If it's been a while since you penciled in that all-important bonding time with your bestie, here's your chance to fix that.
These 11 ideas are perfect for get-togethers that will bring you closer.
Plus, you and your buddy will engage in an array of activities with the fresh air and Georgia's beautiful sites as your backdrop.
Here's a short list of the best ways to spend a friend date with your outdoors:
Get beachy at Cauble Park
$10 parking
4425 Beach St., Acworth.
Scrunch 20 toes in the sand without leaving metro Atlanta. Dip in the vast lake waters, too, safe knowing there are changing stations and showers adjacent to the beach.
Wend your way through wetlands at Dunwoody Nature Center
5343 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody. 770-394-3322
Take a tree-hugging friend through the wetland boardwalk, streamside trails and display gardens.
Constitution Lakes Park, 1305 South River Industrial Blvd. SE.
This is an active urban adventure with some attitude. Take a hike, a bit over 2 miles, through this park amidst DeKalb County warehouses. Be on the lookout for, ah, dolls' heads "found art" along the trail. Contribute yourself if you like! If you and your friend date like what you see, consider joining the Facebook group that helps keep the 125-acre nature preserve going.
Check out Cochran Mill Nature Center
6300 Cochran Mill Road, Palmetto
Admission: $3 adults, $2 children (ages 3-12) -although you aren't supposed to bring your kids, it's a friend date.
770-306-0914
Enjoy a quick drive 20 minutes south of Atlanta and then revel in the wooded area and log structure that houses the nature center. If reptiles and birds of prey are your thing, you are in luck. This excursion will allow forOr just feed some fish and turtles in the pond, it's all relaxing.
Take a field trip with the Atlanta Audobon Club
4055 Roswell Road. 678-973-2437
Walk with the best birders around. The club makes its field trips free for visitors and they are fairly frequent. Just an example is the September 2 trek to Georgia International Horse Park where they'll be checking out subtropical migrators and expect to be gone three to four hours.
Make merry at music at noon at Centennial Olympic Park
265 Park Ave. West NW. 404-222-7275
Every Tuesday and Thursday now until October, the park's Southern Company Amphitheater hosts the perfect lunchtime getaway. A variety of live music is the lure. Might be jazz, might be pop. Perfect for the times when you can't get together for a whole day but don't want to do lunch.
Groove at Glover Park
50 N Park Square NE, Marietta.
The last Friday of each month until September, save the date for the free Glover Park Concert Series at 8 p.m. Bring a blanket and lounge. Or, pay for a table reservations. They are taken on a first come basis (and will sell out quickly) on the first working day of each month beginning at 8:00 a.m. The August show is a variety band, the September is Motown.
1071 Piedmont Ave. 404-875-7275
Sure, it's so 80s, but rollerblading is also great fun and great exercise and Piedmont Park is so convenient. Get out your skates and helmets and hit the parks main roadway and 10th Street Meadow paths.
1000 Robert E Lee Blvd., Stone MountainIn-season $119, holidays $159
Embellish your friendship with a glamping activity overnight or some fine weekend. The Stone Mountain Park wood-and-canvas yurts are comfy and the views spectacular. The log furniture and metal fire pit give you all you need for a weekend-long heart to heart.
>>>RELATED: 8 alternatives to tent camping around Georgia
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