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Washington’s Five Most Romantic Destinations

These places make us feel all cuddly inside.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Feb 01, 2012 at 05:30PM 1 Comments

No heart-shaped jacuzzis included.

People have been commemorating love on St. Valentine’s Day since the 14th century (take it up with Geoffrey Chaucer, V-Day haters). If you’re stepping up your game above flowers and conversation hearts, you’ll want to book a romantic weekend getaway. Here are our favorite lovey-dovey destinations in Washington.

• Thornewood Castle in Lakewood is billed as “The House That Love Built,” but it was actually constructed by Native American workmen, some of whom left good-luck totems in the rafters. Since Stephen King’s Rose Red was filmed at the B&B, you can embrace the bloody side of Valentine’s Day.

• The Willows Lodge in Woodinville is close to a lot of wineries, and everyone knows that booze makes the heart grow fonder. Make a beeline for the renovated spa at the hotel, which features couples packages.

• Port Townsend has loads of the Victorian fanciness feels romantic (never mind that Victorian times were all about being buttoned up). You can even stay in a castle or recreate An Officer and a Gentleman at Fort Worden State Park.

• How do you pick the most romantic part of the San Juan Islands? Impossible. But island local and whale-watching guide John Boyd suggests table six at the Duck Soup Inn north of Friday Harbor; it’s right next to the fireplace.

• If you (or your Valentine) pine for the Twilight romances, who are we to judge? The town of Forks wasn’t exactly a luxurious retreat before the book phenomenon, but now there’s a themed B&B, and it’s an easy drive to the moody, romantic coast.

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Tags: Weekend Excursions, Getaways, Romantic Dinners

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

Beat cabin fever with a weekend festival.

Posted by: Stephanie Rubesh and Jessie Wiley on Jan 19, 2012 at 04:00PM 0 Comments

Good luck is a little scary sometimes.

-The New Year Beer Festival takes place Sunday at the Kitsap Conference Center in Bremerton. Throw back craft beer samples from Hale’s Ales, Hood Canal Brewery, and Slippery Pig Brewery.

-Pop over to Grays Harbor for the Fifth Annual Elma Chamber Wine and Seafood Festival on Saturday from noon until 9pm. Find specials for festival attendees (including free shuttle service) at The Microtel Inn.

-The PuSh international Performing Arts Festival is dedicated to daring contemporary art, running in Vancouver through February 4. This weekend features dance from Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca.

-At the Wenatchee Winter Wine Gala on Saturday, you can wander the halls of the Wenatchee Valley Museum with a glass of vino in hand. Pours are from winners of the inaugural North Central Washington’s Winemakers Invitational, while music comes from the Wenatchee Valley Symphony and classical guitarist Charlie Solbrig.

-Westminster Chapel’s ninth annual Lunar New Year Celebration in Bellevue on Saturday is a different kind of festival: Sip tea in a traditional tea room, cheer on a ping pong tournament, or watch martial arts demonstrations.

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Tags: Food Events and Festivals, Beer Festivals, Weekend Excursions, Weekend Events

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

Three-day weekend! Celebrate accordingly.

Posted by: Stephanie Rubesh on Jan 13, 2012 at 10:45AM 0 Comments

Leavenworth: Any excuse for a party.

-At Leavenworth’s Bavarian Ice Festival on Saturday and Sunday, the town famous for beer and nutcrackers will celebrate winter instead. Activities include snowshoeing, firework shows, carriage rides and snow games, and of course there are sausages with sauerkraut and beer.

-Meanwhile, the Lake Chelan Winter Festival continues for a second weekend (through Sunday), featuring incredible ice sculptures, a polar bear plunge, beach bonfires, live music, and wine walks.

-The tunes are a throwback at 13th Annual Portland Old Time Music Gathering in Portland all weekend, with mountain-style music and square dancing.

-Mark MLK Day of Service with good deeds at a tree-planting party in Vancouver, WA. You’ll spruce up the Salmon Creek Watershed on Monday morning, with refreshments for all workers.

-At the Chocolate Fondue Snowshoe Tour at Cypress Mountain in British Columbia, you can work off your dessert indulgence. Eat in a warming hut during a three-hour forest trek on any weekend evening, then wash down the chocolate with hot cider.

And check out our list of free events for MLK weekend for more day trip ideas.

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Tags: Weekend, Weekend Excursions, Weekend Events

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

Put in your last round of Christmas food for the season, learn how to revamp your space, or sit back with some comedy.

Posted by: Stephanie Rubesh on Jan 06, 2012 at 01:35PM 0 Comments

An actor playing Gassy Jack drops into a Gastown eatery.

-This is the last weekend for the Christmas Culinary Event in Vancouver B.C. Let guide Gassy Jack (an actor playing the neighborhood’s founder) lead you on a two-hour walk through Gastown, where you will learn about the history of oldest part of town and feed on lobster mac and cheese, crab cakes, and orange chocolate cheesecake.

