Allison Park, PA Outdoor Activities

Steel City Airsoft's safety-conscious staff hosts adrenaline-pumping showdowns for recreational warriors as well as for law enforcement or military groups looking to train in a close-quarters, indoor environment. A modular building design allows staffers to reorient the walls, hallways, and doorways that honeycomb the 15,000-square-foot facility, ensuring unpredictable, action-packed bouts amid a hail of whistling pellets. With an emphasis on responsible play, the staff members steadfastly enforce the facility's rules and advise patrons either to wear clothing that covers any bare skin or to don their family's coat of arms. Steel City Airsoft is open on Fridays from 5 p.m.–midnight, Saturdays from noon to midnight, and Sundays from noon to 10 p.m.

The Monroeville Home Show occupies the Monroeville Convention Center with the comfortable clatter of home-improvement projects and the soft hush of leaves rustling in a range of gardening exhibits. A door opens wide to reveal the interior of a Riverview Homes model house, beckoning show-goers to explore its gussied-up interior and take note of how many fireman poles a normal domicile has. Flora sprouts around the Phipps Conservatory gardening stage, where seasoned green thumbs demonstrate a variety of techniques, and a multitude of exhibition booths dispense helpful tips, showcase products, and expound upon domestic tips for the spring season.

The friendly experts at Willi's Ski and Snowboard Shop sling the latest in contemporary snow-sport products and maintain slope-traversing gear, earning themselves a Gold Medal Award from Ski magazine. Boot technicians help guests hunt down the precise fit for their boots, and maintenance wizards use top-notch Wintersteiger tuning machines to ensure that skis and snowboards retain their integrity during outings or unexpected ice ages.

SteelTown Paintball Park embraces competition with a Sup'Air speedball field and 11-balls-per-second Envy paintball markers. Its mirrored field encourages strategizing and modest primping among teams, and often games can become up-close-and-personal affairs after tickling becomes the only true means to attain victory. The turf field also hosts competitive events, ranging from national USPA matches to local-level tourney play. Recreational players need not feel intimidated, however, as the referees ensure fair matches with equal teams.

The Pittsburgh Tour Company's guides cart guests around on classic red double-decker buses straight out of London. These experienced guides divulge interesting factoids along the tour's 21 stops, which include a fish market, Heinz Field, and the city’s depository of old chewing gum that has been scraped off school desks. The company's fleet of four buses offers up the chance to view the city from the second story of closed or open bus tops.

Segway in Paradise's gliding tour guides are expert multitaskers, effortlessly sharing historical tidbits with fleets of tourists while leading them through the streets of Pittsburgh atop smooth-rolling segways. The fun and educational tours, which helped the company earn praise from publications such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, run as frequently as three to five times a day, and escort two-wheelers past such locations as PNC Park and the River Walk fountain. The tour routinely stops for photo opportunities in front of the city's picturesque skyline. When groups cross where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet, they can toss coins into the water and wish that their segways might one day earn a pair of metallic wings.