Bed & Breakfast Inns are perennial favorites with romance hunters. The best collection in Washington (about 15% of the state's total) are concentrated on the south end of Whidbey Island (Clinton, Langley, Coupeville) and include cottaged by the sea or a lake, cabins in the woods, and old farmhouses serving elegant breakfasts.
At night, ferry boats glide like enourmous wedding cakes across Seattle's Elliott Bay. Watch them from city hills or on a dinner cruise of the harbor. Or ride one of these "wedding cakes" to Bainbridge Island, and on the return trip watch as the lighted city skyline rears impossibly tall before you.
One of the most romantic experiences anywhere is an enchanting sunset cruise in the Columbia River Gorge. Here, too, are wildflower walks, the best collection of major waterfalls in the country, romantic old lodges and handsome new ones. Plus Maryhill Museum, whose romantic history will touch your heart.
Watch alpen-glow lingering on the crags of Liberty Bell Peak from Washington Pass (State Route 20 in the North Cascades National Park). Not far away, in the Methow Valley, Sun Mountain Lodge is fabulous at dusk, when pine and sage perfume the evening air.
Maybe the loneliest romantic landscape in the state is the Okanogan Highlands (about 5 hours from Seattle - east of US Hwy. 97). Try autumn, when stands of aspen glow with gold.
Olympic Peninsula rain forests, huge trees shrouded in moss, are especially haunting to the romantic spirit. The Hoh Rain Forest south of Forks off US 101 is the classic.
Like a freshwater fjord, 55-mile long Lake Chelan pokes a skinny blue finger deep into the eastern flanks of the Cascade Mountains. About 3 hours northeast of Seattle, Chelan's dry climate is a magnet for rain-sodden Puget Sounders -- offering sunny getaways with posh lakeside resorts, hotels, condos and cabins.
Looking for the ultimate getaway? Head for a wilderness lodge or ranch at Stehekin - the remote village at the headwaters of Lake Chelan served only by boat and floatplane. The Stehekin River affords excellent fly fishing in the fall, superb autumn colors and access to scores of hiking trails. Ply the powder during Stehekin's moonlight snowshoe trek, offered throughout the winter.