-The Puyallup Fair Grounds hosts a Home and Garden Show through Sunday. Come for new home stuff, used home stuff, advice, building concepts, garden supplies, ideas, and inspiration, plus lectures on all three days on topics like pet proofing your home, gardening like a pro, or the art of stamped concrete.

-On the first Saturday of the month, Bainbridge Performing Arts presents The Edge Improv Show. It stars a troupe with more than seventeen years of comedy experience.

-Learn how to light the dark winter at yourself at Swans Candles in Lakewood with a free candle making class. Beginner classes happen by request on Saturdays for free (and then for a $5 fee, you can go again).

-Portland’s FABulous Bridal Affair is a must-visit if you have nuptials planned in 2012. There’s a charity aspect to the event; buy 100 breast cancer research stamps ($55) and you’ll get $100 off of the dress you select from the thousand-plus designer gowns at your fingertips. The annual bridal show goes Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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Tags: Weekend Excursions, Day Trip

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

Make a gingerbread house, run your heart out, or pop open a bottle of the bubbly.

Posted by: Stephanie Rubesh on Dec 16, 2011 at 11:30AM 0 Comments

Welcome aboard the S.S. Clark W. Griswold.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Welcome aboard the S.S. Clark W. Griswold.

-At Christmas Wassail and Bonfire Night, part of Vancouver’s Dundarave Festival of Lights, beach bonfires on Dundarave Beach warm watchers as caroling ships sail by on Saturday. A free concert takes place in a Christmas tree forest, decorated and sponsored by people who’ve joined the fight against homelessness.

-The Lighted Boat Parade from the Bremerton Yacht Club will ship dozens of bedazzled boats up and down Kitsap’s waters on Friday and Saturday nights. Dress warmly before snagging a front-row seat on the shoreline.

-The Annual Holiday Champagne Event takes place at Fine Wine and Cigars this in Redmond on Saturday. More than 16 varieties of champers will be poured. Cheers!

-The 12K’s of Christmas Run kicks off in Kirkland this Sunday with 5k or 12k routes, a whole lot of free food, music, and costume contests at a post-race Christmas festival at Marina Park.

-Farm Kitchen in Poulsbo throws the last of their Gingerbread House Parties on Sunday. Make your own from the provided gingerbread, mounds of candy, and frosting, and ready your oven for any sneaky kids that try to eat your abode.

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Tags: Wine Tastings, Sparkling Wine , Weekend, Festivals, Festivals, Weekend Excursions, Weekend Events

Mount Rainier Wine Festival is Almost Paradise

Celebrate the mountain’s off-season with a tipple.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Nov 01, 2011 at 12:25PM 0 Comments

Remember, wine makes you warmer.

Photo courtesy Mt. Rainier Visitors Association

Things get quiet in Ashford when summer ends. But now that the mountain town—southeast of Eatonville, slightly off Highway 7—isn’t hosting a stream of mountain climbers and national park visitors, there’s space for the Mount Rainier Wine Festival and Dance.

This second annual festival combines wine tastings with a dance floor. Held in the Mt. Rainier Lions Club this Saturday, the event is free to those staying in Ashford, Mineral, Longmire, or Elbe hotels for the night. Tickets for everyone else are $20 (but only $17 if you buy them today) and are good for 10 tasting tickets, appetizers, and entertainment.

Swing-dance lessons are held before the Swing Soiree “gypsy jazz” band takes the stage at 6:30pm, and the Elbow County Rough Riders, a rockabilly outfit, does a set at 8:30pm. Wineries, on hand to pour tastes and sell bottles, hail from local communities; among them are Scatter Creek Winery from Tenino, Wells Winery from Onalaska, and Bateaux Cellars from Toledo. For beer drinkers, Seattle’s Naked City Brewery will bring small-batch brews. Events run 2–10:30pm.

Once you’ve slept off your hangover, there’s still plenty to do around Ashford in the shoulder season. Mount Rainier National Park’s road to Paradise is a twisty, beautiful drive (and the visitor’s center is open on weekends). There isn’t much snow on the park roads at the moment, but cars are required to carry chains, starting today. There are also fall hikes for great foliage views. Feeling wimpy? It’s quite a bit warmer in the Ashford-area spas.

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Tags: Wine Tastings, Food Events and Festivals, Weekend Excursions, Weekend Events, Weekend Events, Mount Rainier

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

Try a seven-course dinner or a run for a good cause.

Posted by: Stephanie Rubesh on Sep 30, 2011 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

After seven courses of dinner, you’re going to need to sit down.

