Patch Picks: 5 Best Places to 'Pop the Question'

"A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, and Thou," as the Persian poet wrote. But if you have a marriage proposal for Valentine's Day, we would add—don't forget the ring!

Our restaurants, with requisite candlelight, are fine places to propose, but we also have very special places just outside the door, with sights that can set your heart a-soaring.

• : With 3,800 acres, you can easily find a place to be alone and inspired. If you're feeling energetic, take the 4-mile hike up to Black Mountain (elevation 2,800 feet) and promise your love all that lies before you (or at least fantasize).
• : This little corner of the park can be busy or it can be totally deserted some afternoons. Choose a sunlit spot at a picnic table, beneath the redwood trees, with Adobe Creek babbling by on one side. Best of all, you can park close by, if you like your inspiration close-in and accessible.
• Juan Prado Reserve in Los Altos Hills: Get out your hiking shoes and park at either end of this little spot, where you can get high up and see much to desire, with your desired. (It's accessible from Dawson Drive on one side and Stonebrook Drive on the other.) 

• If time is short, transport yourself to a time of genteel pace on a bench on the quiet grounds of the Los Altos History Museum complex. Amid the chicks 'n' hens, the hydrangeas and abundance of flora, you'll find the right words for your beloved.
• :  You'll find rustic beauty—and want to snuggle up— in this cabin Frank Duveneck built for his wife, Josephine. There's a double bed, electricity, a French Press coffee maker, cold running water—and an outhouse with a view. There's just enough splendid isolation—and proximity to humanity—on the Trust's 1,600 acres to find the place to ask The Question. As of this writing, Valentine's Day is open ($60 weekday). And so is Feb. 18-20 (weekend rates of $265 apply). Call 650-949-8648.
•  Bonus Pick—Main and State streets plaza: This is in plain sight, downtown. Under the watchful gaze of Walter Singer (Mr. Los Altos bust), you'll find both imagined approbation, and possibly an audience!