With summer just around the corner, its time to start thinking of fun things to do between sleeping-in and blowing off your summer assignments. Most of these activities are not for the light of heart, mainly because you’ll have to wake up before 1 p.m. to do half of any of the things on this list. So, with good intentions in mind, here is a list of things you should do to make sure that you don’t return to school with regret in your heart for ‘making plans’ and saying ‘we HAVE to hangout this summer’ only to blow it all off because ‘something came up’.

1. Take a day trip to Seattle: Taking a trip down to Seattle is a super easy way to make some good memories and kill a day, if you have nothing to do, it’s a super easy recipe which only requires a few ingredients:
   • A couple friends
   • Around $20-30 per person, maybe more depending on what you do
   • A car
   • Camera (optional, yet recommended)

Now it’s time to add all of the ingredients together. You’re going to make sure you have all of the required ingredients, as they are crucial to a great time in Seattle. The first step is to get all of your friends into a car and drive to the nearest ‘park-n-ride’ where you will park your car for the day, and take the bus to Seattle. I recommend the Silver Lake park-n-ride. (if you’re lucky you maybe get the opportunity to ride in a double-Decker bus). Upon arriving in Seattle, use your camera to take fun pictures of your friends to post of social media, I advise you to go to one of these two areas, either downtown Seattle, or UW village. In downtown, you can go to the peer, pike place market, space needle, and other cool tourist areas for a pretty low-cost. At UW, you can visit come really cool architecture and parks, there’s less tourists there if you want to stay ‘low-key’ and just as many photo-ops as you see fit. Make sure you find the correct bus route home, and more importantly, you save at least $5 to get back on the bus. (A link to find a bus route: https://tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/hiwire )

2. Go on a Hike: a hike is a fun and adventurous activity that you can do and feel rewarded while getting all of the IG likes you could ever desire. One pic on top of you, looking over the mountains at Rattle Snake Ledge will give you a 15% increase in likes, guaranteed. Here’s what you need:
   • A car
   • A couple friends
   • A pre-packed lunch
   • Athletic-wear (still IG-appropriate)
   • (may need a parking pass: https://store.discoverpass.wa.gov/ )

Here’s what to do: the night before, make sure the weather is going to be good, it rains in Washington, but in the Summer you should be good most days. Then find a hike that’s close enough, easy enough, and picturesque enough. Those are the three most important components. The next morning (yes, morning- you want to find parking) plan on leaving early, you want to get to the trailhead no later than 9am. some fun hikes are:

• Rattlesnake Ledge (Snoqualmie Pass)
• Little Si and Mount Si (Snoqualmie Pass)
• Mt. Pilchuck (Mountain Loop Highway)
• Ebey’s Landing (Whidbey Island)

3. Bonfire at Muk: if youre not trying to wake up at the crack of dawn and still want to hangout in a special way with your pals, go down to Mukilteo Ferry Park, and throw a little Bonfire/gathering (in case there’s a fire-ban in place). Here’s how it’s done:
   • Firewood*
   • Friends
   • Newspaper (fire-kindling) *
   • Marshmallows*
   • Sticks (for mallows) *
   • Graham crackers*
   • Chocolate*
   • BLANKETS
   • Warm clothes
   • Money
   • A warm, sunny evening

*Do not bring if there is a Fire-Ban in place, you will be sad and disappointed. CHECK HERE FOR BAN: https://waburnbans.net/recent-burn-bans/category/snohomish/

You and your friends should head down to Mukilteo at around 7-8pm this gives you time to mingle with one another before sunset at around 9pm. You and your friends should build your fire before the night gets too dark, as you want to show off your cub-scout/girl-scout skills in the daylight to the most amount of people see you build a fire. When the sunset reaches max saturation, make sure to take pics. And once it gets dark, huddle in a circle around the fire to roast not only marshmallows, but each other (not literally, I mean like crack jokes with one another). After you run out of dares to do in Truth Or Dare, or Firewood, head home safely and smell like campfire until your next shower, which probably won’t be for a while

So, there you have it, three recipes that can surely make the most out of your summer for a relatively low cost. Do these and you will head back to school this fall without a single regret and a heart full of lasting memories you can aspire to tell your grandchildren someday.