Things to Do in Arlington
Recommended Things to Do by Groupon Customers
Among the Old Mill Adventure Park’s 315 verdant acres sliced through by miles of gravel and tarmac roads, DirtFish Rally School’s seasoned instructors impart their driving savvy upon pupils of all experience levels via dirt-lined rally courses of varying lengths. A pre-instructional driver's meeting in a classroom inside the 10,000-square-foot main building enables vehicular gurus to expound upon essential driving skills such as weight transfer, skid control, and how to stop Keanu Reeves from trying to stop the speeding car. Immune to inclement weather, DirtFish staff foils nature’s attempts at forcing drivers to stay indoors with all-season lessons that wend along demanding routes in rain, sleet, and snow. DirtFish’s meticulously maintained fleet of all-wheel-drive Subaru rally cars effortlessly hurtle along the high-speed slalom course and slide across the Skid Pad thanks to competition-ready features including Tein suspension, rally tires, and OMP safety equipment. Upon the course’s completion, DirtFish staffers welcome guests back into the main building where men’s and women’s showers and locker rooms facilitate spruce-up sessions and a museum peppers brains with information nuggets pertaining to the art of rally.
Towering trees surround Puget Sound's shores, where mountains wrapped in hazy gauze loom in the background as wild animals serenely drink from the open waters and winding Hood Canal waterways. It's here that Olympic Outdoor Center decided to stake its headquarters more than 25 years ago, and where their instructors now lead paddlers onto the water for kayak and standup paddleboard lessons. The coaches also guide salmon-fishing tours and other extended trips, as well as youth adventure camps in which kids learn to maneuver kayaks and paddleboats and master fending off sea monsters with a swift paddle-bop to the noggin.
On land, staff members guide adventurers through mountain-biking camps and competitive races on the surrounding 4,000 acres of forested trails. The staffers help organize outdoor recreation events such as annual adventure sports festivals, paddling and biking triathlons, and overnight paddling trips.
As owner Kam Bradley told Seattle's King 5 News, "There's not a lot of limitations." She's referring to Absolute Air Park's indoor trampoline playground, where jumpers spring from floor to wall, spinning and flipping until gravity yells "uncle." To keep the park free of limitations, she and her husband added activities for kids, teens, and adults such as high-flying dodge-ball leagues as well as bouncy fitness classes. Recognizing how the trampolines made exercising fun, they offer trampoline aerobics, which incinerates calories with a variety of aerobic and fitness activities, as well as boot camps that incorporate interval and circuit training during 55-minute sessions. While the fitness is a plus, they know fun is the park's main draw, so they enhanced jumping possibilities with snowboards and bounce boards made specifically for trampolines, as well as party packages replete with personalized birthday cakes and extra-large pizzas.
Dave Button grew up along Washington's Skagit River and had the inspiration to found his own company while navigating the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon under the helm of famed guide Georgie White. Soon after, Dave returned home to create Pacific NW Float Trips in 1974. Today, Dave and his crew of trained, passionate guides share their knowledge of the region's landscapes and hottest nightclubs for 20-something salmon via inspirational tours held year-round on the Skagit, Nooksack, and Wenatchee Rivers. Having scored the No. 5 spot on Sunset magazine's Top 10 Rafting Trips, Pacific NW's famed Bald Eagle Raft Adventure grants tourists a chance to take in the serenity of rustling cottonwoods and the majesty of Mount Baker as their guides quietly point out migratory eagles from Canada and Alaska.
Since 1962, owner and U.S. Coast Guard–licensed captain Terry Buzzard has gotten to know the San Juan Islands and surrounding miles of water pretty well. Having hauled mail for the Post Office, salvaged wrecks, assisted in oil spill cleanups, and ferried passengers throughout the San Juan Islands, he has built quite a resumé of seafaring. This relationship with water isn't so surprising considering he began boating at the age of 3 when he was allowed to pilot a single-horsepower boat by himself with his trained rescue dog, Rusty.
Regardless of the actual job he's performing, Terry is always drawn to whales. By 1978, this fascination lead him to chartering trips specifically for whale watching, especially toward the schools of orca that made the region their home. Looking back, he's pretty certain his boat was the only one in the area at the time dedicated to the thrill of witnessing some of the world's largest and most beautiful animals. Today, the waters are spotted with various boats filled with passengers snapping pictures of the great aquatic beasts and shouting ululations whenever one smacks its enormous tail against the water, takes a playful leap, or belts a Mariah Carey song.
Terry's boat, the 110-foot Island Caper, provides generous sightlines to all passengers via its spacious outdoor deck and ample indoor viewing areas, and is decked out with a 34-speaker sound system. In business for 50 years, Island Mariner Whale Watching also employs a seaplane to help spot whales and guide tours. With his chief navigator––a 5-year-old airedale terrier also named Rusty––Terry is right out there amid the excitement, ferrying whale watchers and sharing his life-long passion.
