Monday, June 8, 2015

There's Nothing to Do Here In The Summer and That's Unacceptable

Remember when Matt and I took our first trip up to Virginia for his interview? It was still technically summertime for the university, and Matt and I noticed a very weird phenomenon: basically everything in this city closes down before 10 p.m. in the summer time.

On that trip, we had gotten back to our hotel room at perhaps 9 or 9:30 p.m., still wired and ready to go do something, and so we decided we should find someplace fun to hang out. Because we are not lame people! We are fun people! (Ha.) So we drove around. For a good half hour or so. And not a single place was still open, except for this burger-hot-dogs-milkshakes-coffee-pastries (??) restaurant called Cookout (which we did not stop at, but Matt is still curious, so I imagine we will go at some point). We were like, how is this town so dead on a weekend night?

And then, because we weren't living here yet, we didn't think about it again.

Admittedly, over the past few months, I haven't been quite so into getting out and seeing new things of my own volition. I'm not entirely sure why. A minor funk, if you will? I've been so bored, and so tired, so I haven't wanted to do much. I didn't feel that "sparkle" that makes me want to do crazy things and tell awesome stories. But I'm getting restless again, and I hope that means the sparkle is on its way back.

So on Friday night, I told Matt we should go do something, and it should not involve eating or staring at screens, because I had done an awful lot of both of those things earlier in the day. And it took us a good half hour to figure out what was even open. It was pouring rain and I wanted to go walking or something, and Matt suggested we go for a walk at the mall, but it turns out the mall was already closed at 9 p.m. He suggested we go get drinks at this Mexican restaurant, but by the time we got there, they were sweeping the floors and the last patrons were leaving.

We did end up going and playing a round of laser tag at the bowling alley. That was still open (and good thing Matt thought of it too, because I didn't know this place existed). And then when we left, there were two cop cars in the parking lot and it looked like they might have been about to arrest someone for drunk driving.

Exciting times in Virginia.

I'm going to have to take some time to think of new things to do, so we don't wind up not having any ideas like this again next time.

What do you like to do for fun on weekend nights? What have you been up to lately?

12 comments

  1. Glad you found something to do!


    We've discovered that most of the downtown area, here, rolls up the sidewalks when the sun goes down, there's just not that much going on! Instead, we try to go exploring in the early afternoon (like we did this Saturday) and leave the evenings to home.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katie @ A Beautiful Little AdvJune 8, 2015 at 2:16 PM

    Oh no! I'm sorry your town is so dead at night and during the summer. Can you do more during the day and then make your own fun at night? More weekend trips?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I mean, there are people that live here that are not students too, I don't understand why everything has to close! I suppose I'll have to start planning earlier excursions.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm hoping for more weekend trips soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh man, that IS unacceptable! I'm glad you guys were able to find something to do anyway. I feel like I would be a perfect candidate to live in that town year round...we rarely do anything out in the world on weekend nights...our house, or sometimes friends houses. We're the coolest ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This makes me miss our game nights!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I do like hosting friends and doing dinner and games at home or at friends' places. We need to make more friends here!

    ReplyDelete
  8. MEEE TOOOOOO. I miss you guys a lot. The other day boss brought in a mango-flavored cake and I tried really hard not to laugh because it made me think of you and Chi. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. We don't do much at night since my boys go to bed by 8 pm, but we like to take day trips during the day. Maybe you could try exploring the areas around your city. Are there any small towns with cute coffee or antique shops? We usually set out mid-morning, stop some place for lunch and explore a bit, and then head home in the afternoon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm not sure about small towns near us - our town itself is pretty small! - but I do have some day-trip type things I want to do … in some of the larger cities near us!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cookout is AMAZING you have to try it.



    And I don't know if it's your thing or not but I'm pretty sure the ballroom studio (Sapphire, I think they're called?) continues to do swing dances and the like on weekends (at least Fridays) even when students are not in town. But yes, it is a sleepy little town in summertime (which is part of why I want to move back! lol)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'll have to give it a shot soon. :) I just had someone tell me about ballroom on Fridays yesterday too.


    I grew up in Dallas and have always lived in decent-sized cities, so I'm used to having options! I always thought College Station was a sleepy college town, but it's even bigger than Roanoke!

    ReplyDelete