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Girlfriend Getaways: Where to Go When You Need
to Get Away from Everyone But Your Friends
by Jeannine Hall Gailey

There are times when you just need time away to bond with the girls – away from the expectations of your daily life, your job, your chores and routines, your spouse/significant other/children. Fortunately, when you and your friends need some bonding time, there are plenty of escapes in Washington state, most within driving distance. No matter what your interests, be it spas and shopping, getting back to nature, or artistic pursuits, you’ll find something right for you.

Some destinations require less than a two-hour trip, and luxury doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, especially when you’re splitting the bills three ways. I’ve also included some options for those of you who want to splurge and spoil yourselves rotten.

While any day is good for a getaway, many women I spoke with plan their outings around holidays or other special occasions, guaranteeing extra fun and relaxation during what might otherwise be a stressful time.

Maria Meredith, a software marketing VP from Brier, says, “My two best girlfriends from college and I have a tradition that is not so much about a specific place but more about what we do. We all have families, jobs and busy lives, like most women. Two live in Portland, Oregon, and I live in Seattle. Every year in either November or early December, we book a hotel in either downtown Portland or downtown Seattle for the weekend. We spend the whole day Saturday doing all of our Christmas shopping (punctuated with numerous coffee, snack and drink breaks), and then take ourselves out for a fancy dinner that night. After dinner we watch movies in our jammies and start wrapping presents. On Sunday morning, we order room service and continue wrapping. By the time we check out on Sunday, we have all our gifts bought and wrapped, which greatly reduces the stress and busyness of the holiday season.”

Too busy for elaborate planning or a long trip? Many local hotels and resorts offer special “Girlfriend” packages, involving shopping, wine tastings, classes and entertainment. For example, this March Willows Lodge in Woodinville offered a Girlfriend’s Weekend Culinary Education package. The package, sponsored by Woodinville Women & Wine, cost $375 per person (double-occupancy), and included two nights at Willows Lodge plus a Welcome Reception, a winemaker’s dinner at Delille Cellars, food and wine pairings with Chef Jerry Traunfeld from the Herbfarm, cooking classes with Chef Bobby Moore from the Barking Frog, and desserts with Christina Longo, pastry chef at the Barking Frog.

Willows Lodge is in an ideal location for food and wine connoisseurs – it’s the home of two excellent, critically-acclaimed restaurants, the Herbfarm and the Barking Frog, and it is neighbored by the Chateau St. Michelle Winery and the Red Hook Brewery. The lodge also offers a picturesque herb garden complete with fountain, exotic ducks and yes, a snuffling potbellied pig. For the fitness-minded, the hotel rents bicycles so you can try out the Sammamish River Trail, which runs right by the lodge. Accommodations are quietly luxurious, with a “Northwest Zen” décor, and there is a small spa with an outdoor soaking pool and sauna on premises. Willows Lodge regularly offers these types of packages; two more scheduled Girlfriends’ events are coming up: June 24-26, 2005, Focus on Flowers and Gardening, and November 18-20, Focus on Holiday Decorating & Entertaining.

Even closer to town, the Alexis Hotel, a luxury property within easy walking distance to the Pike Place Market, the Seattle Art Museum and downtown shopping, is currently offering two packages that cater to girlfriend groups: the Downtown Divas package and the Shoppers’ package. The Downtown Divas package includes all the elements necessary to feel like a “diva:” overnight accommodations for two, spa treatments and makeup consultations at the Aveda Spa in the hotel lobby, town car service to and from Nordstrom (all those heavy bags), complimentary service from a Nordstrom Personal Shopper, and a perfume credit at Parfumerie Nasreen. Friends will be treated to Veuve Clicquot Champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and Haagen-Dazs ice cream at turndown.

Rates for the Downtown Divas package begin at $599. The package is available through Saturday, December 31, 2005. The Shoppers’ Package includes everything necessary for today’s shopaholic to hit the town: a $50 Pacific Place shopping center gift certificate, town car service to and from Pacific Place, gourmet chocolates to sustain shopping energy, overnight accommodations for two, and valet parking. Rates for the Shoppers’ Package begin at $299.

Sometimes, a getaway is just that. In such cases, consider a trek to Port Townsend. This quaint port town, about two hours by car (plus a scenic ferry ride) from Seattle, is famous for its Victorian architecture, bed & breakfasts, quaint and eclectic shops, dining and wooden shipbuilding. Try staying at Fort Worden State Park. This former Army outpost on the bluffs is a short 5-minute drive from downtown. You can rent the beautifully furnished officer’s homes that overlook the ocean – you may have seen them in An Officer and a Gentleman (filmed at the park) – from around $100 for a two-bedroom cottage to $350 plus for 11 bedrooms. Because of the popularity of the park and the cottages, reserve with the park service well in advance. This is a cost-conscious retreat in spectacular settings. With its miles of hiking and mountain biking trails, extensive shoreline, bicycle and kayak rentals, you may not even have time for in-town shopping. Fort Worden is also home to Centrum, which sponsors a jazz festival, concerts, dance, theater, literary readings, and other cultural events.

