Adrian, MI Outdoor Activities

Each year at the onset of summer, the costumed bards, knights, and royalty at Mayfaire Renaissance Festival welcome visitors to enjoy rollicking entertainment and peruse handcrafted wares throughout the wooded festival grounds. Attendees step into a world of jousters and jesters, replete with Renaissance-era songs and dances and smartphones fashioned from mutton. All-ages-appropriate comedians regale families with zany antics, and visitors can ask mystical tarot-card readers questions about the future.

Rustic Glen Golf Club beckons to clubbers of all handicaps with an 18-hole, par-72 layout that bobs and weaves across 6,469 yards of well-maintained greenery. The course’s fairways arch over rolling hills that add topographical variety, and water comes into play on five holes, striking fear in the synthetic hearts of all golf balls that never dreamed of one day befriending a catfish. The longest hole on the course—the 557-yard sixth—also happens to be the most difficult, and those who over-swing may push or pull their drives or second shots into a dense grove of trees perched ominously on the fairway’s left side. A 350-yard driving range with multiple target greens amply prepares players for upcoming rounds or tests that demand them to identify the color green.

The satisfying rattle of golf balls falling into cups soundtracks rounds at Perry Falls Miniature Golf Course, an 18-hole putters circuit that emulates a scaled-down, resort-style course. Placid streams, fountains, waterfalls, and tidal waves run throughout the par 40 course, setting a tranquil tone as golfers stand over tricky putts. Bereft of the windmills and loopty-loop gimmicks that populate most putt-putt layouts, Perry Falls challenges golfers with water hazards that come into the field of play on most holes. The course is open from 3 p.m. to dark on weekdays and noon to dark on weekends in May, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. June to August, but closes in the event of rain or golf-ball mutiny.

The sinuous fairways of Whiteford Valley Golf Club's three 18-hole, par 72 courses roam across a rolling, emerald expanse dotted with creeks, ponds, and mature timbers. The most difficult of the three layouts, the east course tunnels through stands of towering trees, placing accurate tee shots and a familiarity with squirrel vernacular at a premium. The north course likewise rolls across hilly, tree-lined terrain, though water hazards play a more prominent role throughout, made evident by the first green, which is entirely fringed by a rippling pond.

Long hitters or golfers trying to make amends to recently neglected drivers can take to the west course, which packs dense tree lines into the Club's longest layout, at 7,016 yards.

At Vail Meadows Equestrian Center, experienced trainers employ a holistic approach to horseback riding and instruction to help riders to develop life skills and live healthfully. Its 25-acre farm abuts the Maumee Bay State Park bridle trails, allowing riders to explore tree-laden mazes in addition to open pastures. Ducks, goats, and pot-bellied pigs roam the landscape, peeking into the historic 1893 barn while students improve concentration and problem-solving skills through therapeutic sessions. In another barn, beginners bond with new four-legged friends over the western riding techniques they have just mastered. Programming also includes riding opportunities for veterans, field trips for classes of students, and weekend horse camps for teens and adolescents. During camp sessions, young visitors participate in farming- and nature-related learning adventures before retiring to a warm indoor bunk, preventing them from having to rely on starlight to read copies of The Iliad written in hieroglyphics.

The entry door slams shut, and you immediately plunge into a world of terror and macabre. Skeletons hang from a dungeon's walls, maniacal clowns run through a fun house, and a blood-spattered bathroom horrifyingly runs out of soap. This is Dimensions of Darkness, a haunted walk-through that takes brave souls across a maze of terrifying rooms with even more terrifying inhabitants. The fright fest has caught the attention of USA Today and the Toledo Free Press, which noted that "each room, hallway and prop is so well-crafted that if you’re not being stalked by one of the resident ghouls, your focus is on how real everything feels."

Thoroughly immersed in their roles, live actors pop out at guests, thus filling every room with an orchestra of screams. Meanwhile, fog creeps over the floors and creepy sounds build tension between every scare. But despite this terror, visitors are never trapped. Security officers, each thoroughly vaccinated against zombies, stand ready to lead guests to the nearest exit should they wish to depart early.