Feature Story 4 Valentine’s Getaways Near & Far February 2007

by Staff Writers
Images by Russell Byrne & Sean McMenamin

Valentine’s Day has been called “the time when a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts that the young woman has been thinking about all year long.” I suspect that isn’t true in many cases, but for sure Valentine’s Day is a time when we are encouraged to express our romantic feelings towards whatever Significant Other we have in our lives – or perhaps wish to get into relationship with.

Captain Hawkeye in an episode of M.A.S.H. said, “Without love, what are we worth? Eighty-nine cents! Eighty-nine cents worth of chemicals walking around lonely.”

Some of us probably don’t believe this all the time, but at least for Valentine’s Day we should imagine that we believe this with all our hearts.

And this February we should do something special for the Special Someone in our lives to show our love and commitment. We should gladly warm up and brighten the cold and sometimes dreary mid-winter with a burst of love and affection that will carry us through until Spring’s return.

I’ve believed for a long time that a marriage or any long-term romantic relationship is like a garden. Constant attention is required to make the relationship remain healthy and vibrant. Too often a long-term relationship becomes like a neglected lot – overgrown with the stinking weeds that the seeds of our neglect have blossomed into.

So we need to get to work and provide the sunshine of commitment, nourishment of attention, and the soft rains of continual affection so the garden will grow and thrive.

Valentine’s Day provides a perfect occasion to get to work on our relationships.

But what to do?

We put our heads together at 110° Magazine and came up with dozens and dozens of possibilities – restaurants we’ve eaten at, hotels we’ve stayed at, and places we’ve vacationed at. Out of all the possibilities we’ve distilled four ideas, ranging from dinner in a nice restaurant to a weekend at a more distant destination.

Check out the following suggestions and then plan a getaway for the person you love. Do one of these or do something else. Just get away for a few hours, perhaps. Or for a few days.

Do something! But stay away from McDonald’s and Chuck E. Cheese’s that weekend!

Two at Home Getaways – Romantic Dinner
By Jacqueline Irwin

You can have a romantic evening-out with your special valentine without leaving East County. Here are two good examples:

Mosquito Lounge is a favorite destination for the staff of 110° Magazine. It’s a San Francisco quality restaurant in Brentwood. A great place to go for a romantic date!

You and your Valentine can enjoy Pan Asian cuisine with a mixture of flavors reflecting the diversity of the region including Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese dishes infused with a European flare to create irresistible dining combinations.

The adjacent lounge area provides relaxation where you and your beloved can relax with a drink from the full bar – selecting from a variety of beers both bottled and on tap, plus wine, martinis, and mixed drinks.

The extensive menu contains so many deliciously delightful items that it’s difficult to decide on a single dish, so choosing a few and sharing makes the dining experience interesting and fun.

At the Mosquito Lounge you’ll be sure of getting the evening off to a great start and preparing your partner for a night of romance.

Hiro’s Steak and Sushi is another Brentwood restaurant perfect for a romantic meal. Hiro’s elements of excellence include first-rate chefs, the freshest and finest ingredients, and an inviting and interesting atmosphere.

Everything is made from scratch and the chefs work efficiently and quickly so that the food is cooked to entrap the flavors. The beef is the finest certified Angus. Produce is local organic. Lobster comes from Australia. Melt-in-the-mouth salmon from the North Atlantic. Sea urchins from the Santa Barbara coast. Oysters from the Northern Coast of Oregon. Yellow tail tuna from the coast of Japan. And blue fin tuna from the coast of Tasmania.

Hiro’s provides a Mecca for discriminating drinkers. In addition to three Japanese beers, domestic beers, and boutique ales, they keep 15 types of tequila, 10 single malt scotches on hand, plus an assortment of local and imported wines.

Let’s not forget the Sake. The drink takes on a different flavor according to where it’s made due to the quality of the water and the rice used.

These are only two of the possiblities. A number of other local restaurants, such as Ali Baba’s, Caps, Carpaccio, Grazi’s and Lucy’s Asia Bistro also offer fine local dining.

Gold Country GetAway – Even Better Than Gold
By Mike Bocage

Superb romantic get-aways can be found in the Gold Country. Here’s one to consider as a possibility for you and the Special Person in your life. You can leave Brentwood on Highway 4 about 8 in the morning and be in Murphys, “The Queen of the Sierras,” before ten.