Karin Tarpley, a writer from Seattle, describes her experience this way: “I belong to a writing group and we’ve all become fast friends (four to six of us, depending on life issues). Every year we take our own “writing retreat.” The past few have been at Fort Worden outside of Port Townsend, where you can get great old houses for very little money. It’s quiet for writing, but there’s also plenty to do other than writing, and it’s a beautiful area. It books up quickly (sadly, we didn’t get in for this year) but it’s a great locale.”

For gals who want to relax in less chic or costly environs, there are several options, including the Olympus Day Spa, in Lakewood, Wash., a women-only, Korean-style spa highly recommended by many people I interviewed. Its well-priced packages (including massage, paraffin dips, and Mugwort sauna) have been featured in magazines like Lucky.

One caveat however. This place is not for the shy or overly modest. Why? Janet Knox, an environmental geochemist from Bainbridge Island, and Kelli Russell Agodon, a writer from Kingston, took a trip there to celebrate a birthday. Knox says, “The wonderful reality of Olympus Women’s Health Spa is the glorious equalizing of all. We tuck our heads into “granny-izing” little cloth shower caps, concealing perms or hairdos and transforming the wearer into an immediate goof. We remove our clothes, makeup, jewelry and don flimsy, frumpy bathrobes, nothing plush like the legendary spas of Europe. Then on the institutional tables of the massage room, we abandon all dignity. We are dough being slapped and kneaded, scrubbed and folded.”

Russell adds, “This could be their motto: Spend a day naked with friends and/or strangers and leave clean … It’s the shower cap that’s the equalizer … with the shower cap on, you are just a naked woman. No jewels, nothing except the skin you’re living in. And you are not a name, but a number. Naked Woman number 15. I think that was me. I’d go back easily. I never felt so soft.” The Spa’s restaurant offers Korean food but no overnight accommodations.

Another rustic option is the Carson Mineral Hot Springs located on the Columbia River Gorge, which was recommended by Gabriella Herkert, an attorney and author from Redmond. “Mineral baths in a women-only bathhouse with hiking, quirky cabins and a block party atmosphere. There’s a swankier resort down the road that serves a dessert buffet. The perfect getaway for a girls’ weekend.” Accommodations might be called “historic” at the cabins and lodge at Carson Hot Springs, so if you need more pampering consider, instead, the nearby Bonneville Hot Springs resort, which offers the “swankier” amenities that you and your girlfriends might require.

Want a combination of pampering, good food and hiking along a spectacular waterfall? How about skiing, kayaking and golf? Consider Salish Lodge, which is only about 40 minutes from downtown Seattle and features a newly remodeled spa, a fantastic dining room and packages that will both indulge and challenge you. I suggest meeting early for a hike to the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls (just to get the blood pumping), then indulge in the Country Breakfast, which includes steel-cut oats, pastries, yogurt and berry parfait, eggs, pancakes, and sausage … over-the-top, but great. Then you and your friends can visit the spa for anything from Thai or heated-stone massage to rose petal facials or “an earth cocoon” before retiring to the luxurious featherbeds and whirlpool tubs in the guest rooms. Try out one of the adventure packages – groups can schedule all kinds of activities, from whitewater rafting to mountain biking to rock climbing. Salish offers a variety of packages for all seasons, whether you and your friends are adrenaline junkies or spa addicts.

Looking for an island retreat? In a few hours, you can be in the San Juan Islands, home to dozens of charming bed and breakfasts and resorts, parks where you can watch a pod of Orcas at play, beaches where eagles, foxes, rabbits and other wildlife abound. Friday Harbor House on San Juan Island, Rosario Resort on Orcas Island, and the Inn at Langley on nearby Whidbey Island all feature upscale accommodations, good restaurants and amenities like relaxation pools, spas, in-room CD players and VCRs, and other luxuries. If you don’t have your own boat, these getaways all require a ferry ride or two (which sometimes have long wait times on holidays or on weekends in the summer), but you can’t beat the islands for the feeling that you have left all your worries behind.

Need still more ideas? Craving more sun? Your best bets are towns like the quaint Sequim (famous for its lavender fields) or Wenatchee, close to Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington. Both are more likely to be dry and sunny when Puget Sound is at its most miserable.

There are so many great options. There isn’t the space to include them all, or describe them in all the detail they deserve. But hopefully you’ve gotten the inspiration to plan your next girlfriend’s getaway.

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©2005 Caliope Publishing Company