Made in the Shade: Summer Fun in Reston

It is a truth universally acknowledged among planned community aficionados that Reston is great in the summer. Pools! Camps for the kids! Live music and whatnot in various plazas and third spaces!

Well, sure. You could do all those things, or you could get out of your shell, or your sunken living room, and enjoy summer like a true Restonian. Here are some ideas: 

Picnics. Grab some prepared foods from the fancypants Wegmans and head across the street to luxuriate in the shadow of a massive concrete parking garage, or head further afield if you want to get back to nature. Just watch out for invasive plants, bears, and potentially dangerous Reston mascots.

Fireworks. Far be it from us to condone illegal (and potentially digit-reducing) activities, but if you choose to do so, be safe... and bring your phone so you can check Nextdoor for the "URGENT: GUNSHOTS OMG I DEFINITELY HEARD GUNSHOTS THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND WHERE IS THE HELICOPTER" messages that will invariably pop up before the last ember fades. 

Pickleball. Everyone loves the distinctive pop the ball makes when it's hit. Just watch out for NPIMBYS—the no pickle ball in my back yarders. You can spot them with their angry looks, earplugs, and freakishly sized rackets.

Bike. Go find one of the bikeshare stations buried deep in Reston's more out-of-the-way cul-de-sacs, borrow a neighbor's (laundered) spandex, and hit the W&OD trail. Or, if you prefer more courteous and less reckless fellow travelers, head straight for the Beltway. 

Boat. Grab your kayak, canoe, or other floating conveyance and hit one of Reston's lakes! Just watch for the RA U-Boats patrolling the waterways to ensure every last floatie has an official decal. They're clever—they're often disguised as ducks and geese, but we all know birds aren't real.

Metro. Most of us have used it to head eastward, but it's summer! Instead of trucking in to some dreary cubicle in (shudder) Tysons or "Foggy Bottom," as if that's a real place, it's time to throw caution to the wind and head the other direction. That's right, take the Silver Line past the airport and into Darkest Loudoun County, where we hear tell the particleboard McMansions wave gently in the breeze like so many amber waves of substandardly constructed grain. As an added bonus, your very presence will spark a wide range of "URGENT: SUSPICIOUS PERSON" on the Nextdoor for "Brambleton," as if that's a real place. 

Golf. Might want to get in a game sooner rather than later, the end.

 This post was originally published in the Reston Letter.