This has been a tough year and frankly, my wife and I needed an opportunity to escape. My conditions were that it had to be somewhere fun, relatively close to home, have a private entrance with no elevators, and be impeccably clean. Those are clearly different conditions than I might have used when selecting a place for a quick weekend getaway in the past but these are different times. Thankfully, I was more than happy after my hosted stay at the Hideaway Santa Barbara. 

Traditionally, our wives and girlfriends sit and wait for us to pick a hotel that they want for Valentine's Day - but why can't we turn the tables and do things differently? We scoured the internet looking for epic hotel ideas that will inspire romance this Valentine's Day in a completely different manner than the typical 4-star resort with breakfast in bed!

Each of these motels caters to fantasies or have themed rooms that will make your Valentine's Day that much more fun compared to a leeway gooey, boring romantic night at a typical hotel with red roses and chocolates.

Last month, Heather and I set forth to escape the summer heat in San Diego and head north to Carmel-by-the-Sea, located just south of San Francisco. Our host on this trip was the absolutely beautiful Carmel Country Inn, a bed and breakfast that offered us a 2 bedroom suite.