Photo courtesy Friday Harbor House

-Wine and dine at the Winemaker Dinner with Covington Cellars and Two Vintners on Oct 2 at San Juan Island’s Friday Harbor House. After the seven-course meal of Dungeness crab fritters, Shoal Bay oysters, seared duck breast, and paired wines, get 35 percent off the hotel’s best available rate.

-The sixth annual Old Mill Days Festival, running through Sunday at Port Gamble, there are three days of chainsaw speed-carving competitions, car shows, and beer gardens. Saturday kicks off with a loggers breakfast, and Sunday’s highlight is the Toughest Timberman contest.

-At Sunday’s Race for the End 5K/10K, your run will support the end domestic violence. The designated color is purple and it kicks off at Bloedel Donovan Park in Bellingham.

-Roses Gone Wild is a little tamer than it sounds. This weekend’s walking tours at Portland’s International Rose Test Garden feature garden factoids and a special segment for men about roses and romance.

-Pitch in at the Silver Star trail work party Saturday and Sunday to get in another hike while the weather’s good. The Mt. St. Helens Institute hosts the day of trail TLC, and it’s a slumber party—don’t forget overnight gear and a couple of choice snacks.

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Tags: Food Events and Festivals, Festivals, Weekend Excursions, Day Trip

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

Summer’s still kicking in Port Townsend, Yakima, and Lake Chelan.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Sep 09, 2011 at 11:15AM 0 Comments

What is mutton busting? It’s a rodeo for kids. On sheep. And it’s hilarious.

-It’s Puyallup Fair time! The 17-day shindig is the state’s single biggest event, drawing over a million visitors for fried food, mutton busting, and a giant pumpkin contest. Country crooner Joe Nichols kicks off the whole fair tonight.

-At the Wooden Boat Festival, through Sunday in Port Townsend, half the fun is finding the weirdest boat names, right? At this year’s 35th annual gathering, there’s musical performances, woodworking demonstrations, and workshops (learn how to tie a monkey’s fist!)—and also boats named Madman, Merry Wherry Two and Pepe: Skunk Island Skiff.

-A massive appetite is necessary for the Second Annual Skewered Apple Barbeque Championship, running Saturday and Sunday in downtown Yakima. Cooking demos, music, and a beer garden are available for spectators, while the chefs will be competing for $35,000 in prizes and grill fame. The sacrifice of your waistline is all in support of the The Yakima Valley Museum.

-The competition isn’t cutthroat at the Lake Chelan Sailing Regatta; friendliness is encouraged, and water balloons are an acceptable conflict-resolution tactic. That’s probably how contests were handled back in ancient Greece.

-The TBA Festival in Portland doesn’t stand for To Be Announced—it’s Time-Based Art. The contemporary arts fest runs through September 18, and our sister mag Portland Monthly has selected the best of the fest.

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Tags: Festivals, Weekend Excursions, Day Trip, Fairs

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

It’s Labor Day weekend. Stop working already.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Sep 02, 2011 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Welcome your new overlord, the blackberry slug of the Bremerton Blackberry Festival.

Photo courtesy Rakka/Flickr

Did you forget to have a summer? Between all that July rain and tunnel voting, did it somehow slip your mind? You can cram an entire season worth of music, fresh fruit, and playtime into this one three-day weekend if you try hard enough.

-Is the Dave Matthew Band Caravan at the Gorge (today through Sunday) an attack on Bumbershoot? Or is it just a good excuse to grove to the Roots, Dispatch, and “Ants Marching” in person? Tickets were still available online as of Friday morning.

-The Ocean Shores Old-Fashioned Labor Day Picnic on Saturday is a chance to celebrate like your great-grandparents did: with a watermelon-eating contest and tug-of-war game. They weren’t party animals, your great-grandparents.

-The Resort at The Mountain isn’t at our mountain—it’s at the base of Oregon’s Mount Hood. Still, that’s a decent mountain as mountains go, and this weekend the hotel is offering a special Mt. Hood Blues & Brews package, which includes 20 beverage tokens for Saturday’s annual Brew Fest, as well as an And All That Jazz option with a dinner and music performance.

-At the Lopez Island Studio Tour, 46 local artists will throw open their doors and let you rifle through their oil paints. On Saturday and Sunday, the San Juan’s funkiest isle trusts you to take a self-guided tour to thirty different locations, ooh-ing and ahh-ing (and hopefully buying) as you go.

-The Bremerton Blackberry Festival gets it: Blackberries are the best thing. Ever. In Washington, in the world. The three-day event starts Saturday on the city of Bremerton Boardwalk and features all the expected treats, plus something called a blackberry slug, a “delicious type of maple bar made with blackberry filling and whipped cream.” Excuse me, I have to go lie down now.

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Tags: Weekend, Festivals, Weekend Excursions, Day Trip

Five Things to Do Out of Town This Weekend

Find a festival or, even better, go on a Sasquatch hunt.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Aug 26, 2011 at 11:25AM 0 Comments

Seaworthiness is an outdated concept anyway.

