Things to Do in Arbutus

Fog floods the 6,000-square-foot arena as youngsters race behind glowing crates and walls to escape lasers, thus fulfilling the business's Active Play Active Kids philosophy of getting wee ones on their feet and keeping them moving. At the nine-hole indoor golf course, glow-in-the-dark games take place with the aid of illumined putters and firefly caddies. The laser maze's 30 crisscrossing beams put participants' coordination to the test as they navigate through, and the glowing Lightspace Play Floor accommodates up to four players trying to copy each others' dance moves. At the snack station, kids can recharge with pizza and nachos before challenging friends to air-hockey bouts in an arcade with more than 35 games.

When Superior Tours looks for new drivers, it wants polite, reliable, and personable people, and it doesn't even consider those with fewer than five years of experience. Its drivers all work only for Superior Tours so that they can be on time and well rested for each trip. Luxury, 54-passenger motorcoaches pick up groups from the airport, ferry people to New York City for a day of urban exploration, or steer toward Atlantic City where passengers can hit the slots. The company also programs charter trips for corporate outings, church trips, and charter-bus-of-the-month clubs.

S.J. Koch Duffy's electric boats are eco-conscious, as they don't burn any fuel. Emitting zero emissions, the 22- and 18-foot rental boats provide breathtaking views upon departure from any of the company's two regional watery locales. Based on the harbor of choice, renters can take the canopied vessels floating by Annapolis's US Naval Academy, along the waterfront restaurants of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. On board, a built-in stereo system emits an energetic score to each renter's adventure. Duffy's website claims the boats are as easy to drive as a golf cart, but also offers training for new drivers. Self-propelled adventures are also popular, as the company also rents paddleboats and kayaks.

Although tape and video media were once the mainstays of recording technology, repeated usage will gradually deteriorate their quality. The team at Advanced Video Systems has stymied that deterioration by digitizing Super 8, 16mm, audio, and other media into wear-proof CDs and DVDs for more than three decades. In addition to preserving precious memories, the staff also restores the color and contrast to faded and foggy images, slides, and vinyl records.

Even as a flight attendant and marketing salesperson, Belinda Magruder never forgot her younger years as a crewmember aboard international sailing charters. The freedom of clinging to the wind as the boat raced across open waters continued to call to her, and one day she got an opportunity to go back. After a chance ad for a marketing position led Belinda to work for Getaway Sailing, she eventually took over the company. Since then, Belinda has filled Getaway Sailing's school with American Sailing Association–certified instructors, many of whom were raised on the bay and grew up manning the rigging of their families' ships. Some of the school's captains hold merchant mariner's licenses and boast year-round experience in running freighters via tugboat or beating Poseidon in weekend poker games.

A fleet of 17 boats at lengths of up to 35 feet conveys passengers through classes covering navigation and cruising, as well as certification courses and team-building trips. With the water gently patting hulls, boats cut through the sunshine and across the Inner Harbor or to the Francis Scott Key Bridge on day charters, or take longer trips to farther-flung stretches of aquamarine around Rockhall, Oxford, and St. Michaels. Evening races let larger boats jockey competitively with snails snapping a staccato rhythm against the darkening sky, and harbor sails put small groups out with a skipper, leaving them free to bar-hop or heckle passing schools of fish. Getaway Sailing's instructors immerse their students in the insular sailing world and have drawn members from as far as Hershey, including patrons who have volunteered to help staff the school's booth at boating trade shows.