"Romantic" Getaway Weekend

Romance. It's the thing Valentine's Day is all about. It's kisses...and flowers...and sunset walks on the beach...and chocolate...and...

Right?

For Christmas, Jim gave me a "getaway weekend" down to Imperial Beach during MLK Jr. Weekend. We love going down there to the drive-in theater, which brings back tons of fun, nostalgic, childhood memories for me. Because it's so far south (right across from the Mexican border), we usually just spend the night down there at a cheap hotel. We have a favorite one that's right on the beach. I'm talking sand and waves right at your window. It's kind of a dump, but you can't beat the view (or the price).
Unfortunately, this time, it was closed. Apparently, they're tearing it down to build a bigger, better "boutique" hotel. There goes our cheap ocean-front room...But Jim did find a Travelodge a couple blocks away. Not quite the same romantic aura, but it did have free continental breakfast (we're suckers for free!)...

So we raced through a book reading/signing at the public library, and jumped into Jim's pre-packed Jeep, and headed away to our getaway. We checked into the hotel, ordered the $10 Pizza Hut special (they were out of large crusts so they gave us 2 mediums...such a deal!), went to Jack in the Box for 2 Oreo Shakes (that was our first date together), and set up camp at the drive-ins (cushions, sleeping bags, pillows, etc. make for quite a comfy nest!).
Jim got "Book of Eli" with Denzel Washington as our first feature (the other option was "Daybreakers," and I'm just not into R-rated, scary vampires), and then I got "Twilight: New Moon" for the second round (romantic vamps are another story). "Book of Eli" was surprisingly excellent. It's rated R for violence and some language, but it's about preserving the Bible and the power of the words within. Definitely a different approach to a Christian movie than the one we took in our movie, but we both really liked it. (BTW, we almost NEVER watch R-rated movies, just on principle, so it's ironic that the two movies I've praised in this blog fall into that category. But they were accidental finds. And I'm glad we found them...) "Twilight" was well... you know. Jim fell asleep.

The next day on our way to the beach, we drove past our credit union, where it just so happens we needed to sign some papers, but there are no offices in north county. So we made a u-turn and did some business. Romantic.





At the beach we got ice cream cones and walked down the pier. Then we spent some time reading. Then it got cold.


And meanwhile, Jim had caught a head cold and had been sneezing and draining snot uncontrollably since the previous day. Lovely.

So all in all, I wouldn't call this weekend "romantic" in the mushy-love-roses-and-chocolate sort of way. Due to all the snot, I don't think we kissed even once :o(. But we had a great time together. Jim didn't answer his cell phone. I didn't do any school work. And we just hung out. Like the good ol' times.

It was definitely worth it.

How about you? What are some "romantic" ways you keep the spark alive in your marriage?