It’s Fall, almost Winter, and there are great activities that you can do for last minute dates that only come around this time of year.  If you’re looking for something to do with your sweetheart and (like me) often fail to plan something in advance, here are a few easy ideas:

Go see the Fall colors. Women appreciate beautiful things, guys.  Go somewhere you can see the colorful trees and take a walk with your honey.  If you have the time, fill a thermos with hot cocoa or hot tea to stay warm.  Don’t forget to pack an extra sweater or a blanket.  While you’re out on your walk, see how big a leaf you can find, or if you can find leaves that are multi-colored.

Carve a Pumpkin.  Stop by your local grocery store (if your area isn’t suffering from a Pumpkin shortage this year) and grab a pumpkin and two child safe carving knives.  Sit in your backyard or throw some newspaper down on the living room floor and go to town.

What other last minute date ideas do you have for the Fall?

My wife and I are on our way to Pleasant Grove, Utah (just South of Salt Lake City) this Easter weekend to visit family and friends. We like taking road trips. We do at least one each year, usually two or three.

Since I won’t be around tomorrow and possibly Monday to post, I thought I’d leave you with the following road trip do’s and don’ts for married couples:

- Pack food instead of eating junk. As much as I love that there’s a McDonalds every third highway stop, and that Flying J has greasy truck stop food, when you’re no longer a teenager that food tends to get to you. We love to pack cherry tomatoes, string cheese, olives, crackers, and really nice chocolate. Oh, and this time around my wife convinced me to get some beef jerky.

- Play road trip games. Can you do the alphabet, in order, using only letters from other cars license plates? This game becomes especially exciting when you’re driving through Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho where you only see a car once every third cow. We also like to play I Spy for hours on end…but we’re kinda nerdy like that.

- Bring music that matches different moods. We always start the trip off with high energy music like Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” or some really great Polka. We also like show tunes, and road trips are a great place to sing show tunes at the top of your lungs - no one can make fun of you except the one you’re with. We also like to bring along other music that is a little more calm and mellow for when we feel that way. Barry Manilow works well (natch!).

- Pull over. MapQuest says do it in 12 hours? We’ll do it in 16, just because we like to pull over at interesting places (read: weird, quirky places, like Nephi, Utah, that most people wouldn’t look at twice). When we get tired, we pull over and grab a nap. We also pull over for other shenanigans…it makes road trips a lot more…er, thrilling.

- No fighting. No matter how long it’s been and how hot it is, we have a no fighting on road trips rule. There’s no one else to talk to and there’s no space to be had. That tactic where you tell the other person you’ll just walk doesn’t work either when you’re in Podunk, Idaho, 600 miles from your destination.

- Check your tires. Also check the air in your tires, your gas, oil, brakes, antifreeze, engine coolant and cooling system, alignment, air conditioning, and make sure the windows roll up and down. Trust me, we’ve learned from sad experience that any of these problems can make a good road trip very, very frustrating.

I’d love to hear some more of your road trip ideas. We don’t leave for another 8 or 9 hours, so maybe we’ll pick up some of your suggestions.

Here’s our route. Anything interesting along the way. Can you recommend a good hotel/motel around the Boise area?

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Make a treat together, then take it to a crabby neighbor. Leave a note, wishing them a happy day. My wife and I did this with our upstairs neighbor a few years ago. He was a stay up all night, smoke pot, play loud music kind of neighbor. After we took him some brownies, we never heard the loud music again.

Have a silly string war. Grab a few other couples, buy some silly string ($1 - $3 at a toy store) then go to a park and then set up two teams. Run at each other from opposite ends of the park. When you get close, start spraying. The person with the least amount of silly string on them doesn’t have to help clean up.

Offer to babysit someone else’s kid(s). Do it for an evening or an afternoon. If you don’t have kids yet, this will be a good experience and tell you what it’s like. If you do, then you already understand how rare it is to get a night away. You’ll make friends for life (or at least someone who owes you), and you get to play with a child.

It’s becoming a bit of a weekly tradition, but ya’all seem to enjoy it.

- On your way home, go to the bank and pick up two rolls of pennies. That’s one dollar total. Take your wife to the nearest public fountain. Hand her one of the rolls of pennies and then take turns tossing pennies into the well and making wishes. Make them out loud so that you can share them. After all of your pennies are gone (that’s 50 each, so this could take some time), go grab something to eat somewhere and talk about the most surprising/interesting/fascinating wishes that your partner made. You can find out why they made those wishes. It’s a great way to get to know something about your partner you never knew.

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- Go to the theatre. For some reason, a lot of people automatically link the theatre with romance. Taking your date to see a play at the last minute is a great idea. You can usually check your local paper to find out what’s playing, and if you call the theatre, they will often have discount tickets or coupons available. Also, if you’re a student, you can get last minute tickets (with an hour of the show starting) at a steep discount. Since it’s last minute, make sure you call to see if it’s sold out.

- Go stargazing. It’s getting warmer now. On the way home from work, grab a roast chicken from your local grocery store, a loaf of bread from their bakery, and maybe some cheese and something to drink. Grab your wife and drive up a canyon or out to a rural area, spread a blanket out on the ground, eat dinner and watch the stars when it gets dark. If you want to do a little more planning, local universities often have stargazing parties

- Go Clubbing. If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, dress up and go to a night club. How long has it been since you did that? My wife and have done this a few times since we got married and it’s absolutely hilarious to us. I get a certain voyeuristic pleasure out of watching all the single people grope around trying to impress everyone….but I like to watch people. If you find the right club, you might even do a little dancing, eat some good food, and/or sing a little karaoke.

Just a reminder friends, there is no such thing as a sure fire, slam dunk date idea. The reason these dates work is because they have a huge potential for failure. That’s good for any date. It makes the best stories when something goes wrong. Couldn’t get to the theatre on time and they locked you out? The date then becomes about how well do you improvise, and how comfortable are you with your date?

I’d love to hear some of your stories.

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Just in case you’re in a crunch for a date idea, here are four ideas that can be implemented with very little notice and that my wife has told me she found very successful.

- Dinner and Games. A candle lit dinner, made yourself or ordered in. Put on some romantic music and after dinner clear the table away yourself. Play some board games or card games for the rest of the evening and make sure you spend your time talking to her and listening to her. Easy to do, cheap, and she’ll cherish it. I promise.

- Argentine Tango Dancing. Even if you don’t know how to dance at all, Argentine Tango (the distinction is important - Argentine is very different from American Ballroom Tango) is the type of dance where you can pick up some simple steps fairly easily and spend the next couple of hours dancing. You can usually find a place that offers lessons before the main dancing starts. The Tango community is very welcoming and you might even make some great friends while you’re out. My wife and I went dancing for the first time just a month ago.

- Guilty Pleasure Night. Go to the video store and rent a season of a show that you both like to watch (like Scrubs, 24, Lost, or Gilmore Girls). While you’re out, go to the grocery store and buy obscene amounts of candy, ice cream, pop, chips, and chocolate. Go home and watch while you gorge yourselves, gab over the TV, and have a great time.

- Check into a Random Hotel Room. You can find some screaming good last minute deals on Hotwire - the catch is that you don’t know which hotel you booked until you have paid for it. You can pick general locales within your city and even the amenities you want. Find something with a jacuzzi and a view and don’t bother packing an overnight bag. The hotel provides soap and towels, so grab your toothbrush and go! Being in a new place provides a sense of mystery and fun.

I’d be interested in hearing from you, guys. What great dates (or terrible ones) have you taken your wife on, planned in advance or winged at the last minute? What worked and what didn’t?

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