How To: Romanticize Arizona in the Summer
Stop saying you hate living here and there's nothing to do! It's boring!
Well, friends. Our dreaded triple-digit weather is upon us. But this year, I’m dedicated to getting out of the house as much as possible (or at least having a lot of fun while I’m stuck inside of it).
I’ve spent the last few months drafting up an Arizona summer bucket list filled with all of the indoor and air-conditioned activities I could think of, and I’m sharing it here so we can all gaslight ourselves into romanticizing summer in the desert and combat our seasonal depression together. Let’s get into it.
Join the 5am Club.
I swear, I’m not trying to be one of those wellness influencers preaching for you to wake up earlier to *change your life*. It’s genuinely the only time its bearable enough to be outside while the sun’s out.
During a season where 99% of our time has to be spent indoors, having even just one hour of time outside has been really nice. As someone who typically sleeps in a bit during the fall and winter, having these few extra hours of daylight in the summer gives me the time to have a slow morning, every morning.
I usually spend this time taking a long walk with Boba through the neighborhood, but it can be as simple as sitting outside with your coffee and a book.
Movies. A lot of movies.
Our friend group loves any opportunity for a watch party, and we already have a long list of movies to keep us occupied through the summer.
We’re currently rotating through our friend group, each of us getting to pick a “no questions asked” movie to share with everyone. This is usually paired with a potluck style family dinner (or takeout from whatever we’re feeling that day), and it’s been an easy, low-stress way of getting our friends together throughout the week.
For the days we want to get out of the house, we’ll usually head to our local theater (sneaking in tote bags full of our favorite drinks and snacks, of course). This summer has a promising list of films, including Eddington (Ari Aster’s new movie), Oh Hi (a rom-com with Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman), Together (starring my favorite celebrity couple, Dave Franco and Alison Brie), and Fantastic Four (featuring my Stranger Things heartthrob, Joseph Quinn).
Or, if you just want a simple date night at home (with your partner, or yourself), Jeffrey and I love dragging our mattress out into the living room and having a “sleepover” when we want to make movie night feel a little extra special.
Get creative with dinner parties.
I always love a good dinner party, but for the sake of romanticizing our summer, I wanted to get a little more creative with them. Instead of just inviting friends over for dinner, add an activity into the mix. Here are some of my personal ideas:
“Tell Me About Your Trip” parties: since summer is a popular season for travel, I wanted a way to give my friends the space to give a full, in-depth debrief about their vacation rather than the simple, “it was good!” response you usually get after asking someone about their trip. Start with a group dinner (feel free to theme the provisions based on where they went!), then end the evening with their trip presentation (it can be as simple as going through their camera roll, but it’s more fun if they go all-in with a Powerpoint presentation!).
At home trivia night: pick a theme (early 2000s DCOMs, songs from college, a “guess who” out of old statuses collected from your friends’ Facebook pages), have everyone bring over their favorite bar food, break people up into groups, and even give out a prize if you’re feeling it (in our house, it’ll likely be a Chili’s gift card).
Bring your favorite game night: invite a few friends, lay out some finger foods, have everyone bring their favorite board game (preferably one that can be played in 15 minutes or less), and play 1-2 rounds of each person’s pick. (I could also see this being done as a “show me your favorite YouTube video” night, where everyone brings 1-2 unhinged YouTube videos that they want to share).
Take your book to a coffee shop or cocktail bar.
While I love getting to cozy up with a book at home, I think it’s fun to make mundane activities feel *elevated* every once in a while. In the summer, I love taking a book out to one of my favorite coffee shops or cocktail bars, parking myself in a secluded corner, and getting lost in a story for a few hours.
Reading in public makes you hotter. It’s a proven fact.
Utilize the Resort Pass.
We are surrounded by some of the best resorts in the country and I personally can’t wait to use the Resort Pass to get together with my girlfriends, order margs at the bar, and sit by the pool while we wait for fall weather to come back around.
