Which Washington town is the most romantic? Port Townsend? La Conner? Leavenworth? Guess again.
Depending on which of two surveys you believe, it's either -wait for it - Vancouver or Tacoma. After analyzing pre-Valentine's Day sales figures, Amazon.com reports the state's most romantic city is Vancouver, Washington. And it's the 11th most lovey-dovey city in the nation. The results are based on sales data of romance novels and relationship books, romantic comedy movies, with "sexual wellness" products, along with Barry White albums.
But hang on. Different results released by Yelp.com, a website that allows users to review and rate local businesses, indicate the most romantic city in America is Tacoma. Says the SeattleP-I.com's Vanessa Ho:
As in, Tacoma – gritty port city overshadowed by tourist-magnet Seattle, former mill town with aroma issues – is the most romantic city. In the entire country.
Yelp's results are based on a complicated mathematical formula called the Wilson score. But basically, they sum it up this way:
It all starts with identifying a set of romantic queries such as searches for “romantic restaurants”, “chocolate covered strawberries”, and even “lingerie”, which occur in a statistically significantly greater proportion the week before Valentine’s Day than at other times during the year.
And the cities that could use a little more heat in the love department? El Monte, Calif.; Paterson, N.J.; and Miami Gardens, Fla. They came in with the fewest overall Amazon purchases in the romantic categories.
Do you agree with the analyzes? What makes Tacoma romantic - or not - for you? What Washington city would you pick?