Photo courtesy the Commencement Bay Maritime Fest

Drinking wine, making boats, and stuffing your face with pasta? Sounds like a great weekend in the Northwest.

-Bigfoot Bash and Bounty on Saturday in Carson on the Columbia River isn’t just for Sasquatch believers—the curious are welcome, too. A huckleberry pancake breakfast kicks off the day of speakers, a softball tournament, and—duh—a Bigfoot hunt.

-The Bellevue vet behind memoir Two Gold Coins and a Prayer speaks at the Museum of Flight on Saturday, sharing a tale of hiding from the Nazis and surviving a POW camp. Sure, it’s not quite out of town, but the subject of the talk is pretty far removed—Holland during World War II.

-The Commencement Bay Maritime Fest runs in Tacoma all weekend, with boat tours, live bands, and boat tours all along the city’s waterfront. Saturday’s Quick and Dirty Boat Building Competition sees how quickly a slapdash sea vessel can be made.

-Jazz & Wine Among Friends in Walla Walla is a fundraiser featuring regional tunes and wines. Sunday tickets went fast, but Saturday tickets are still available.

-The Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon has become so famous over its 30 years that it has its own movie (and it sells out on the first day of registration). Runners will be schlepping through Portland through Saturday, but you can do the carbo-loading part at the Festa Italiana in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

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Tags: Festivals, Weekend Excursions, Weekend Events

Five Things to do Out of Town This Weekend

Run, drink, or put on your best fancy hat for a day at the races.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Aug 19, 2011 at 12:15PM 0 Comments

Canada builds better forts than your wimpy pillow ones.

Image courtesy Tourism Vancouver.

It’s going to be over 80 degrees in Seattle this weekend—all the more reason to get out of town. You don’t want to get used to all that sunshine, do you? Here’s what’s on tap around the Northwest:

-The Kitsap Wine Festival takes over Harborside Fountain Park in Bremerton on Saturday from 2–5:30pm. Besides a ton of vino (and beer!), it features local bites and live jazz. Tickets are online.

-The Lagunitas Beer Train chugs around Mount Rainier on Saturday as beer nerds throw back the California brew.

-The Covey Run winds around Woodinville as part of the Auction of Washington Wines events on Saturday (registration will be on-site). Proceeds from the 5K and 10K fund uncompensated care at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and the post-race sips in wine country beat Gatorade any day.

-The Longacres Mile, a horse race born in 1935, takes place at Auburn’s Emerald Downs on Sunday at about 5:30pm. A tailgate Railbird Rally party takes place outside at 10:30am. Our bets are on the horse in the fourth position, Honour the Deputy. Why? The name is kind of reminiscent of Bob Marley (right?).

-Fab Forts Weekend across Canada this weekend will celebrate the country’s military history, not to mention their plethora of cool old military installations. Re-enactments and concerts will be held at Fort Langley near Vancouver and Ford Rodd Hill in Victoria, and they will even be firing their historic artillery.

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Tags: Canada, Weekend, Woodinville, Weekend Excursions, Weekend Events, Day Trip

Skip Hiking and Join a Trail Crew

A day clearing brush or moving boulders can beat a recreational ramble.

Posted by: Allison Williams on Aug 15, 2011 at 02:30PM 0 Comments

What, you thought trails just grew naturally in the woods?

Before this weekend, I used to appreciate the work that goes into maintaining Washington’s mighty trail system…in theory. Then I spent a day on one of Washington Trails Association’s volunteer trail crews. Rest assured that my gratitude—not to mention my sore muscles—was a little more concrete come Monday.

The nonprofit WTA sponsors one- and multi-day trail work crews across the state. This week alone, they’ll attack the Tunnel Creek Trail in the Olympics, the foot-and-bike Chocwich Trail near Darrington, Cape Horn Trail in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, and more. Signups are online; all you need are long pants and boots, and paid crew leaders provide everything else. You can even score a Northwest Forest day or annual pass for your elbow grease.

They don’t call it a work party for nothing: The day was a blast. When we started at 8:30am, WTA leaders handed out hard hats, demonstrated tool use, and gave a safety lecture consisting of a fair number of groanworthy puns and jokes. A few miles up the Denny Creek Trail, we took brush whips to the overgrowth on either side of the popular route. For those who step gingerly in wilderness areas, there’s something eminently satisfying about attacking brambles and taking out whole swaths of ferns. And Devil’s Club? Mowing that down was pure catharsis.

I’ll be returning to a WTA work crew in the future. Because I met cool people and paid back to the world-class Washington’s trail system? Nah. Because after you do five days of volunteering, you get your very own monogrammed hard hat.

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Tags: Weekend Excursions, Hiking, Seattle Hiking Trails