My personal favorite is the Lylo Swim Club and bar at Rise Uptown, but we may just venture out to Scottsdale to try out the Scott and Royal Palms.
Take surf lessons at Revel.
I have been itching to get on a surfboard this summer and have recently come to learn that I don’t even need to leave the state to do it.
My friend Bailee recently introduced me to Revel Surf, a surf park in Mesa that gives us a beach-like experience right here in the desert. They offer surf lessons (for those who want to learn), a white sand beach (for those who just want to lounge), and a tide pool (for those who want to swim).
As someone who’s always wanted to learn to surf, we loved getting to try in a more low-risk setting like this. Looking forward to sunbathing and reading on the sand here as often as I can.
Take up indoor sports.
Rent an indoor pickleball court at Electric Pickle.
Play badminton at the Arizona Badminton Center.
Take up rock climbing and bouldering at Black Rock.
Rent a gym at Kiwanis Park and play basketball with friends.
Name any sport, and someone in Arizona has probably found a way to play it indoors.
Get an annual pass to the Phoenix Art Museum.
We love coming here to look through the galleries and rotating exhibits, but it’s also a great place to get our steps in when it’s hot outside. We’ll likely be here once a week, and maybe even become amateur art historians in the process by choosing an artist to overanalyze and research every time we visit.
Tip: the Art Museum is free on Wednesdays after 3! So if you want to make this a weekly affair without paying any fees, be sure to go then.
Mall walks.
Don’t laugh at me, I’m serious! Stop fighting the inner eighty year old inside of you and take a long walk through the mall.
When the weather hits 120° and I’ve been stuck at home for days, there is nothing better than a stroll through the crisp, frigid air conditioning at Scottsdale Fashion Square with a guava lemonade from Pita Jungle in hand. It is, unironically, a great way to get your steps in and I will unapologetically be doing this all summer long.
Embrace your inner kid.
Do you remember all of those places you’d go for your friends’ birthday parties back in elementary school? Well, embrace your inner kid and go as an adult.
Roller skate at Skateland.
Spend the day at Sunsplash.
Jump around at a trampoline park.
Go bowling at Let It Roll (or duck bowling at Châm Pang Lanes!).
Ice skate at your local ice rink.
Race go karts at K1.
Decorate a cake at A Flour Shop.
Go mini golfing at night at Golfland.
Take a class.
Here a few ideas to get you started:
Learn a new skill on Skillshare.
Take a pottery class at Pip Coffee and Clay.
Improve your gardening skills with a class at the Desert Botanical Garden.
Make your own rug at TüTügether.
Try improv at Second Beat.
Take a woodworking class at Phoenix Forge.
Learn how to cook a new dish at Sur la Table (or maybe have your parents teach you a family recipe).
Hire a tennis instructor.
Summer school is cool, and I will personally be spending this extra free time learning as much as I can. On my summer schedule: surfing lessons at Revel, a nature class at the botanical garden, a sewing lesson from mom, and getting my Lagree certification.
Spend a weekend up north.
And finally, when the heat becomes unbearable and starts to go to your head, take a weekend trip up north.
Here’s what I have on my Northern Arizona bucket list so far:
Hike Humphrey’s Peak with Natalie. Treat ourselves to a soak in the hot tub at High Country Motor Lounge afterwards.
Get breakfast at That Apple Pan in Prescott and kayak Watson Lake.
Take a camping trip near Payson with our friends.
Hike the Thompson Trail in Greer.
Swim at Fossil Creek again.
And if and when the opportunity provides itself, go run around outside during the monsoons.
*cue Natasha Bedingfield*
Yesss needed this on the hottest fricken day today! Love the Phoenix forge shout out - adding sewing classes there to the list!
As someone who grew up in the desert, we also would wait until after sunset and just hangout in someones garage or lawn after dark with beers when it would start to cool down. LOTS of fun philosophical and silly conversations were had!