Valentine's Day 2010

February 14, 2010 - 7:27 PM

Last year, my blog was in two segments for this holiday. In 2009, Collin and I went to Depoe Bay on the Oregon coast and came back to Eugene in time to see Swan Lake at the Hult Center.

Because we had such a wonderful time last year, we decided to schedule another beach trip for this one.

So I went online and found a hotel room for about $70, which we could split the cost for and made reservations for one of the nicer restaurants in Florence, Oregon.

As the weekend approached, I kept feeling enthralled to get out of town and head to the beach. One of my best friends left for her home town of San Diego for Valentine's Day, so Collin and I had the privilege of watching her puppy for about five days.

The day before we left, I went to the Dollar Tree in Springfield, Oregon, to see what kinds of cute Valentine's Day treats I could find. For the puppy, Bella, I got a little toy dog for her to rip to shreds, and for Collin and I, I got plastic champagne flutes and decorations for the hotel room.

The day we left, we stopped at Trader Joe's before leaving Eugene to pick up some cambezola (a combination of camembert and gorgonzola cheeses), crackers, and a pound of Belgian chocolate.
The drive to Florence was tree-lined, winding, and peacefully quiet because my '88 Toyota Corolla's radio is broken. When we arrived, we quickly checked in and went up to our room to settle in for a minute only to find a dog show on TV. Collin and I are hopeless animal lovers, so we got to press our noses against the screen and fantasize about the puppies that we will someday come to own and love.

Then we got our surrogate puppy and took her to the beach. We took her off her leash and let her run freely around the sand. Like a tracking dog, she weaved in an "S" shape around the shore, stopping to dig briefly before tracking a different smell. She responded well to our voice commands and didn't attack any other dogs (which is always the risk with the little 11-pound beauty).

We strolled for a while in the early sunset, which was just peaking through the overcast sky, and wrote our names in a heart on the sand, which, Collin would later find, matched the card I got him for Valentine's Day.

Okay, as a gross side note, we also saw a dead beached seal that sort of blended in with the driftwood that it was resting near, and the only way I could tell it was a seal was because I detected its fins after investigating further (its face was gone).

Anyway! Then we got back to the car and drove back home to get ready for our dinner reservation.
When we got there, we snacked on the cheese and crackers that we packed and I gave Collin my gift. He had already given me two bouquets of flowers, which were standing proudly in a pitcher on my dining room table in Eugene.

For Collin's present, I had spent the week painting a "stellar mass." This term I am taking astronomy, and although the subject matter isn't my cup of tea, I did derive a love metaphor from the qualities of main-sequence stars' structure.

On the back of the painting, I had attached an exposé of the parallels between our love and the structure of a star.

Needless to say, it was the corniest thing either of us had ever laid eyes on, but it fell into the criteria that we ought not to spend too much money on each other, but that we do what we can from the bottom of our hearts.

Then we went to a romantic dinner at the Waterfront Depot, which was an a-typical restaurant, but one that had fantastic food at "stellar" prices (sorry, I couldn't help myself). Collin got braised lamb shank, and I got a lobster, crab, and shrimp linguini in white wine Alfredo sauce. Before we left, we took a stroll around the building, which sat on a river that reflected the lights of the moon and the small town that overlooked the water heading out to sea.

The restaurant was in Old Town Florence, and we stayed at the Old Town Inn, so we were able to walk to and from the restaurant.

When we got back, we indulged in that delicious Belgian chocolate, which may have been the best chocolate I've ever had.

We ended the evening with a dose of "Die Hard" with Bruce Willis (who said this was a woman's holiday?).

We woke up leisurely the next day, and Collin brought coffee back to room after generously being the one to let the dog out. Then we packed up our stuff and headed back to Eugene. Again, the drive was hardly wet, and the view was beautiful to behold the whole way home. The baby pup sat quietly in the back seat, coming up only to give us quick kisses, then going back to lay down again.
When we got home, Collin had school work to do, so I went home and pampered myself for the actual holiday celebration. I took off my chipping nail polish and read copies of Sunset and Cosmopolitan magazines.

Again, we had a fabulous Valentine's Day on the Oregon coast, bringing home souvenirs from beach. Last year, we brought home rocks that we signed for the occasion; this year, we found nice pieces of driftwood, making sure to avoid the seal.