Date Night The Sustainable Way

     I can imagine that at some point in time a lot of you have journeyed to the far reaches of your imagination in order to come up with an out-of-the-box activity to do on a date.  That may be a mellow-dramatic way of putting it, but I'm sure when anyone takes another on a date they want to impress them or plan something exciting, new or interesting.  Now, I am by no means a professor of dating 101, but I do have some cool ideas about what to do and where to go on a date- with a sustainable twist, of course.
     We are fortunate enough to live in Athens Ohio for at least nine months of the year, so we have access to a ton of great activities that involve sustainability, but who would have thought that all the great stuff going on could be incorporated into a date? There's your typical dinner and a movie, but that can get boring and it's a pretty stationary activity, so why not bike there? Or better yet take a bike ride on the Hockhocking Adena Bike Path to The Eclipse Company Town for dinner at Heaven's Oven (they use a lot of local and organic ingredients in their menu). A sustainable date can be exciting and adventurous, but the coolest part of participating is taking a step back and realizing that you are doing your part in sharing environmentally conscious activities with someone else, and perhaps opening their eyes to sustainable living and its importance.  There's lots to do so I'll break it down into a choose-your-own-adventure/date based on what you may be interested in.

     I hope these are helpful suggestions, and maybe they'll get you thinking about other sustainable things you are interested in doing.  For those of you who are already living relatively sustainably, you could always get together and do something more time intensive such as starting a compost pile or building a garden.  A few weekends ago I made a date to finish building my rain barrel.  It was fairly entertaining trying to figure out how to construct a diverter system, but it was a ton of fun and we felt great about conserving rain water!

     Stay Sustainable,
   
     Becca in Athens


Links you may find useful...
 Heaven's Oven Info and Menu
Eclipse Company Town Info (Along the Bike Path)
Hockhocking Bike Path Info and Maps
Della Zona Restaurant Info and Menu
Village Bakery Infor and Menu
Casa Nueva Restaurant Info and Menu
Athens County Visitors Bureau: Local Activities and Events