Easy Adventures and Everyday Getaways: 9 Ways to Play This Summer

Don’t let the summer get away from you.

Because the full and busy life that Fall brings will be on us all soon enough. :)

It’s July, and I’ve been planning out our Secret Adventures for 2014-2015 season, so the art of play is on my mind a lot. Do you have a special request, or a few favorites that you’d love for us to do if we could? If you do, better tell me! You can use the comments below.

And as I do this for what will be our FOURTH year (can you believe it?!), I’m also thinking about what it takes to create an Adventure that works. I’ve learned a lot since that very first night, when I led some of you on a surprise full moon hike to Look Rock. When we kick off this August, I’ll be adding to the mix, a chance to share some of those lessons with you, as well.

In the mean time, here’s a few of my favorite ideas, in no particular order, to help you make the most of these long, lovely sunny days right here at home – before they disappear into the rear view.

Set up your own spa day. Spend an afternoon getting a massage and a facial, then follow it up with a manicure and a pedicure. Top the day off sharing a leisurely favorite beverage with your best friend at an outdoor restaurant.

Splurge on a harmless day of window shopping. A few hours dreaming stirs your imagination without hurting your budget. :) That might mean spending a couple of hours trying out the couches at your favorite furniture stores, or combing through the stacks of a local used bookstore. When I had a house full of pre-schoolers, allowing myself a few hours to wander through my favorite strip of antique stores was a delicious ‘escape’.

Plan a personal picnic. Pack a folding camp chair, a pair of water shoes, a good book or your journal, and a small cooler with snacks and something cold to drink. If you live near the mountains, as I do, there are countless options for taking an afternoon off for some solo quiet time. Find a pull-off with a view, set your chair up in the grass, and enjoy the comings and goings of others while reading, Being, and breathing the fresh air. My favorite – especially on a hot summer day – is to plant my chair IN a shallow creek for an hour or two. Just be careful about keeping your books dry!

Play tourist in your hometown. Pretend that you’re a first time visitor to your city. Where would you start? Usually – you’d go to the local Visitor Center, pick up a couple of brochures, and ask the earnest young woman working the desk for advice about what to see. Many people never see the local sites that others drive 100’s of miles to explore. What are you missing that’s in your own backyard?

Widen your perspective. Start with your home city, but look at other cities and towns within an hour of where you live. What’s there that you’ve missed? Is there a museum that you’ve always heard of but never visited? Could you take a scenic train ride? Is there a local amusement park? (And if there is, who said you have to have kids to go ride a roller coaster?)

Go for a drive. Some of my best afternoons have been spent in a car I love to drive, windows down, music playing, driving the scenic roads in my part of the country. Now – my backyard is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so I’ll admit to an unfair home advantage. But even driving through a new neighborhood to see what they’re building, trying out a country road to see where it goes, seeing if you can get from point A to point B without hitting a main road. All of those can be fun. (Oh – and cranking up Beethoven with your windows down at a stoplight can be a real hoot if teens are nearby.)

Get some culture. Almost any music is better live than it will ever be on a radio. Where could you hear some live music in your area? For those of you reliving your teen years, a little southern rock at a smoky bar can still feel like a little forbidden pleasure. For those who just can’t stay up that late any more, there are bbq spots with live blues, pizza joints with country & folk, and free outdoor concerts hosted by your hometown symphony or even a top-notch professional band. Comb through the calendar listings of your local papers for ideas. And don’t limit yourself to the daily news. In our area, a local alternative weekly has the most complete listing of local events I’ve ever seen.

Go outside and play. When you were a kid, did your mom ever tell you to turn off that TV and go outside to play? Well – she was on to something there. Human beings are natural beings, and too much time under florescent lights breathing stale air stifles the best of us. Go walk the greenway. Feed the ducks. Ride your bike. Take a day hike in the woods. Try a Saturday morning kayaking class and see how easy it is to float your way out of a stressful week.

Become a kid again. Plan a movie night with all your childhood favorites. (Mary Poppins? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?) Set up a tent in your backyard, grab a stack of Nancy Drew mysteries from your local library (or your favorite adult spy novels), and pile up pillows and blankets for a night under the stars. Blow bubbles. Chase fireflies. Have your girlfriends over and sit on the porch until long after dark, listening to the night music in your yard. Better yet – pull out some cushions and a sleeping bag and sleep right there on the porch. An astounding variety of birdsong will wake you just at sunrise, a beautiful way to start any day.

Me? For now, I’m just gonna take my glass of tea and sit on the porch for a while. :)

How about you?

What’s on your summer bucket list?

~Wendy

P.S. Oh – and one more thing.

I am super excited about this! In August, I’ll be holding a free one hour tele-seminar, where I’ll share with you some of my secrets for planning Everyday Adventures that work. If you’ve been curious about how you could use my Everyday Adventure model in your own business this is for you. Details are over on the website. Register there and I’ll send you everything you need to hop on the call!!

_{Photo Credit: “Michael” on Flickr}