Trippin' the Babymoon

Meg and I escaped the cold and fog of the valley for an extended weekend alone. We dropped off the offspring in Springfield at Meg's brother's house on Friday night. We ate a nice dinner at Napoli, an Italian bakery/cafe/restaurant near downtown Eugene. The we drove west over the Coast Range to Florence, then up north about 35 miles to Waldport. We stayed Friday and Saturday night at my co-worker's Shirley's house. We spent Saturday outside in amazing conditions for the middle of winter: perfectly clear, sunny, warm, and no wind. We walked around the small shops of Seal Rock, finding a Jarret Jack bobblehead on sale for only $5. He's not on the Blazers any more, but I knew Aaron wouldn't care and would appreciate having a working bobblehead after one of his friends broke his Brandon Roy one.

We eventually drove back to Waldport and walked around there, eventually stopping at the local ice cream shop. They even served Hawaiian/Japanese style shave ice, so Meg had some of that too. We went out for dinner that night with Shirley and her husband at a local eatery near the Port of Waldport.

Sunday morning we packed up and drove back south to the Cape Perpetua Visitor's Center (same place we visited in July), where I finished my Haruki Murakami book and Meg (assisted by me in the end) finished the puzzle that the visitor's center keeps out. We then drove back to Florence, checked into our ocean-front hotel, then drove to Old Town Florence, walking around the waterfront of the Siusula River and enjoying the sunshine and 60 degree temperatures. We baked our own pizza for dinner before experiencing the pool, which could rival Olinger in Salem for nastiest pool around.

Monday morning we hit Three Rivers Casino. Meg loves casino buffets, and is mildly interested in seeing how long she can make a few bucks last on the penny slot machines. But she had no luck this time: her six bucks lasted about 15 minutes, including the time walking around to find new machines to play on. Our drive home was uneventful, and our boys were safely returned to us late in the afternoon.

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