The ride provides part of the romance for this romantic get-away. It is a pleasant trip for any couple with romantic intentions. The miles and minutes slip swiftly by and the hour-and-a-half seems to pass in half the time.

Once you leave the Delta waters and Stockton in your rearview mirror, you pass through the rolling hills, fields, orchards, and vineyards of the Central Valley. Each stretch of the road leads past groves of trees and pastures with sheep, cows, and an occasional llama.

The scenery changes dramatically as you approach the Sierra foothills leading to Copperopolis. The final 25 miles through historic Angel’s Camp and into Murphys is picture-postcard beautiful.

The town of Murphys exudes a quaint, cozy, hometown feeling. Its streets are deliberately countrified with vegetation that crowds the buildings providing a lush green effect to the place. Public areas seem snug and comfortable beneath canopies of trees.

The sidewalks in downtown Murphys exhibit a fascinating lack of regimentation. A stretch of sidewalk might be level with the street, but then some steps lead up to the next stretch of walk providing a view over the heads of cars in the street that are now below eye level, before dropping back down to pavement level. The varying walking levels provide an interesting quality to the experience of strolling around town.

Murphys has a refreshing absence of building codes. The place gives an initial impression of being a Hollywood backlot because the architecture along the main street seems to emphasize false fronts and soaring facades. These are in contrast to other buildings that are built in a more modern style.

A variety of businesses catering to visitors are located in Murphys including eight restaurants, eight hotels, four antique shops, plus boutiques, galleries, and an ice cream parlor. One of the most conspicuous places is Old Murphys Hotel. It features a retro bar complete with swinging doors that gives you the feel of walking into an old-time saloon. The bar itself is all wood.

If you arrive early enough for lunch you might want to try out a restaurant called Mineral. It has a San Francisco type elegance that seems almost out-of-place in Murphys’ rustic surrounding. Mineral features indoor and outdoor seating. The excellent cuisine features gourmet vegetarian dishes.

You might want to give Mineral a pass if the prospect of eating a Micro Greens, Lime Won Ton, Candied Radishes, Creamed Miso, or a Vanilla Seed Vinaigrette salad. We had some very refreshing drinks in the place. The sake cocktails were both unusual and delightful. If you get a chance, order a couple Wakatake Onikoroshi “Demon Slayers” for you and your partner and see what happens.

Murphys is a perfect place for people who enjoy participating in the California Wine Culture. Eleven wineries are located in and around the town. Five of them have tasting rooms right on Main Street, in the older downtown Murphys buildings. All the tasting rooms feature old style construction, with wooden floors together with brick, stone, and wood facades.

Zucca Mountain Vineyards has a very picturesque tasting room in the basement of one of the old buildings with an entrance that is a little over five feet high. The effect of passing into the room itself is surprising because you have to stoop down and enter what turns out to be a very cozy and cool space. Cheese fondues and chocolates are offered to augment the wine tasting experience. A short stairway leads from the basement to a second cozy room containing a boutique-type gift store.

The wine tastings we participated in were complimentary. The servers were all cordial and very knowledgeable about their products and about the industry. We ended up talking with them as though they were old friends.

The wineries themselves are a short ride out of town. Stevenot Winery, for example, is a beautiful facility located in the midst of the rolling foothills. The winery has been at the forefront of the renaissance of the area’s premium wine production. You could spend some time exploring Stevenot’s rich history and impeccable vineyards.

Tasting rooms are available onsite and in downtown Murphys.

Ironstone is perhaps the most grandiose of the local wineries. As you approach it your senses are assaulted by the colorful vegetation and the amazing landscaping that surrounds the place.

The Ironstone grounds are immaculate and incredibly well maintained. It has the largest area in planting of all the local wineries. It also has the largest winery building, a massive stone and wood architecture. The selection of wines is excellent, especially the reserve.

Ironstone is also the most functional of the wineries with an event center that functions as a venue for a summer concert series. An art gallery and museum is on the site displaying many artifacts including petrified wood gold objects, and antique photos.

You and your Valentine will want to stay at one of Murphy’s lodging places. The Querencia Bread and Breakfast bills itself as “Gold Country’s premier romantic inn.” The great room features a staircase circling down to an indoor rock wall waterfall.

A secret wine tasting room is hidden behind one of Querencia’s bookcases in the great room and is available for private dinners and wine tasting. The effect is amazing.

