Now, that the breeze and the temperatures permit, who wouldn't want to have their first date on a happening restaurant's patio, a date night at an outdoor movie or a double date weekend drive to a series of North Georgia wineries?
For some people, those romantic scenes just sound sweaty and uninviting. Some of us have already worked in the heat all week and just want a break. Other people may be living in the South but still can't stand Atlanta's scorching temps (and their habit of arriving in April and rebounding through September).
Instead of loving them less or falling into the rut of staying home while your romance cools down, make that extra effort.
Find a date that's "cool" in every sense of the word in Atlanta. Here's a cheat sheet on seven chill suggestions for the perfect Atlanta date in air conditioning:
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Full Pint Atlanta Brewery Tour
$60 per person.
Pickup at the Lindbergh Taco Mac, 573 Main St. NE, Atlanta.
Unlike most food or spirits festivals in the summer, this tour includes frosty mugs and private tours mostly inside three Atlanta breweries, including Sweetwater and Red Brick. Share the whole day together without applying sunscreen once (unless you need it to walk from the parking lot).
Adult Night at LEGOLAND® Discovery Center
7-9 p.m. the third Thursday of each month.
Online tickets $14.95; at the door $19.95.
3500 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta. 404-848-9252 (weekdays during business hours).
Enjoy LEGOLAND® without kids, yours or anyone else's. Each adults-only event includes an air-conditioned factory tour, access to MiniLAND, the Kingdom Quest laser ride and the 4D Cinema. Oh, and if you two have that competitive spirit, rest assured that the evening includes building contests and prizes.
Credit: Contributed by the Edgewood Speakeasy
Credit: Contributed by the Edgewood Speakeasy
327 Edgewood Ave. SE, Atlanta. 404-343-4404.
Impressing a summer love is simple here, and you don't have to swelter outdoors to do it. Like its Roaring Twenties predecessors, the Edgewood is behind a secret door and serves boutique distilled spirits, moonshine and innovative boilermakers (no bathtubs of gin though). They're also a place to trip the light fantastic, with local and national DJs spinning a wide range of dance tracks. If you and your date both consent to a little madness, try their Counter Culture Cinema Club, free on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
$5 for a flight of five wines.
16 N. Park St., Dahlonega. 706-864-8275.
Most Atlanta-area wine tasting events and romantic little wine tours take place outside, but you can beat the heat and still get the romantic vibe at the Dahlonega Wine Tasting Room. This 65-mile drive from Atlanta to North Georgia offers samples from the Habersham Winery, one of Georgia's oldest and largest.
Climbing wall at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center and Aquatic Center
Saturdays 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Sundays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
$5 drop-in access to pool and gym; $5 climbing wall.
110 Hilliard St. SE, Atlanta. 404-658-1149.
Go on, get active. This new facility memorializes King's love of swimming, so you can get a burst of history and inspiration along with an inexpensive indoor date option for Atlanta's summer months. After the climbing wall, you can take a dip in the 25-yard lap pool. Or if you're not feeling that virtuous, replace your calories at one of the nearby eateries featuring barbecue or Thai and Vietnamese fusion. If your romance takes off, this is also an affordable place to become daytime workout friends.
Friday Movies at Ponce de Leon Branch Library
3-6 p.m. most Fridays of the summer starting May 25.
Free admission.
Meeting Room, 980 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-885-7820.
Here's a cool option for those who work unusual hours or have a staycation week coming to them this summer. Each Friday afternoon the library screens a movie that most anyone would like, like "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which is the May 25 option. The price tag (or lack thereof) takes away any excuses for not just asking him or her out already! This could be the start of a summer romance.
$25 per hour per lane Monday-Thursday; $35 Friday-Sunday.
737 Miami Circle NE, Atlanta. 404-814-8736.
Hey, bowling is an indoor activity.
This makes Painted Pin nice for a group date or first date or even alternative plans when you're trying to escape the rain, not sun.
Know what's even nicer? Along with the 20 full-service lanes in a fab industrial warehouse space in Buckhead, the PP has other "classic interactive pub games," notably oversized basketball pop-a-shots, indoor bocce ball and Giant Jenga. All inside!
Whiskey and craft beer selections abound. The food's another plus, with the kind of burgers that come with caramelized onions and Tillamook cheddar, oyster sliders, ginger and soy edamame nibbles, that sort of thing. Take a hipster, watch the hipsters, become a hipster... it all works.
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