Legal cannabis has made it easier than ever to blaze and explore the outside world. If you were shy about being high in public before, now is the time to see the city with fresh, bloodshot eyes.
Don’t know where to start? We’ve compiled 25 fun things to do around town that pair well with being high.
1. Stop and smell the flowers at Lamberton Conservatory
The bright colors and pleasant smells will give your tingling senses a workout. Reality check: If you see a tiny quail run by, your buzz isn’t running away with your imagination. There really are a handful of button quail on the grounds.
2. Watch planes land up close
Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport has a huge public airfield observatory on the upper west end of the ticketing lobby. You don’t have to go through security to get there, but sitting stoned in its rocking chairs might have you removing your shoes anyway. That rumble in your belly as a 737 touches down won’t be the munchies.
3. Melt away at the Bodymind Float Center
Float in a body-temperature pool of 800 pounds of pharmaceutical-grade Epsom salt like a precog in “Minority Report.” You can float in silence or have music piped in. Caution: If you choose quiet, beware paranoia doesn’t sink in.
4. Get starstruck at Strasenburgh Planetarium
The planetarium’s star projection and laser light shows are guaranteed to elevate your high. Upcoming out-of-this-world experiences include almost daily primers on the night sky, previews on next year’s total solar eclipse, and weed-friendly laser demos set to Pink Floyd or Radiohead.
5. Get baked with Bach at the RPO
Neuroscientists say combining marijuana and music connects us to the musicians. Connecting to 50 classical Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra musicians working in unison is a real trip. Just ask CITY Arts Editor Daniel J. Kushner.
6. See standup at Comedy @ The Carlson
You can’t go wrong with this pairing. Pot gives most people the giggles. The Carlson has the best comedy around. If you’re like most people, you’ll still be in stitches even if the standup sucks.
7. Break out the crayons . . .
. . . and get coloring. Think it’s just for kids? The “I’d Rather Color Rochester” coloring book by Shawn Dunwoody is for adults. Its 32 pages are filled with familiar spaces, places, and faces. In your world, the Genesee River doesn’t have to always be brown.
8. Go to the zoo
Getting high and watching nature documentaries is a thing. Why not live the documentary with a trip to the Seneca Park Zoo? Make it a game: Count the spots on the two snow leopards, Kaba and Timila, or mimic the monkeys.
9. Bust out the video games
You could play video games without smoking weed. But why would you? Rochester has the best free arcade games anywhere at the World Video Game Hall at The Strong. Inductees include Ms. Pac-Man, Tetris, Super Mario Bros, and DDR. No quarters needed. Just add weed.
10. Hear your own echo (echo…echo…echo)
The trail through Washington Grove atop Cobbs Hill Park winds through ancient oaks and graffiti-tagged, abandoned metal water towers. Climb inside a tower, light up, and shout. The echo will enchant you. So will the view of the Rochester skyline.
11. Dance at the Rochester Fringe Festival’s Silent Disco
When you’re high, you’re marching to the beat of your own drum anyway. Make it official outside the festival’s Spiegeltent with a pair of noise canceling headphones carrying tunes from across the musical spectrum.
12. Shop for a hard-to-find plant
Weed is easier to come by than ever. But monstera deliciosa albo-variegata? That’s a different story, unless you stop in at Stem, the rare and exotic houseplant store on Monroe Avenue. Fiddle Leaf Fig. Green Papaya. Purple Roc Dangles. The plants on these shelves sound like cannabis strains.
13. Roll one in the abandoned subway
Smoking up in the abandoned subway path beneath Broad Street and taking in the subterranean gallery of street art there is a time-honored stoner tradition.
14. Fly at The Strong Museum’s Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden
You’ll be transported to a tropical paradise in technicolor. Caution: Seeing butterflies being born in the chrysalis case might move you to tears. Bonus buzz: Go on a scavenger hunt for the garden’s resident panther chameleon and watch it change color before your eyes.
15. Go low at Maplewood Park
If you’re high enough, and the water at Lower Falls is low enough, you can stand directly on top of a waterfall in the center of a city. Where else can you do that?
16. Bake and brew
Blend your vices and take a stoned brewery stroll. Start at Nine Maidens on University Avenue and you can hit Sager, Heroes, Three Heads, and Iron Tug without walking more than a mile. And, let’s face it, you’re not going to want to walk a mile.
17. Take your bowl bowling
Weed and bowling go together like snack foods and strikes. You don’t have to be in shape to play, and the Lysol hanging in the air will get you higher. The grownups recommend Radio Social, but for a true Rochester experience, hit L&M Lanes on Merchants Road.
18. Hit the bong, then hit the books
The Rochester region is home to 13 colleges. Crashing a class at one of them while stoned might be the coolest thing you’ll ever do. Try “The Art of Astonishment” at RIT, which focuses on magic tricks and magic history. The best part: You probably won’t be the only student on drugs.
19. Shapeshift at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park
The park’s funhouse mirror is the perfect place to take selfies stoned. Move one way and your head swells like a balloon. Shift again, and you’ve got forearms like Popeye. Pro tip: Turn off your flash to avoid a blinding experience.
20. Travel through time at Genesee Country Village & Museum
Watching a woman named Lucretia wearing a bonnet and 19th-century frock dye fabric is a mind-bending experience when you’re sober. Pair it with pot and your head will explode like cannon fire on the Great Meadow during a Civil War reenactment.
21. Go to the Pittsford Wegmans
Just go and marvel at the decadence of it all. We mean the people, not the fare.
22. Bake while baking at The Brainery.
The Brainery has some incredible cooking classes. Learning to bake brownies while you bake is like Googling “Google.” You’re bound to blow a hole in your space-time continuum. This is your Brainery on drugs. Just say yes.
23. Tour the headstones at Mount Hope Cemetery
More than 350,000 people lay in eternal slumber across this Victorian cemetery’s 196 acres, and as Patricia Corcoran, president of Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery, says, “Every one of these stones has a story.” Now, every stoner can have one, too.
24. Go to a yoga class
Blazing and breathing deeply may seem like an obvious pairing, but you may be surprised how much easier it is to stretch, comfortably hold poses, or sit still in a pleasant, present headspace while stoned. Namaste.
25. Stare at art at the Memorial Art Gallery
Some of us can stare for what feels like hours at a painting. Go to the MAG stoned and you might actually stare at one for hours. That wouldn’t be a bad thing. Harvard art history professor Jennifer Roberts has students stare at a single piece for three hours and says they “see things, make observations, and develop original ideas.” We recommend Jacob Lawrence’s busy “Summer Street Scene in Harlem” or Milton W. Hopkins’ uber-creepy “Pierrepont Edward Lacey and His Dog, Gun.”