Top Five Valentine’s Day Destinations (for Singles ONLY!)

As you’ve probably already heard from any number of your jaded single friends, Valentine’s Day is a "purely commercial holiday" that was devised by "florists and greeting card companies" to exploit your love of your significant other.

What a travesty.

It might surprise you to find out that most couples are willing to overlook the … turmoil and deep political ramifications of Valentine’s day just to spend the day celebrating their love for each other. There are some that just don’t recognize the holiday altogether.

Others still are separated by work or family affairs … perhaps on hiatus or even newly separated from a lengthy marriage.

So what about those singles? What can they do on this, such a contentious holiday?

Sure, every run-down restaurant in town will have a "romantic twilight dinner" special, but what about those of us who want to give the day a certain meaning … to still celebrate some kind of holiday?

Well—how about a trip?

Today, we’re going to look at the Top 5 Valentine’s Day Destinations (for Singles Only!). Let’s get started …

Destination 5: Nowheresville, Ohio

When we start talking about "Dream Destinations" (especially this close to Groundhog’s Day), your mind will probably start conjuring images of tropical paradise and warm, sunkissed shores.

Why, then, would we take you to the middle of a state that’s currently below freezing temperature? Well, there are two reasons …

One; the Pro Football Hall of Fame is in Canton, Ohio. That’s right … hey, we’re single on Valentine’s Day after all, aren’t we? So why not indulge our passions anyway in the NFL’s most hallowed grounds?

There, in the birthplace of America’s favorite sport, you can get lost in the sights and sounds of the sport you loved since you were a kid. Get in touch with the memorabilia—the jerseys and the trophies and game balls—that your personal idol carried with them to greatness on the field.

Not a football fan? Well, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is just a little over an hour away by car, so you’ll still be knocking something off your bucket list one way or another. While you’re there, you can indulge in Columbus’ thriving foodie scene or the state’s gifted microbrews.

Still though, you ask, Ohio in February?

Hey it’s great cigar weather, isn’t it?

Destination 4: Delray Beach, Florida

Alright so we’re taking you to paradise as requested. But this one’s cheating a bit; because if you really want to get the most out of it, you’re going to have to come a week early …

That’s because Delray Beach’s Annual Garlic Festival runs Febraury 6th through the 8th this year.

Oh yeah, you’re with me. Nobody to kiss … no one to offend … why not indulge in that most pungent of aromatics, the enignmatic and boisterous clove of garlic.

Come as America’ s most fun small town shuts down a solid half-mile of Atlantic Avenue—their main drive— while cooks, vendors and competitors come from all over to peddle their wares.

Great food, great live music, usually incredible weather and all for a good cause, with profits all going to a local non-profit serving education and arts organizations for youth.

It’s a poignant, fair-weather festival where busy South Florida dresses down for some good old small town fun.

If you’re reading this a few weeks late for the Garlic Festival then don’t fret; just a few miles up the road Lake Worth’s incredible Street Painting Festival doesn’t kick off until February 21st this year, with a whole weekend of local artists scrawling their chalk masterpieces on big city pavement …

Destination 3: Savory Sacramento

If your tastes run a little mellow—but you want to stick with the warm weather—then you can opt for Sacramento’s sweet potato festival, taking place on February 14th.

Just stew on that idea for a second … a sweet potato festival.

If you haven’t been to one, it’s going to be hard for us to commit the real beauty of something like this to words. That kind of thing would take a poet. Suffice it to say … remember your mom’s sweet potato pie? Now imagine that hundreds of moms made sweet potato pie, and they all brought them to the tranquil paradise that is Sacramento.

Yes, we want sweet potato pie now too.

Destination 2: Vegas

We went back and forth on this one because it’s just such a gimme. If you’re going somewhere alone on Valentine’s Day; on the spur of the moment, then it should probably be Vegas.

It is a perfect sixty six degrees in Las Vegas right now. The bright lights are starting to shine against the sinking sun and a world of possibilities is awakening before you. Shows, clubs, nightlife, world-class food and luxury amenities—the very best of what you could ever want, all right at your fingertips.

With everyone from Andrew Dice Clay to Cirque de Soleil on tap for February, it’s hard for anyone to make the case against Vegas; couples included.

But if you’re there as a single on Valentine’s Day, you’re uniquely positioned to get more out of that town than any family or couple ever could. The same way that a new college student celebrates not having a mom around by leaving his room dirty … same basic principle. The city is yours.

Destination 1: Washington, DC

Weren’t expecting that one, were you?

That’s sort of the idea behind our number one pick here. A little bit of the unexpected … the offbeat.

We’ve indulged our passions and our tastes with things like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Delray Beach Garlic Festival … so why not indulge our minds with the Smithsonian Museums … with a viewing of a Congressional Session from the Gallery.

To some it might sound nerdy but to an eager history buff, a trip to any one of the Smithsonian’s 19 museums is simply a time warp; a place you wander into early in the afternoon only to saunter out of late at night wondering where you’ve been for so long.

It’s not as carefree as Vegas or as indulgently perfect as a Sweet Potato festival in Sacramento, but a few days’ visit in the nation’s Capital can do a great deal for your sense of place. That way the "shallow, commercial" nature of the holiday won’t get to you

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