Each of Querencia’s four luxurious rooms features private patios or balconies that look down and across a private valley. Each room has its own unique detail of decoration and personality with a bathroom sporting multiple body spray showers. This castle on a hill has everything for a romantic getaway.

When I got back from my Gold Country Getaway I felt like I had been to a European spa. The trip was both relaxing and invigorating.

Northwest Getaway – Back to School
By Jacqueline Irwin

My Valentine and I really enjoyed a romantic get-away to the McMenimins Kennedy School. The hotel/community center, situated in a charming neighborhood near downtown Portland, is the perfect place for relaxing in the company of someone you love to spend time with.

Portland is only an hour flight or a 10-hour drive from East County through Northern California and Oregon’s beautiful scenery.

The Kennedy School was a place where school children learned the three R’s until the doors closed in 1975. The McMenimin Brothers subsequently infused the 80-year-old structure with new life.

Lodging at Kennedy School is in the actual classrooms. The original slate chalkboards still occupy the walls and plenty of chalk is supplied. My husband and I had a great time writing one another notes, drawing pictures, and I (being a school teacher) got a kick out of marking checks next to his name denoting his bad deeds.

Each room is equipped with antique furniture and includes desks and large cozy chairs perfect for snuggling up with a good book. Each room is decorated with themes from children’s literature.

We stayed in Jack’s Room that is painted with Jack (the “be nimble” kid) and also with the fabled cow jumping over the moon. The art is impeccably detailed and done with an indescribably dreamlike quality.

The hallway walls are adorned with paintings, historical photos, mosaic scrolls, and Indonesian wood panels creating a virtual museum within the building.

For a refreshing dip you can head to the soaking pool, which is a ceramic work of art. The pool sits in an outdoor courtyard and is surrounded by gardens (formerly the old Teacher’s Lounge). Even when the weather is disagreeable the heated soaking pool is always warm and invigorating.

The school’s old auditorium has been transformed into an unusual theater with cushy couches and cozy oversized chairs. While enjoying a good movie you can dine on food served at the theater restaurant and drink beer brewed at the Concordia Brewery that is housed in the former little girls’ room of the school.

The brewery features artwork depicting both the history of beer making and schoolgirl antics. The fermentation tanks display pictures of some of the former no-nonsense principals.

Kennedy School’s Courtyard Restaurant is situated in the old cafeteria. No cafeteria food here, however! The restaurant serves pub fare together with handcrafted ales and tempting weekly specials.

On one of the rare sunny Portland days diners can eat outdoors in the flower-filled courtyard complete with a unique mosaic-tiled fireplace.

No food fights allowed!

After dinner you can head to one of the bars located throughout the school. The Cypress Room, for example, is adorned with antique light fixtures from the old Portland Hotel and features a full bar with an extensive selection of Edgefield wines, together with a menu of appetizers, pizzas, and delicious desserts.

The Detention Bar is intended for the “very bad” indeed. It is an intimate room featuring a fine selection of cigars as well as the only television on the property. I suppose if you’re enjoying a get-away the Detention Bar might provide the perfect opportunity to enjoy a cigar although many people (myself included) would argue that a cigar isn’t very romantic.

The Honors Bar, where the “good kids” go, provides a smoke-free escape in a rococo-style lounge where light classical music fills the air while guests are served fresh-squeezed juice cocktails, espresso, beer, wine, and premium liquors.

The Kennedy School a fun place to eat wonderful meals, read, relax, or renew your relationship with a beloved partner. And you can always make your way out of doors where you can explore the City of Roses and find countless excellent restaurants, entertainment, and activities.

Sleeping in Seattle – Where Ordinary Meets Amazing
By Richard Koscher

Some people find it really difficult to sleep in Seattle because of all the diversions that the city has to offer. That isn’t true for visitors like us who have two little kids and joyfully embrace the opportunity of an entire uninterrupted night of sleep – or in this case two nights and three days.

We flew Alaskan Air from SFO into Seattle, and discovered that we had made a good choice. We waited in line for less than five minutes at the airport, whereas it seems that the lines for Southwest and United are always long. The flight was only 1 hour and 23 minutes in duration. The security lines in the airport seemed to take longer than the flight itself.

We arrived Friday around 1 p.m. just after Seattle had been hit by its largest storm in almost a decade. Luckily for us, we chased the storm out of town and didn’t see one drop of rain the entire weekend. And this was in December!

