BEFORE WE GET STARTED…
I just wanted to put a shoutout to all of you who I’ve talked to who say stuff like, “I read your email every week,” or “this part is so funny,” or “I went on that date and it was so cool.” It all just makes me so happy (and I hope its helping you too)!
Whatever it is, however you’ve been supporting me has meant a lot to me these past few months.
On that note… I have a goal. I’m trying to reach 1000 email subscribers by the end of the month (there are currently over 700 of you!!).
So… in order to do that, could you share twotacosandahike.com with your mom?
Ok maybe not your mom (she might not even need date ideas anyways)… but maybe your roommates, or someone in your ward?
Whatever you do… just know I’m rooting for and grateful for you!
Featured Single: Get Your Own Card
We’ll feature you as a single in an upcoming issue, using your photo and a few lines about you, so other readers can reach out and ask you out, all for $5. Think a one-person profile card that goes to the whole list instead of doom scrolling on Mutual.
How it works:
(1) Venmo $5 to me, @hamiltonpr,
(2) reply to this email with a photo, your first name, age, year and major, what you are looking for, and how you want people to reach you.
THREE DATES, TEN DOLLARS TOTAL
Pane and Simple
Featuring Katie!
Art · free
Inside the Fulton Library at Utah Valley University there is an 80-panel wall of stained glass that runs 200 feet along the room and works through the whole history of human knowledge, panel by panel. It is called Roots of Knowledge, it sits in the Bingham Gallery on the first floor, and it is completely free with no ticket and no reservation. The library is open 7 AM to midnight Monday through Thursday, until 9 on Friday, and 10 to 6 on Saturday.
Go about an hour before sunset, which is UVU’s own advice: the glass is lit from outside after dark, so the panels read completely differently if you stay through the change. Docents are on the floor until 8 on weekdays and 5 on Saturday, there is a free brochure by the entrance, and if you can make Wednesday the 28th they run the monthly themed tour with a guide at every stop, free popcorn, and prizes.
When you see them in person, say: “I’m going to go look at that giant stained glass wall in the UVU library before it gets dark. Wanna go see it?”
Guest Star in our Next Edition
Send us a selfie and you could be a person in next week’s date pictures, just like Katie this week. We drop you right into the scene using AI, so you and a friend can go looking for yourselves in the photos.
One Hour, Nothing New
Costumes · free
Halloween is ten days out. Pick a character for each other, set a timer for one hour, and build the costume out of what is already in the apartment: the closet, a cardboard box, tape, safety pins, a marker. Nothing bought is the only rule that matters, and the internet is full of people doing this badly if you need somewhere to start.
Set an actual timer, because the hour is the whole joke and an unlimited afternoon turns it into a chore. The part people skip is the ending: you have to wear it out of the apartment, to the gas station or the grocery store or a FilmQuest screening downtown (its a film festival, tickets as low as $8, I’ve never been but it sounds sick?).
Text them and say: “Kind of out of nowhere, but we’re in the same ward and I’m building a costume out of a cardboard box Thursday at seven. Want in?”
The Odds Are Not the Problem
Odds · Mutual
Every guy in Utah Valley has a theory about the ratio, and the theory is always that it is running against him.
Mutual’s own annual report says something duller and more useful: their community sits at 53 percent men and 47 percent women. The ratio is not as bad as it seems. Those are app numbers from 2024 and not a census of Utah County, so do not carry it further than it goes, but it is enough to retire the excuse, because a four point gap is not the thing standing between you and a Thursday.
Trail Mix
Pranking · under $10
Buy a bag of individually wrapped chocolates (that’s step one, not the whole date haha). Walmart has a 55 piece Hershey Halloween assortment at $7.94, which is more than you will need and leaves you the leftovers. Lay the pieces out in a line down a paved path at Kiwanis Park or along the Provo River Trail, then go hide behind something and wait to find out whether anybody follows it.
Space them about ten feet apart, because any closer reads as somebody dropping a bag and any further reads as litter. Go late afternoon on a weekday when there are a few people on the path and not a crowd, and pick up whatever nobody takes before you leave, because a trail of candy abandoned in a park could be seen as just littering.
Call them and say: “I’m laying a trail of chocolate down a path at Kiwanis Park on Saturday to see if a stranger follows it. You free?”
Somebody’s grandmother has apparently been running the best dating advice operation in Utah Valley this whole time, and the rest of us are out here overthinking it.
My grandma called me and told me I need to flirt more.
Advertise With Us
Want to put your business in front of hundreds of students in Utah Valley who are looking for somewhere to go or something to do? Reply to this email and let’s talk.
UPCOMING DATE OPPORTUNITIES
BONUS EVENTS
Hosting something in Utah Valley?
Thursday, Oct 22 through Saturday, Oct 31: FilmQuest
Velour Live Music Gallery, 135 N University Ave, Provo · $8 a student ticket, $15 otherwise, good for any single screening · ten days of genre films downtown, and several screenings are already sold out
Text them and say: “FilmQuest is at Velour for the next week and a student ticket is eight bucks. I’m going Friday. Should I grab two?”
Friday, Oct 23: Utah Valley Symphony, Portraits of America
The Noorda at UVU, Orem · 7:30 PM · $10 to $20 a ticket, fees included · Copland’s Lincoln Portrait narrated by UVU’s president, plus Gershwin
Call them and say: “There’s a symphony thing at the Noorda on Friday and the cheap seats are ten dollars. I’m going. Come with me?”
Saturday, Oct 24: UVU volleyball vs Sacramento State
Lockhart Arena, Orem · 1:00 PM · ticketed, and free for UVU students with their ID · UVU’s only home match for two weeks
When you see them in person, say: “UVU has a home volleyball game Saturday at one. I’m going. Meet me there?”
Saturday, Oct 31: BYU football vs Arizona State
LaVell Edwards Stadium · ticketed · kickoff time still unannounced, the Big 12 usually posts it about two weeks out · football on Halloween night
Text them and say: “BYU plays Arizona State on Halloween and I’m going in costume either way. Should I find us a TV?”
Just reply to this email!
From the Editor
Thanks for making it to the bottom. I have seriously been loving writing these.
It would mean the world to me if you share this with a friend, your roommate, your mom, maybe even your dog.
And then, go try these out. You got this just,
Go ask somebody.
NOW GO ASK HER →
Until next time,
— Two Tacos & a Hike