Holy crap, the second date went
waaaaaaaaaay better. At first she had her trademark shyness on as we went through the Nature Center, and kept it up afterward. It'd been a while since I was last there, so what was supposed to take all afternoon only took 45 mins. Place seemed a lot bigger when I was a kid! Trying to salvage it I suggested minigolf, which she didn't know how to drive to. Considering her personality, I think she put a lot of trust in me to let me take her there.
It was 98 degrees outside so we only played the first half of the course. Since we were both sweating near the end she was talking even less, and I was thinking this would be another dud. When we got in the car to take her back to the Nature Center, she spoke up, saying she hadn't seen much of the westside of the city, and if I could show her around. So I did, and that's when she started opening up. We ended up talking for two hours in the car, and while she seemed a little "blah" when clammed up, she ended up being a ton of fun. After the drive she said she'd actually like to finish the course, and we played the last 18 holes.
Drove her back to her car afterwards and immediately set up a third date for next week. Last time I told her I had fun and wanted to do something again she just said "okay...". This time was "Yeah! Had a lot of fun too, let's do something next week!" Didn't make any moves, but this felt like a "proper" first date. It's clear we get along really well, she's just been stressed from work and doesn't like texting much. May not contact her this week aside from confirming the time for next Saturday. Still though, all of my uncertainties from last week are cleared up now- excitement

!
So, this week I learned:
1. Take it
slow. It's just been a week since you first saw each other, and she may just not want to talk much over the phone. For a brief time at the Nature Center when she was at her shyest I was thinking "this is it, it's over" but literally a few minutes later it was like we'd never left the first date. We hadn't regressed.
2. The "not giving a crap" attitude works wonders, and I wasn't nervous at all this time. I think she caught on to that.
Two lessons that are often said around here, it's just nice that I recognized them and got to learn them for myself. There's still a sizable chance this won't work out, but I can't say I'll leave without some experience.