Since we got the baby I can't do it anymore but especially when I was single it was one of my favorite things to do. I had a semi professional photo camera and I would go out and do street photography. I would go to another city for a daytrip just to do that.
the beach. chicago set it aside for public use instead of reserving it only for the rich and now the lake front is several giant parks with at least one beach on each one and lots of other stuff to do.
i prefer the beaches w/o children (eg hollywood) where you can spend all day & night having a good time until the police make everyone leave and they have a restaurant & bar on the beaches that's really convenient and with a beach friendly dress code on the adult beaches.
I like natural areas on the whole but also cityscapes. Riding the metro system with something read can be nice to. Belonging to a maker space is nice to. Its like one of those old timey social clubs but cheap and with a cool art/craft vibe.
can you explain how you participate in these clubs? where I'm from, there are restaurants and coffee shops that offer board games for you and your group, as in, you already know the people you'd be playing with, and they're normally not a place you'd go by yourself, waiting to find someone to play with.
Where I am, there are 3 or more groups that meet up every 2 weeks.
They are informal meetups with a small fee of $5, for anyone to come down and join in playing boardgmes with others. At community centres in different suburbs.
You can pre-arrange to play with friends, or just meet and play with people on the day.
I've made many good friends, found great games, and taught many games to others through these groups.
To find them in your town, search for this:
Boardgame association [your town name]
Casual boardgame night [your town name]
Boardgame meetup [your town name]
If you can't find any meetups using these strings, it may be an opportunity to set up a casual game group in your town.
Boardgames that are awesome and I'll play at anytime: Bruges, Inis, Port Royal, Innovation, Targi, Jaipur, Grand Austria Hotel, Morels.
My neighborhood is mostly concrete and apartments, but a few blocks away it’s multimillion dollar houses, well kept lawns, and huge shade trees. So I cross the 8 lane highway to get there and enjoy walking around and looking at their expensive shit for free.
Kart racing, I'm talking about the 200 cubic centimeter karts on outdoor raceways. When taking part in the group I'm usually the only girl there and I've come 1st enough times that people in the groups know me as a person worth challenging. I love feeling those lateral G's even though I always end up with bruises on my inner thighs afterwards!
There's not much else around, where I live. The crowd at the dive bars are so not my kind of people. I used to explore the country backroads too, but at this point if I'm going to be alone I'm probably reading (or writing like right now).
If you want something more consistent join a group especially one organized around a common activity. When I moved to a new city I joined a local game stores weekly DnD game. It was $5 per week and we played in person every week. It was the same rotating cast so it was fun to meet the same people.
I just joined a running group. While a few are crazy distance runners who do multiple marathons a year, including those who do multiple ultra-marathons a year, there are more casual people like me. Its great to exercise every week and then we get to chat afterwards when we go out for food. These are common in most cities and there might even be more than 1 to try out.
The great things about these groups is you can skip a week without any issue and then just join back in. A shared interest allows you to chat about that as a jumping off point. Also some of these are a wide age range which is interesting to see people in different stages of life.
They are generally sports related but anything will do. Its great since its weekly you just have standing plans with the same people. Also people go there specifically to meet people and there is an established group
Park, plant nursery, or Sonic- an American fast food restaurant where you drive up and park or they have a couple of outside tables and it's pretty good for people watching.
gotta find hella spots in your city to chill with yourself or someone. Also finding some cool places to drive around, go shopping at random small trinket stores or smoke
Mall. I live close enough to one and I can catch a bus that has a stop close to an entrance. That, and there's a shop I can go to for things like loose dice for something like 99¢ per diem and new and used manga.
Political organising and the occasional house party/social event. Sometimes I just go for a walk/wander about, have found some interesting places that way.