The town of Thompson is home to Rydell Outlet Center, our used car dealership where you can find a quality used car at an affordable price. After you’ve purchased your next car from us, we want you to have a good time exploring the area and finding places to take your partner on a date.
Thompson may not have a lot of places to go on a date, but Grand Forks has plenty of great options for the two of you to go for something fun to do. Following is a list of fun date ideas you can find in the area while driving in your new-to-you car.
Boathouse on the Red
Boathouse on the Red, also known as Red River Boathouse, offers reasonably priced adventures on the Red River via canoe, kayak, or stand-up paddleboard. Take a canoe for two and paddle down the river to watch wildlife do its thing, enjoy the calm of gently drifting near the riverbanks, or take an adventure camp that challenges your physical fitness. The activities offered by Boathouse on the Red are perfect for bonding exercises that help you get to know your date better. It’s also a great way to blow off the stress of the week.
All activities offered by the boathouse include experts in physical fitness who are there to help people enjoy themselves without getting hurt. The expected outcome from an experience or adventure includes expanding your introspection, responsibility, verbal communication, and ability to help others out during a tight situation. Of course, there’s always the opportunity to rent a watercraft and enjoy the simplicity of life with a date on the Red River.
Sakura Japanese Steakhouse
Looking for something out of the ordinary in farm country? Sakura Japanese Steakhouse in Grand Forks delivers authentic Japanese dishes and fusions. Start out with an appetizer of crab meat and cream cheese stuffed in jalapenos, then fried up with tempura and served with eel sauce and spicy mayo for a perfect fusion. Then make your way to a bowl of tonkotsu ramen featuring bamboo soup, noodles, fish cake, scallion, seasoned egg, and pork chashiu.
Sakura’s sushi menu is extensive and is full of delicious flavor combinations prepared in traditional Japanese fashion along with popular American-style sushi options. The hibachi dinner menu has multiple protein options that please all palates and are made with Japanese-influenced flavors. Finish off your date experience with a glass of boba tea or some mochi ice cream. Sakura Japanese Steakhouse offers authentic flavors and dishes that excite and delight with their origins in another country.
JL Beers
Sometimes you just want to sit down in a restaurant and not be challenged by the menu. When you and your date feel the same way, head to JL Beers in Grand Forks. This award-winning restaurant is known around the area for simple, yet delicious food and drinks that deliver comfortable satisfaction when you’re finished. The menu states at the top that its “ingredients come from someone’s backyard,” ensuring that your food is made from the freshest available ingredients.
The menu features burgers that go by the name of the Humpty Dumpty, Mt. Mushmore, Totally Slawesome, Smokey the Beer, and more. Fries, chips, and pretzels with dips are available to complement your choice of entree. The beer menu features local brews, national favorites, and import brands to round out the selection. JL Beers is about the burgers and the brews, but not much else, and there’s nothing wrong with that when it comes to good eating.
Lew Flynn’s Red Ray Lanes Grand Forks
Lew Flynn’s Red Ray Lanes is a vintage bowling alley that’s a great place for doing something different on a date night as long as you make sure to go on a non-league night. All of your games are tracked on old-school CRT monitors using software that dates back to the 1980s. Make sure to bowl during the cosmic night for a total 80s flashback experience. Other bowling experiences include laser bowling and extreme bowling to help change up the experience.
Once you’re done throwing strikes on the lanes, and hopefully not with your date, stop by the Kegler Lounge for a drink or two. The bowling alley is open from early in the morning to late at night during the week, and it’s open even later on the weekend. It’s a great atmosphere for a casual date and gives both of you something to do when there’s not much in the way of other activities available.
Lotus Yoga
Yoga is a meditative exercise style that is suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels. Lotus Yoga offers a wide variety of classes that anyone can execute regardless of whether they’re a beginner or expert. It’s a great place to come with a date to try out yoga as a shared experience and compare notes on the physical and mental journey each of you went on. The studio also offers dance exercise classes in case you want to do something different to get your blood pumping and your body moving.
Not sure where to start with yoga? Lotus Yoga can help you decide which type of yoga is right for you and your date. The ultimate goal of Lotus Yoga is to help participants release stress, let their minds relax, and allow energy to move freely through their bodies. You don’t have to commit to classes if you don’t want to, making Lotus Yoga a great place for a date and a shared experience.
So there you have our list of five fun date ideas to do in the area around Thompson that explore the available options that are on and off the beaten path. Do you feel we missed something that should be included in the list? Drop us a line to let us know, and we’ll be sure to include your favorite destination for a date. Meanwhile, come see us at the Rydell Outlet Center to get your next set of affordable wheels.
Connect with us
