Week 1: Austin's Park

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 My boyfriend Steve and I are a pretty laid back couple. Our idea of a rockin’ Saturday night is Ken’s Donuts, Parcheesi, and a House marathon. We’ve been dating for over two years and couldn’t be happier with our “routine,” but never quite know what to say when met with the inevitable Monday morning question- “What did you do this weekend?”

So when I received a homework assignment to start a blog, I knew just what to do. How about giving couch potato couples like us inspiration to get out of the house? We could go check out all the best date locations and report back- a rendezvous review!

It wasn’t hard to convince Steve. In high school we once spent a whole school day brainstorming cute date ideas, vowing to do one a week until we'd completed the list. Steve still keeps the list in his wallet in the event we feel spontaneous, but we have yet to explore more than two of the dozens of options.

 

For our first date we decided to refer to the old list and commit to the first thing we saw- go kart racing. We were both super excited. Steve hadn’t been since a fourth grade birthday party and my last trip was cut short when my sister accidentally floored her car straight into a brick wall. We ended up at the emergency room to make sure my sister didn't have whiplash.

We had passed by a place called Austin's Park that looked like they had go karts and decided to look them up. We saw that they had a special on Friday’s- unlimited go karts, mini golf, bumper boats, laser tag, arcade games, and pizza buffet for only $15 a person.

So the next time Steve was in town I dusted off my tennis shoes and we headed for our first non restaurant date in months- Austin Parks.

When we got there at about 2 p.m., we were relieved to find that we were just ahead of the elementary school rush. We had about two hours before the lines got long, employees got grumpy, and the pizza buffet became unmentionable. 

We weren’t hungry so we headed for the bumper boats, the first thing we saw. We felt a little silly when we saw that we were the only people in line, but wanted to try everything anyway. Not surprisingly the bumper boats were uneventful and I decided I had had enough when I playfully “bumped” a single mom and her toddler and received a cold stare in exchange. 

 

Next we headed to the go karts. Although the track was short and the cars didn’t appear to go that fast it actually looked really fun. As soon as we took off I couldn’t help but laugh. Even though everyone was passing me and some people seemed a little too aggressive I was legitimately having a lot of fun.

I was really excited for mini golf. Although the course didn’t look that interesting, Steve and I  had gone mini golfing many times before and had always had a great time. I find with every sport (if you are sedentary enough to accept mini golf as a sport), my talent comes and goes on a case by case basis. As a result I never fully commit unless it looks like I'll win. Mini golf is no different- and once I got my first hole in one it got fiercely competitive. Steve ended up winning, but I had a lot of fun nonetheless.

We headed to laser tag next. I’d been a few times before and could never get myself to really enjoy it. I was always kind of grossed out by the thought that my vest had been worn by countless sweaty patrons before me and there is always something unsettling about being in a dark smoggy place with strangers- all pretending to shoot you. 

My unease was intensified as I realized that everyone else going in with us was dead serious about the game. I secretly hoped I could hide in a corner and wait it out until people decided it wasn’t fun to shoot me anymore. 

However, as soon as I walked through the door I felt a strange urge to take on my new role. It was the perfect layout- small but not simple. Something about the dark lighting and the grown men crawling SWAT style across the floor made it seem super real and exciting!

Even though the final scores confirmed I shot a lot less people than I thought I did, I now enjoy a new appreciation for laser tag and hope to try it again soon.

We finally decided to try the pizza buffet- they had other options like pasta and salad, but I figured that at a place like this simple was best. Everything was surprisingly clean, and even though the pizza didn’t taste great it didn’t matter. The whole atmosphere brought both of us down to earth and we couldn't help but smile.

 

For our last activity we went to the arcade. Although we were a little disappointed when we found out that “free arcade games” really meant “free access to five really old games if you manage to kick off a ten-year-old” we had a lot of fun shooting zombies and racing taxis.

All in all I’d say Austin Parks is a great date locale. $30 for dinner plus 6 hours of entertainment is the best deal I’ve seen in a long time.