, or the mixture of wheat farmers, Whitman faculty and wine makers at Bacon & Eggs in Walla Walla.

You can hear expressions of tribal loyalty at popular spots. Ex-Seattle Mariners president John Ellis once took time, waiting for a table at Chace's, to explain how the place dated from from the late 1950s, and began its life in a far different Bellevue.

RELATED: Dungeness crab, smoked salmon, marionberry: Where to get the best PNW brunch plates in Seattle

Here is a sampling of where to find comfort food outside the comfort zone of Seattle. It's a first-time feast, with updates to come after this writer's spring and summer jaunts around the Evergreen State.

--Bound for the Coast: Stop off at the Medicine Creek Cafe off Interstate 5 in Nisqually, native owned and named for the 1854 treaty in which Indian tribes ceded lands in exchange for continued access to hunting and fishing territory: 20th Century tribes used it to win a seminal fishing rights case. The diner is best known for biscuits and gravy and its "Trio Sausage Breakfast". Exercise required.

--Olympic Peninsula bound: The Junction Diner in Poulsbo comes with strong recommendation from P-I colleague Alex Halverson. It opens at 4 a.m. "Order eggs any way you like, get them with side of perfectly fried hash browns, or get a pancake the size of a dinner plate instead." Fox News may be inflicted if you come late in the morning.

--A trio of excellent bakeries: The Cle Elum Bakery is renowned for sustaining i-90 travelers as well as hikers headed for wondrous hiking destinations up the Teanaway River valley. On U.S. 2, hunt up Anjou in Cashmere, open 8 to 5 Thursday thru Sunday, it's a bakery, espresso bar and cafe, a little tricky to find. The Grain Shed in Spokane is part bakery (wonderful breads and croissants), part brewery and popular gathering place.

--The American Alps: Driving the North Cascades Highway, the hamlet of Mazama is the first spot you reach coming out of the national forest. During winter cross-country ski season, it's the end of the road. In any season, you can eat well -- with options. The Mazama Store offers an array of baked goods, and a spot to catch up on conservation causes. The Mazama Country Inn can send you off hiking or skiing with a hearty breakfast, or restore you when dog tired at the end of the day.

--Up north: A Bellingham friend, artist Chris Coffin, touts Diamond Jim's, "It's a diner with really good food and I've eaten at a lot of diners."  The Mount Bakery Cafe, downtown and in Fairhaven, is best known for its eggs benedicts. I've been there once, had the "Portobello Benny," offbeat but delicious.

--Drive into town: The Palace Cafe in Ellensburg, in operation more than a century, demonstrates a maxim for eating on the road. Leave the freeway, and cluster of franchise places, and drive into town. The Palace will fill you with German sausage and eggs, or double smoked bacon and eggs, both meals lasting you through the remainder of the day.

BOOZY BRUNCHES: Seattle's most and least expensive bottomless mimosas

--Spend two nights: A two-day stay in Walla Walla will permit you to dine at both Bacon & Eggs and The Maple Counter. By virtue of having a "Whittie" (Whitman College) student in the family, we were able to partake from highly imaginative menus and quality ingredients, and learn more about an extraordinary time. One close friend hails from a family that has switched from growing sweet onions to making wine.

--Olympic National Park bound: A large breakfast at Duffy's, in Aberdeen just south of Hoquiam boundary, takes a climb of Col. Bob Mountain or hike into Enchanted Valley to work off. It is the only spot where I've ever devoured razor clams and eggs, and once celebrated an afternoon breakfast of Swedish pancakes after navigating around Hoh Head with the tide coming in.

--Cooking up a national park: The Roosevelt Dining Room at Lake Quinault Lodge is named for a president in a wheelchair who created a 900,000-acre national park. Franklin D. Roosevelt got around, and in 1937 toured the Olympic Peninsula, witnessed clear cuts on federal land, and gazed out at morning views of Lake Quinault and the forest primeval. Dine well, and lift coffee cups to toast a president with music in his soul.

--A bite of the offbeat: If running or playing basketball in the Lilac City this year, The Yards Bruncheon in Spokane comes recommended for Breakfast Fajitas and Chorizo'n Eggs Tacoma. Cafe Soleil in Madrona, while known for Ethiopian food, serves delicious frittatas on weekend mornings. Same can be said when The Braeburn, in Langley on Whidbey Island, offers a breakfast frittata.