By Howell Dawdy
Whether you are planning a first date and want to seem interesting or you are in a long-term relationship and want to seem interesting, these can’t-miss date ideas are sure to inspire a fun and unpredictable evening for you and your however-significant other.
Lizard Sitting
Some people have lizards in their home, like how you might have a dog or a kid in yours. What a great opportunity for you and your boo to take a temporary trip back to the
Flintstone age and hang out with a domesticated dinosaur. Find your lizard owner in the reptile classifieds or on a pet-sitting app and offer them the night off. Your date will love putting a little hat on a bearded dragon and filming their most-viewed Instagram story of 2020. Plus, pet sitting is a great opportunity to find out if other people’s furniture is more comfortable than yours.
Get Matching Bangs
Here’s a chance to show off both your impulsive wild side and your commitment to your partner: get the same haircut. Reserve a sunset chair at a nice salon and let the hairdresser know you’re having a romantic evening, so they won’t need to fill time with that story about how their roommate got their identity stolen after chatting up some guy in a Boba Fett mask on Halloween in New Orleans. Two supercuts and a bottle of champagne later, you and your date will be butterfly kissing your one-inch bangs together under the Kentucky moon.
The Pacino Walk
Most Louisville residents know the legend of the infamous Pacino Walk: In the summer of 1998, when Al Pacino was in town filming Michael Mann’s The Insider, Pacino and some of his fellow castmates enjoyed a nice Italian dinner at Vincenzo’s on Fifth Street. The rest of the entourage took a cab back to the Seelbach, but Pacino decided he’d rather walk the four blocks and practice some lines. He got lost and, two and a half hours later, called his panicked assistant from what used to be Stop Lite Liquors on River Road. Much of the official walk has changed over the years (diehards have been caught trying to hop the fence at Slugger Field to take the official route, which I cannot recommend for legal reasons), but the spirit of a long, drunken, pasta-fueled amble under Spaghetti Junction while loudly rehearsing lines from The Insider remains as potent and romantic as ever.
Date Snatching
Here’s a fun little heist for you and your significant other: Steal someone else’s date. Pick a convenient gas station in town and stake it out before dinner. You’ll no doubt spot a couple on their way to somewhere fancy. Follow them at a safe distance and mimic their date. Let your waiter know you’ll have what they’re having, and that you’ll need your check at the same time, since you’ll be following them to the next stop on this romantic night out. Who knows what odd entrées you might encounter. Roast duck paired with a white wine? A Pepsi and a trip to the salad bar? Imagine what after-dinner entertainment you could find yourself enjoying: ice skating? An a cappella concert? One of those new Planet of the Apes movies? Are they still making those? People acted like those were good.
Solve a Crime
True crime is huge right now. Odds are, if you’re reading this, either your partner is obsessed with true crime or you are. So why not spice up your love life with an ice-cold case…of crime! Pretend to have a podcast called something like A Conflict of Truth and interview some people who saw a crime years ago. You’ll probably end up having misgivings about the fine line between advocacy and exploitation, but, hey, that’s the fun of true crime. (Note: If this suggestion leads you and your main squeeze to a lucrative development deal of any kind, you should cut me in on it. Just saying.)
This originally appeared in the February 2020 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find us on newsstands, click here.
Illustrations by Madddie Weiner
