With summer just around the corner, it’s time for many students to ditch their textbooks and take out their favorite swimsuits. However, many people, students and non-students alike come up with the same problem: what to do with all the free time. Hopefully this list of unique ways to spend your summer vacation will help.
Concerts
Summer is the number one season to go see some of your favorite artists perform live, as the nice weather provides a great atmosphere for seeing them perform your favorite music. There are a number of concert venues throughout the country to see famous musicians perform as well as numerous music festivals, like Bonnaroo, Burning Man, Electric Forest, Sasquatch and Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Hiking
Although Colorado has some of the best hiking in the country, there are beautiful hiking destinations to be found all over. Popular hiking destinations are Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in West Virginia, Zion National Park in Utah and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Scenic hiking closer to Colorado includes Rocky Mountain National Park, Boulder and Estes Park.
Learn a new language
Learning a foreign language is not only advantageous for your future, but will also definitely make you a cool new person on the block. Being bilingual is arguably helpful in getting work, and many believe that Spanish and Mandarin are today’s most useful languages to know how to speak. Other interesting and potentially beneficial languages to learn are French, Italian, Dothraki, Sign Language and Arabic. Rosetta Stone, local colleges and online courses or apps like Mango are great outlets for learning a new language.
Drive-in movies
Believe it or not, drive-in movies are back. With the nice weather, this is the perfect late night activity to partake in. Drive-in movies are exactly as they sound—parks or parking lots will put up large screens and play old fashioned or recent movies while you watch from the comfort of your car. Popular drive-in theaters in Colorado are the 88 Drive-In Theatre, the Tru Vu Drive In Theatre and the Star Drive-In Theatre.
Learn to cook a new food
Cooking is a skill everyone needs to utilize, so why not kick it up a notch by learning to cook a fun new food? After spending the entire last year eating ramen and other junk food, knowing how to cook your own meal will be a welcomed change. Grilled cheese, guacamole and a basic cheeseburger are the perfect new foods to learn how to prepare this summer while sitting around at home. To find more fun foods to cook, Desserts For Two, a college friendly food blog that will keep you healthy without breaking the bank, Simply Recipes and Ambitious Kitchen are great food blogs to help start out your summer cooking adventures.
Travel
Planes, trains and automobiles can get you to anywhere you’d want to travel this summer. According to US News Travel, the most popular places to travel in the United States are Maui in Hawaii, Yellowstone in Wyoming, the Grand Canyon in Arizona and San Francisco in California. There are a ton of road trips that can be taken with family and friends over the course of the next three months, so hop in your car or snag a cheap ticket from Frontier Airlines.
Get a job
While this might not be the most fun, it’s definitely the most financially rewarding. Not all jobs have to be typical, like waitressing or working in retail. Jobs like dog walking, working at the zoo and construction work can make big bucks but also be fun.
Hopefully this list will inspire you to find fun and unique ways to spend the summer of 2016.
