Date Night Ideas in Austin

Setup.Comfortable shoes and a phone map with four west side towers pinned: West 9th and Guadalupe, West 15th and San Antonio, West 12th and Rio Grande, and West 12th and Blanco. Start once it is properly dark.

1. Meet at West 9th and Guadalupe after dark. Stand right underneath the tower and look up for a full minute before saying anything.
2. Walk north to West 15th and San Antonio, then over to West 12th and Rio Grande.
3. End the loop at West 12th and Blanco.
4. On the walk back, rank the four towers: best setting, best light, best view straight up.

Talk about:Only six of these towers still stand where they were put in 1895. What is one thing about you that has stayed exactly where it was since we met?

Setup.Nothing to bring. Walk up Congress Avenue to the Capitol and head for the South Foyer, where the free tours start. Open on weekends too; check hours before you go.

1. Join the next free guided tour from the South Foyer. They leave every 15 to 30 minutes and run about 40 minutes.
2. Back in the rotunda, stand on opposite sides and whisper something only the other one should hear.
3. Look down at the terrazzo floor with the seals of the six nations that have governed Texas, then up at the portraits of the Republic's presidents and the state's governors.
4. Head down into the underground Capitol Extension and find its four story, open air inverted rotunda.
5. Finish outside on the Great Walk, then cross to the 1857 General Land Office building on the southeast corner of the grounds, now the Capitol Visitors Center.

Talk about:If you could whisper one thing across this room and know only I would hear it, what would it be?

Setup.An afternoon when both are open; both close on Mondays, so check hours for each before you go. Leave snacks and water bottles behind, since no food or drink is allowed in the Blanton galleries or inside Austin.

1. Start at the Harry Ransom Center on West 21st Street. Find the Gutenberg Bible, and the Niépce heliograph if it is on view, and give each one a slow, quiet minute.
2. Walk across campus to the Blanton on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
3. Go to Austin first. Stay inside for ten quiet minutes and each claim one window as yours.
4. Split up in the galleries for twenty minutes, then bring each other to the one piece you want the other to see.
5. Finish outside under the big shade petals on the Moody Patio and compare windows.

Talk about:If an archive could keep only one object from our life together, what should it be?

Setup.A blanket, a picnic, bug spray and plenty of water. Low ground chairs only, since high back chairs are limited to ADA seating and the top of the hillside. Check zilker.org for this summer's show dates and for when blankets can go down.

1. Arrive early enough to lay your blanket and claim a patch of hillside.
2. Unpack the picnic while it cools off. The concessions stand covers whatever you forgot.
3. Watch the show. Sing along quietly if you absolutely must.
4. If you loved it, donate on the way out. The company is a nonprofit and donations keep it free.

Talk about:If our relationship were a musical, what would the big second act number be about?

Setup.Comfortable shoes and water. Aim for a weekday: the walled gardens close to visitors when they are rented for events, and midweek is when they are most often open. Leave any dog at home, since pets are not allowed and the peafowl see them as predators.

1. Enter at 3505 West 35th Street and loop the gardens around the old cottage. Keep a running peacock count.
2. Sit by the lily and lotus ponds for a while and watch for koi and turtles under the pads.
3. Take the walking trails out into the preserve.
4. Walk next door to Laguna Gloria, The Contemporary Austin's 14 acre site on Lake Austin, for the sculpture park and the grounds of the 1916 villa.

Talk about:Stephen F. Austin once owned the Laguna Gloria land and hoped to build a home there, and never did. If we could build ours anywhere in town, where would it be?

Setup.A spring morning, ideally a weekday. Hats, water and sunscreen. Buy tickets ahead, which the Center strongly encourages, and check hours before you go.

1. Walk the trails first while it is cool; that is where the bluebonnets grow.
2. Wander the cultivated gardens and each pick one plant to look up later.
3. Cross into the Mollie Steves Zachry Texas Arboretum, which displays all 53 oak species native to Texas, and choose a favorite oak.
4. Finish in the Luci and Ian Family Garden and try the hedge maze. The hedges are only about three feet tall, which is exactly why it is funny.

Talk about:What is one thing from where you grew up that you would plant here if you could?

Setup.A beach with legal bonfire pits, most coastal cities have at least a few. Wood, kindling, a lighter, marshmallows on sticks.

1. Arrive before sunset. Build a small fire.
2. Eat dinner around the fire, sandwiches or cooked-on-stick foods.
3. Marshmallows for dessert.
4. Put the fire out fully before leaving, beach rules matter.

Setup.A disc-golf course (most parks have one). A starter set of three discs each.

1. Play teams of two for nine holes.
2. Switch hands for the back nine.
3. Picnic at the cart park afterwards.

Setup.A public ferry route or commuter boat. Most coastal and river cities have at least one.

1. Take the slowest ferry that leaves before sunset.
2. Sit on the upper deck if there is one.
3. Walk for 30 minutes at the destination, even if you do not stay.
4. Take the next ferry back. Watch the lights come on.

Setup.A wine region within driving distance. Designated driver or a tour shuttle. Light lunch booked at one cellar door.

1. Visit three vineyards. Buy one bottle from each.
2. Long lunch at the middle cellar door.
3. Walk between the buildings of the vineyard, slowly.
4. Drive home before sunset.

Setup.A beach with a surf school. Reef-safe sunscreen, swimwear, a change of clothes.

1. Group lesson on land first, listen carefully.
2. Whitewater only, do not chase real waves first time.
3. Lunch at the beach café afterwards.

Setup.An indoor skydiving facility. Closed-toe shoes, comfortable clothes.

1. Watch the safety video twice, listen.
2. First flight is the hard one.
3. Second flight, you actually look around.

Setup.A weekend farmers' market. Reusable bags, a budget cap.

1. Walk the whole market once before buying.
2. Each picks two ingredients the other will use.
3. Brunch at the breakfast cart at the market.
4. Cook dinner at home with what you bought.

Setup.A working sugar shack in season (Feb–April). Layers, they are cold.

1. Tour the boiling room with the producer.
2. Eat tire-d'érable (maple taffy on snow).
3. Buy a small tin to take home.

Setup.A bus route you have never ridden end-to-end. Off-peak so you can sit. Headphones (one each).

1. Sit at the back, on opposite sides of the aisle.
2. No talking for the first 20 minutes, just look.
3. Get off at the last stop. Walk for an hour.
4. Take the same bus back. Sit together this time.

Setup.A sport new to both of you. A venue that rents gear by the hour.

1. Watch a 5-minute "rules" video on the way there.
2. Book the shortest slot, usually an hour.
3. Two short rounds, drink water, two more.
4. Cheap food afterwards. Vote on whether to come back.

Setup.Whatever you were going to eat. One candle. A drawer in a different room.

1. Cook your usual dinner, no need to be fancy.
2. Both phones into the drawer. Close the drawer. Walk away.
3. Light the candle. Sit. Eat slower than usual.
4. Stay at the table after the food. Do not get up to clean.

Talk about:What is something you have been thinking about that you have not told me yet?

Setup.Three different cheeses, three different chocolates, crackers, fruit. A wooden board.

1. Lay everything on the board. Each picks the order.
2. Try every cheese with every chocolate, 9 combinations.
3. Score on a scale of 1 to 5 each.
4. Best pairing gets a "we will eat this on our anniversary" status.