8 Ways to Savor Your Summer

Classic summer activities create memories with family and friends

Making time for travel and activities we enjoyed in past summers has health benefits and can help the season feel like it’s moving at a slower pace.

AARP (Getty Images, 6)

Berit Thorkelson,

AARP

Published June 19, 2026

Key takeaways

Summertime seems to end faster as we age, but memorable experiences can help slow it down.
A summer list of activities you want to do encourages mindfulness and newness, both linked to feeling time more fully.
Classic summer activities, whether on big trips or experienced close to home, build shared memories.

Remember how when you were a kid, summers felt as if they’d last forever? Sunny days unfolded casually, peppered with beach trips, icy treats and ball games, mundanely beautiful and seemingly on perpetual repeat.

As we get older, summers often seem to whiz by — a phenomenon that has to do with how we process memories as we age. One way to slow time down: Recreate those nostalgic summer experiences you remember fondly.

Being mindful of how you spend your time offers health benefits as we age, including improved cognition and immune function, according to research reported in the University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good magazine.

Here are eight ways to rediscover the slower pace of idyllic summers past.

There are health benefits to beach time, even if you don’t step foot in the water.

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1. Relax into beach time

Name a more quintessential summer experience than lounging on a sandy strip along the water. You don’t even need to dip a toe in to reap health benefits of relaxing near water, such as reduced stress and better sleep, according to a systematic review of 33 studies on so-called blue spaces, published in Oxford Academic’s Health Promotion International. Riverfront stretches, lakeside vistas and proper ocean coastline all count. Drew Ann Long, 54, drives more than four hours from her home in Alabaster, Alabama, to get to her go-to spot. “It’s not summer until I’m standing on the white sand of Gulf Shores, Alabama, with a coconut margarita in hand,” she says. “Just seeing and hearing the water is very transformative … you get lost in it.”

Taking in a baseball game, whether minor or major league, is a nostalgic summer ritual.

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2. Catch a baseball game

Jessica Valdez Taves, 54, and Matt Taves, 56, each grew up going to baseball games over the summer. For Brooklyn-raised Matt, that meant Yankees games with his dad. The couple now live upstate, in the Finger Lakes region, but over the years have tried to make an annual trek to New York City, often with their sons, to cheer alongside the rowdy, die-hard bleacher-seat fans. Minor league games help them get a more regular fix. “It’s how we get all our baseball in for cheap,” Jessica says. That often means cheering on the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, who have bring-your-dog games and regular Friday night fireworks. They take in games in other states too. “The crack of the bat. Being outside. The fans. The beer. The brats,” Matt says. “We’re year-round sports fans, but baseball has a certain summer love for us.”

A quintessential summer experience: Spending time with others during an outdoor concert.

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3. Attend an outdoor concert

For more than 40 years, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s free Concerts on the Square have been a summer staple. Concertgoers leave blankets on the Wisconsin Capitol lawn in Madison to claim their spots hours before the evening’s start time. Madison residents Jason and Sarah Rasmusen, 61 and 53, respectively, are among the faithful attendees. “It’s just this really great way to seize summer here … [to] really appreciate the fleeting nature of good weather in the Midwest and grab it while we can,” Jason says.

There are parents on blankets as kids run around nearby, older adults in sturdy chairs set on paved stretches and couples enjoying fancy multicourse prix fixe restaurant meals. The Rasmusens’ current routine involves vendor food, a bottle of wine and a blanket spread out in the grass just outside the elbow-to-elbow concert core. The music wraps up around sunset. “It’s charming. Everybody leaves with a smile on their face and looking forward to coming back,” he says.

Road trips are great ways to escape routine and embrace whatever summer pleasures await along your route.

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4. Take a road trip

For me, road trips build in the flexibility that summer truly deserves. There’s no set departure or arrival time, there’s always room for packing just-in-case items and you can hit the brakes for anything that calls to you from the roadside. From my home in Minnesota, I have go-to trip routes of varying lengths that offer more tempting stops than one trip could possibly hold, which leaves plenty to revisit “next time.” Two summers ago, a friend and I drove a familiar route and paused in a town I’d previously only driven through, just over the state border in Wisconsin. We conquered a beautiful hike atop the St. Croix River bluffs and ate a locally sourced meal that was hard to peel away from, thanks to good food and conversation. That’s my brand of summer perfection.

Farmers markets brimming with summer’s bounty make for delicious — and inexpensive — peeks into local culture.

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5. Shop at a farmers market

For Elizabeth Kanna, in her early 60s, summer officially begins once the peaches hit her local Sacramento, California, farmers market, rife with the melons, berries and flowers that appear only this time of year. “It’s like a little mini vacation for me, getting in my car, playing my [summer-themed] music, talking to my farmers,” she says. “It takes me out of my normal mindset and all the tasks I have to do.” When she’s far from home, she sometimes incorporates a farmers market into her visit to see what locals grow and to pick up a few souvenirs. Many markets also have live music, activities and demonstrations. “You get to know the community a little bit more,” Kanna says.

For many travelers, summer means getting out on the water in some form, such as pontoon boat, paddleboard or canoe.

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6. Get out on the water

The highlight of Cynthia Barnes’ childhood summers was time at her grandparents’ cottage in northern Indiana. Top memories include ice cream cones, catching fireflies and driving a pontoon boat while perched on her grandfather’s lap. “It’s not summer for me unless I can be on the water,” says the 61-year-old Colorado resident. Now Barnes satisfies her summer urge in Grand County, Colorado, about 100 miles from her home in Denver. There, vacationers tackle the lakes, rivers and reservoirs in all manner of watercraft, including raft, sailboat, paddleboard, kayak and Barnes’ forever favorite, pontoon. She rents one with friends for a leisurely day on the water. “It connects with my first memories of summer,” she says.

Slow down the season by spending some leisurely time at an outdoor cafe, people-watching and connecting with friends.

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7. Dine alfresco

Relaxing on a café patio elevates a meal into a place-rooted seasonal experience. That’s what draws Wendy Bergs Woolfolk, 62, of San Diego, to the Cliffhanger Café and Bar at the Torrey Pines Gliderport, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The café itself is “no-frills,” she says. But the view, coastal breeze and a unique version of people-watching make for a winning summer mix. “You can grab lunch, watch paragliders run off the cliff or have a drink and catch a beautiful Southern California sunset,” Bergs Woolfolk says.

Summer festivals come in many different forms, but all serve as great ways to celebrate the season with others.

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8. Find a festival

Summer is prime festival season, with options celebrating food, music, heritage, nature, history, art, world’s largest items — you name it, there’s likely a festival in its honor somewhere in America. Jessica Valdez Taves, the baseball fan from upstate New York, says her soft spot for festivals is a form of seasonal nostalgia. “I love it because that’s what I grew up doing [in Minnesota] … going to Barbecue Days, Giant Days, Mosquito Days, you know? That’s what we did all summer,” she says. In keeping with tradition, she and her husband fold in festivals among their baseball outings all summer long.

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The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Berit Thorkelson is a travel writer and editor for aarp.org. She has also written for publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Better Homes & Gardens and The Minnesota Star Tribune’s travel section.