Azle, TX Outdoor Activities

Total Driving Experience's skilled instructors teach teenagers essential accident-avoidance techniques through simulated real-life driving scenarios. During Day 1 of the Skills Teen Driving School, novice drivers with a valid learner's permit and up spend six hours behind the wheel, practicing challenging maneuvers on a dry obstacle course, skid pad, and rush-hour-themed bouncy castle. Instructors ride with students to offer tips on dealing with tailgaters, handling skidding, and harnessing the stopping power of cars' ABS systems. Each 20- to 30-student session includes a scrumptious lunch and awards participants a certificate of completion that may be used toward discounts with some car-insurance providers or as a makeshift screensaver for a computer monitor.

From the top of a two-level fort, the sniper surveys the grounds below, where opponents lurk behind mounds and ready their semiautomatic markers from within two school buses. Those props, which adorn The West Lot, are among the many obstacles and barriers littering the 10 courses at Fun on the Run Paintball Park. Guests can duck behind army jeeps at The Fuel Depot, navigate The District's maze-style village, and storm the 15-foot, two-story castle, whose 3,000 square feet accommodates battling participants and court jesters performing medieval USO shows. Meanwhile, teams prepare for forthcoming competitions on three grass-turf tournament fields in the park's 3-acre training facility. Elsewhere in the park, players wield paintball markers equipped with laser light beams during outdoor hide-and-go-seek laser-tag games.

Originally a TWA aircraft, the Southern Cross Douglas C-47 was adopted by the Army Air Corps to shuttle troops to the front. The twin-propeller plane survived World War II and in the ensuing years underwent a series of makeovers. Its career includes years spent as a reliable set of wings for Delta Air Lines, a troupe of skydiving enthusiasts, and at least one head of state. The C-47 is now meticulously restored to its original WWII-era condition and in the dutiful care of Greatest Generation Aircraft, a nonprofit organization that introduces 21st-century crowds to the C-47 during rides and aerial shows. Flying out of Fort Worth's Meacham International Airport, the C-47 also shares a hangar with a B-25 bomber and other veteran planes.

Inside the George R. Brown Convention Center, the 32nd Annual Houston Home Show renovates the perception of home proprietors with three full days of decorating, remodeling, and do-it-yourself tips. A laundry list of national and local exhibitors, such as Sears Home Services and American Comfort Solutions, keeps representatives on hand to demonstrate and explain product features and innovations. Information-packed seminars held throughout the weekend will also dish out money-saving secrets, including pointers on faux painting from Michael Graves and edible landscaping tips from Edible Earth Resources team Daniel Millikin and Scott Snodgrass.

Blanketing more than 100 acres, Fort Worth Botanic Garden houses several disparate gardens that welcome locals and tourists whether they want quiet reflection or a social stroll amid arboreal beauty. The Fragrance Garden lives up to its name by engaging olfactory zones with a dozen uniquely scented plants. In the 7-acre Japanese Garden, visitors commune with plants and animals, including the pond's koi fish and their pet minnows.

After starting out as a single facility in 1998, D-BAT Sports has since grown to include a dozen academies spread across Texas and the rest of United States. Each location embodies the company's core belief: every ballplayer is an individual with a unique, specific set of talents that must be honed. As such, D-BAT's professional trainers mold baseball and softball players into experienced specialists with custom lessons in pivotal skills, such as hitting, pitching, and autographing hot dogs. The climate-controlled facilities also feature rentable indoor batting cages as well as pro shops stocked with major-brand equipment.