In fact, residents told us that Seattle’s rain was just a myth that they propagated on the world in order to keep people from moving up there. Residents enjoy relatively cheap rents and mortgages compared to Los Angeles or the Bay Area and don’t want people coming in to “californicate” the good thing they have going.

We lodged at the Warwick Hotel, downtown Seattle. It’s a great choice for people on a budget who want to stay within walking distance of downtown attractions. The Warwick is seven minutes from the famous Pike Place Market and 10 from the Space Needle.

The Pike Place Market, founded a century ago to bring together farmers and consumers, is now the location of 190 businesses on nine acres of land, attracting nine million visitors each year.

We could pick out the best food places from the 50 Pike Place restaurants by the length of the lines. We fell in love with a small Russian place named Piroshky-Piroshky that (not surprisingly) serves homemade piroshkys fresh every day. These are oversized Russian versions of our hot pockets. They come with a variety of fillings including potato and cheese, sauerkraut, smoked salmon, and lamb and onion. My favorite was the potato, cheese and onion version.

Piroshky-Piroshky also serves marzipan strudel, which is difficult to find in the U.S. “Delish!” as Rachel Ray would say!

Another top spot turned out to be the Three Girls Bakery featuring oven-fresh French baguettes or croissants, plus cookies, scones, rolls, bread loaves, and sandwiches. This is a must-try, especially for breakfast.

Of course, a person can hardly be without a cup of coffee in Seattle. The original Starbucks is located near the Russian piroshky place and opened for business in 1971. I had my favorite cappuccino and, although it didn’t taste different from other Starbucks’ locations, I got nostalgic thinking about how a financial empire – an industry, in fact – started in this one little store. It was an astounding thought!

I expected to see a Starbucks on every Seattle street corner, but we seem to have more of these in Brentwood than in the city where they originated.

Last but not least in the food department, Seattle is obviously famous for its seafood. We went to the commercial wharf and found a place named Elliott’s that had the tagline “Where Seattle Goes for Seafood.” You can get three oysters for $8 but during the 3 to 6 p.m. Happy Hour you can get oysters for 50 cents apiece. The half-dollar price was actually only good for the first hour. After that the price went up a quarter every half hour. So the plan is to eat oysters early and fast.

We also took a bus tour our first morning. I’ve learned to take these tours at every destination because the tour gives a new person some idea of where things are. Plus, you learn some interesting facts, locations of good places to eat, and sights that you shouldn’t miss on your trip.

We learned, for example, that Seattle was originally called New York. However, local Indians helped the settlers survive their first winter and, in honor of that aid, the first residents named the city after Chief Seattle, the head of the tribe.

In Seattle’s Number One Tourist Destination you can treat your Special Someone to an extravagant dinner at the top of the Needle. The aptly named SkyCity restaurant, 500 feet above the ground, provides a 360-degree view buffet featuring a spectacular view and award-winning local wines. The spread includes such things as fresh-caught King Salmon.

If the $38 a plate SkyCity meal is beyond your budget, you can buy a ticket to ride the elevator to the observation platform.

If you plan your visit right and come just as the sun is going down – which on February 14 this year will be at 4:31 p.m. in Seattle – you can get a spectacular view of the sunset.

Note that if you do eat dinner the price of the elevator ride is included, so that saves you seven bucks, or so.

From the top of the Space needle you catch a breathtaking view of Seattle’s EMP (Experience Music Project). The building was designed by star Architect Frank Gehry to represent a guitar smashed by Jimi Hendrix.

The museum inside the EMP contains the world’s largest exhibit of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia – dating from his childhood growing up in Seattle to his time on the world stage.

My favorite exhibit was the Sound Lab where you can mix and record music and even perform in front of a virtual audience and for five minutes feel like a rock star.

I don’t recommend Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame unless you are an uber-geek. It was not sufficiently interactive and didn’t provide much new information.

I was impressed, however, by seeing Captain Kirk’s command seat from the Enterprise, as well as Darth Vader’s mask from the Empire Strikes Back.

A drawback at both museums was the prohibition against taking photos. They should want us to show family and friends pictures from those places. My pictures are what led to my stories.

The two bucks for a ticket to ride the Monorail from downtown to the Space Needle seemed high compared to Bart but it dropped us right at the entrance of the big mall.

After shopping we ended our evening without having to make dinner for kids and concluded with a well-deserved sleep free from interruptions by crying babies.

It was a great short romantic getaway! I’m going to go back! °