Camping with Boo

My best plan for any season is to typically have no plans at all! This summer there are a few, starting with concerts and festivals where there are jam bands. I am most excited to hit the road with my boyfriend in the camper van he’s been working so hard to outfit, and of course, spend a lot more time grilling out, “hammocking,” and roaming around the Parklands. Hopefully somewhere in the mix we’ll make it out to Charleston, South Carolina to visit family and friends and catch a few sunrises at Breach Inlet.  

Corn is a staple in my diet, and with peak season beginning this month, I am most looking forward to enjoying the sweetest, freshest elote from local street food vendors.—Amy Barnes

Not LEO

What am I looking forward to this summer? 

Getting the fuck away from it all. Getting away from the city, from LEO, from spending day after day hunched over my computer. In just a few weeks, I’ll be on my way back to my summer camp job in rural Massachusetts, a job where I’ll once again get to control my own schedule, get lots of exercise, and get my own private workspace, a cozy air-conditioned shack near a lake. I won’t have to sort through press releases about kitchenware or stocks. I won’t have to give a single thought to Google Analytics numbers or Instagram complaints.

Instead, I will eat popsicles and wear Crocs and take mid-day breaks in a forest. I will go swimming. I will go sailing. I will be free.

I’ve weathered a lot of storms so far this year, not least of which is getting laid off twice — twice! I don’t know what my after-camp life will hold, though I do want to return to Louisville. But right now, what I need more than anything is a break from the last few months’ routines. I’m not yet out on a kayak in the middle of the lake on a 75-degree day, but I’m counting down the days until I can be. — Carolyn Brown

Sun and Ice Cream

Damn it Carolyn, you stole my thought. I’m looking forward to a break from leaning over my computer 70+ hours a week, trying to knit together a paper that needs more staff, more money — more lots of things. I love my job but, y’all, I need time on the beach, toes in the sand and the smooth-skin feel of my feet after the beach. I need top-down drives along the edge of the Gulf with my brother. I need laughing and sipping cold cocktails somewhere under a palm tree, while looking cute, and feeling free of my tethers. It feels like a theme. Apparently, we all need water! LEO’s team is dehydrated. 

Even more than getting away from my desk for a while, will be the time I get to spend with my son before he becomes a middle schooler and thinks I’m even grosser than he does now. I am planning the concerts, park days and mom-son date nights that we’re going to have this summer before he goes to his new school. I’ve spent so much of his current school year working that the time we will get to hang out this summer will be valuable and restorative for us both. I really can’t wait for that.
As far as summer food, I’m looking forward to my first visit to Dairy Del, and the first visit to Zesto for the season — and all the patios I can find. Al fresco dining is for me.—Erica Rucker

Vintage Banana and Banana Waffles

Although I now spend the majority of my time in Lexington for college, there are always some local Louisville haunts I look forward to visiting each summer. 

The Highlands area has always been a favorite of mine, with eclectic art plastered on the sides of buildings, and plenty of unique places to wander around. The place I’m most excited to go back to is Vintage Banana, a vintage clothing store on Bardstown Rd. that’s full of denim, flannels, sweatshirts and more. You’ll see their logo painted on the concrete and walls pointing you down a graffitied alley where the entrance of the shop is hidden. Whenever I make my first trip of the summer to Vintage Banana, I will be sure to go by Highland Morning for some of the best brunch in Louisville. I have a favorite from here regardless of if I’m craving something savory or sweet. For a more savory fix, I’m looking forward to getting the Good Morning Breakfast Burrito — a tortilla filled with eggs, steak, peppers, onions and cheese with avocado, pico de gallo and sour cream topping it off. If I’m in the mood for something sweet and rich, I can’t pass up getting the Foster Your Waffle. This banana foster waffle with vanilla ice-cream and banana liqueur sauce never fails to satisfy my sweet tooth. Grabbing brunch with old friends and browsing through vintage clothing stores are staples to my summer, and there’s no better area to find favorites for both.—Gracie Moore