Valentine's Day and a Girl's Weekend in Ocean Park

It's rare that I travel or spend a weekend away without Russ now, but sometimes it's nice to find myself without his influence. I think that different people pull different aspects of my personality forward, and although I do love who I am when we are together, I like to make space for my other selves as well. I enjoyed a girl's weekend at a friends house in Ocean Park, Washington, on the Long Beach Peninsula. We left for the beach the day after Valentine's Day, which I spent with Russ, naturally. 

The beach at Leadbetter State Park.

Sculpted sand.

My girl group.

I got my haircut and my color patch re-stained on Valentine's Day, the day before we left.  I get my haircut at Brassfields Salon and Spa, in the small town where I grew up, by a person that I graduated from high school with. I've been playing with different single colors for the patch every time I get it re-done, but this time I had him put in two colors, and I like it so much I will keep this for a while.

Valentine's treats at the salon (chocolate coffee beans).

Tin foil hat for the alien.

Applying the color.

Final texturing with a razor.

Done! I think it looks like a feather fascinator.

I made a special dinner for Valentine's Day. I do it every year because there is no way we will go out to dinner on that day... too crazy and always a weird menu. In truth, my special menu is not that special. I just make red food. So this year we had spaghetti with red sauce. I also made some scones with dried currents. We also opened one of our many bottles of wine from the last time we were in wine country.

Fancy. I even lit a candle.

The scones made a fine breakfast the next morning, too.

I drove out to Ocean Park with Gisela as my passenger. The drive out was nice, we stopped for lunch at a non-chain local restaurant. Luckily we ate lightly, because we went out to an Ocean Park favorite that night with Z.  I try to eat at Mycovio's every time I visit; it is so good. It's also quite tiny, just a few tables around an open kitchen in what was once a small house, so reservations are necessary. I usually get the fresh fish, and dessert is a must, too.

There was snow on the coast range pass.

The bay side of the peninsula.

Appetizers. Olives not pictured.

This was heavenly.

They had Valentine's Day decorations.

Z.

My posse.

Bread pudding for dessert.

 

The next day we went hiking at Leadbetter State Park. We managed a short hike before the rain really started, but decided against the longer loop because of the weather. It was a nice day to be out in nature, quiet and empty because of the impending rain.

We chose a short loop trail to avoid the rain.

Everything smelled so fresh.

The beach is very typical for our area. Good clam and crab habitat.

Tide pools.

Low tide and low clouds.

The only footprints are ours.

A short trail to get back under the trees.

Long Beach (with tire tracks). We drove this route to get back to Z's house.

Dinner at the house.

A diner for lunch on the drive home.

A bright rainbow for a perfect weekend.

Since the weather was bad, we spent most of our time chilling at the beach house with a warm fire. I'm so glad to have good friends that are easy to be with. We've been friends for decades now, and it is still fun to be together. We fixed a nice dinner, watched a movie (The Good Liar), listened to music, read our books, and relaxed. It was a bit sad to leave for home after breakfast, but time, and life, only moves in one direction. Gisela and I lucked into a 1950's style diner on the way home. The food was ok, but the vibe was immaculate. We also got a final blessing near Olympia in the form of a very bright rainbow to make up for the rainy drive.