Before we get started…
I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who are supporting Two Tacos & a Hike and have helped us come this far.
It really hasn’t been easy and we couldn’t have done it without your input and help.
Don’t forget to reply with your favorite date idea this week.
THREE DATES, TWO WAYS TO ASK
Take the Lead
Dancing · $12-16 for two
Salsa Chocolate on Center Street runs Latin nights Mondays and Thursdays, and coming on time gets you a beginner lesson from 9pm to 10pm before the social dancing starts. It costs $6 / person before 10, and $8 after, and of course, no partner is required to walk in. It’s at 116 W Center St.
The lesson is the entire reason this works as a date. Neither of you has to already know how, and one hour of somebody telling you both exactly where to put your feet takes away the part about being on a date being awkward. You spend that hour learning the same thing at the same speed; you don’t have to talk, you just share an experience together.
This is one for the girl you barely know, the one from your ward or your class you’ve talked to twice. Say straight up that it’s a little out of nowhere, because saying so is the thing that lets her off the hook: the second you name it, she stops trying to figure out what you’re really after and just gets to decide if Thursday sounds fun.
Text them and say: “Random, but Salsa Chocolate does a beginner class Thursday at nine and I’m going in blind. Want to go as a date and try to dance with me?”
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.
Make the “No” the Easy Answer
The no · Chris Voss
This is some advice coming from my absolute favorite book. Chris Voss spent his career as the FBI’s lead hostage negotiator, and the counterintuitive rules learned there. The book, Never Split the Difference shows that people relax the moment “no” is genuinely on the table, because yes can feel like a trap and no feels like protection. That’s the exact move under our first date idea: instead of an invite she can only accept or apologize for, phrase it so turning it down is easy and cheap. “Want to come dance with me, no worries if it’s not your thing” gives her a real door, and a person who can freely say no is a person who can freely say yes. You’re not being weak by making the out obvious, you’re making it safe to answer you at all.
“No is the start of the conversation, not the end of it.”
I read this one online this week, a girl on the phone, practically celebrating. Anyways, it stuck with me.
“He can finally call me his girlfriend, we’ve been dating for seven months now.”
Free Disc Golf at Hospital Park
Disc golf · Free
Utah State Hospital Park in Provo is the most-played disc golf course in town, 18 holes across the grass with the foothills right behind it, and it’s completely free. If neither of you owns discs, borrow a few or you can just rent a set for $3.
Disc golf is basically just a walk. You’re moving between holes side by side for a couple of hours, which gives conversation somewhere to go and should take the pressure off in a way a talking across a table at a restaurant never does.
This is the one to send the friend you’ve been quietly wondering about but you also don’t want to wreck a good friendship. So step one is to say the awkward part in plain words, because naming it is key: tell her straight that you mean it as a date, and she gets to answer a clear question instead of decoding you. Hinting is the thing that actually damages friendships. A clean ask she can turn down is the kinder move.
When you see them in person, say: “I’ve been thinking it would be fun to go on an actual date with you. I’ve got extra discs and Hospital Park is free. Come play a round Saturday?”
Stop Hanging Out. Call It a Date.
Hanging out · BYU Studies
A student quoted in BYU Studies’ survey of dating and marriage at BYU named the real problem better than any expert has: students are so afraid of the “transitional risk,” the what-happens-if-I-actually-ask, that they stay parked in the comfortable bubble of hanging out, where there’s no commitment and no way to fail. The problem for us is that the bubble never turns into anything. Free Disc Golf is the low-cost way out: it is casual enough to feel normal, so the only thing standing between a hangout and a date is one word. When you ask, use the word “date” on purpose, since the risk you keep dodging is what moves your life forward.
“They remain in the comfortable bubble of hanging out because there is no commitment or failure that way.”
Guest Star in our Next Edition
Send us a selfie and you could be a person in next week’s date pictures. We drop you right into the scene using AI, so you and a friend can go looking for yourselves in the photos.
This is a totally free service, just follow the link below and fill out our form.
Go With the Flow
Tubing · $30-40 for two
The Provo River below Deer Creek Reservoir is the gentle, family-friendly stretch, a two to three hour float through the canyon that runs June through September and is about to close with the season. Provo River Tube Rentals does covered tubes from fifteen dollars each with the pump included and life jackets for a few bucks more, so two of you float for thirty to forty dollars all in. Just don’t forget to leave one car at the exit since it’s point to point, and reserve ahead!
The river does the talking for you. Drifting side by side for a couple of hours means the quiet stretches feel relaxing instead of awkward, and a sunny daytime float reads as fun rather than having to have a big loaded plan.
Make this the low-key group float and it gets even easier to ask. Say plainly who you are and that a few people are going, and lets her just answer. She’s deciding on a Saturday on the river, and if that’s not her thing, her loss, not yours.
Call them and say: “Hey, it’s [name] from [class]. A few of us are floating the Provo River Saturday for a group date. Want to come with me?”
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?
Wednesday, Aug 5: Outdoor Movie: Back to the Future
SCERA Shell, Orem · at dusk · ~$5
Text them and say: “Back to the Future on the big outdoor screen tonight. I’ll grab a blanket, you bring the snacks?”
Saturday, Aug 8: Provo Farmers Market
Pioneer Park, Provo · 9 am to 2 pm · Free
When you see them in person, say: “Farmers market Saturday morning, we go at 10 and you pick what we eat. Deal?”
Wednesday, Aug 12: Outdoor Movie: Wicked For Good
SCERA Shell, Orem · at dusk · ~$5
Text them and say: “Wicked For Good outside at the Shell Wednesday. Grab a blanket spot with me?”
Thursday, Aug 13: Herbie Hancock at Red Butte Garden
Red Butte Garden, Salt Lake City · gates 6:30 pm · Check website for pricing
Call them and say: “A jazz legend is playing a garden up in Salt Lake Thursday. It’s a drive, but the grass at sunset is worth it. Want to come?”
Saturday, Aug 15: Real Salt Lake vs. Minnesota United
America First Field, Sandy · 7:30 pm · Tickets vary
Call them and say: “The RSL soccer team is home Saturday night. I’m going either way, come sit in the cheap seats with me?”
Just reply to this email!
From the Editor
Dating doesn’t have to be as scary as we all make it seem.
Believe me, it goes wrong sometimes (I literally learned that this week), but if you never put yourself out there, then you won’t ever have someone to share your life with.
Rather than focusing on the scary feelings, why don’t we all try focusing a little more on the opportunity we are presented with to make lasting connections?
Until next time,
— Two Tacos & a Hike