Get to Know the Area Near Sunset Park

Going to Sunset Park for Saturday’s Water Lantern Festival — in which participants make and launch floating lanterns, lighting up the park’s pond at dusk? Sounds lovely! Why not budget a little extra time and make a whole thing of it?

Get Off to a Good Start: There are solid reasons that Sunrise Coffee is a perennial contender for the valley’s favorite caffeine stop. The coffee is excellent — I’m partial to the mocha this time of year — and the vibe is buzzy but easygoing.



Get Physical: You can rehearse your postapocalyptic survival skills with an hour of axe-throwing at Axe Monkeys ($30), or throw a few holes of disc golf on Sunset Park’s fun and challenging 27-hole course. (Tip: If you don’t like climbing fences, be careful on Hole 4.)



Shop ‘til You Bop: There’s a Zia Records outlet on Warm Springs, near the park’s southern edge; it’s a great place to stumble across your next favorite album.



Grab a Bite: There will be food trucks at the Water Lantern Festival. But if you want an alternative, let me suggest the shawarma nachos at nearby Parsley, a Mediterranean joint.



Watch Planes Land: There’s a popular parking lot on Sunset Road, along one of the major runways of Reid International, where you can bundle up and watch, every few minutes, the routine miracle of giant metal tubes lumbering out of the sky and landing. Strangely mesmerizing.