Things to Do in Bethesda

Terrapin Adventures offers an array of activities for indoorsfolk seeking enthralling outdoor expeditions. With the Terrapin Tower adventure package, guests get two hours of climbing time, with a climbing lesson and climbing equipment included, on Terrapin Adventures' 43-foot-high outdoor climbing tower. The four-sided tower serves up a dozen different ascents, with a canopied platform at the tower's pinnacle offering a peaceful view of the Little Patuxent River and its ghosts of Revolutionary War–era extreme sportsmen. Terrapin Tower allows scalers of all skill sets to conquer the edifice with ease. The tower offers flat routes, overhang routes, and cargo nets for a variety of scaling surfaces, and climbers can simulate the digestive process of a timber rattlesnake by descending the tower headfirst through the stretchy Rainbow Serpent tube net.

All the moving and shaking inside Joe's has been known to register on the Richter and set off the sixth senses of forest creatures. Classes focus on styles and arts from around the world but are united by the common themes of fitness and fun, as well as by the plot twists in Donnie Darko and its sequel, Donnie Darko 2: Donnie Darker. The 20,000-square-foot performing center has enough space to accommodate a multitude of options—which it does—seven days a week.

Learn the fundamentals of fine art while quickly becoming the sharpest, most dangerous crayon in the box. A skilled and accomplished artist leads each class, introducing prospective Leonardos to new and exciting techniques that will inspire first-timers and advanced colorfully decorated veterans. The classes focus on painting and drawing in a cozy, laid-back environment. The student-to-teacher ratio is about 7:1, ensuring personal attention and strict adherence to the golden ratio. All the necessary materials are provided, including canvases, brushes, paints, and berets. Currently, two morning and two night classes are offered, but more will be added to accommodate additional students. Check out the schedule for adult workshop dates and times.

The professionally trained instructors at Olney Yoga & Wellness soothingly guide yogis of all skill levels through a variety of stretchy positions in a tranquil atmosphere. The myriad classes include beginner yoga, which covers basic postures and breathing techniques, Vinyasa flow, which helps yogis execute powerful poses, and gentle yoga, during which pupils coddle baby lemurs. The versatile schedule is packed with daily class options from morning to evening, making it easy to schedule a class between hectic bird-watching itineraries and Bonanza reruns. Throughout each class, body-bending students receive personalized attention from instructors as they contort their way across the warm, open-aired studio, replete with lustrous wood floors and stained-glass windows. Although it is recommended that students bring their own yoga mats to class, Olney Yoga offers mat rentals ($1).

With no studio fee and an open-door policy, the Studio at Fulton is always ready for customers to stop in to create whenever the creative juices flood. Select from hundreds of pieces to personalize, including mugs, plates, and a variety of seasonal pottery. Items range from $5 up to $60 for the largest vessels. The Studio at Fulton's selections are all non-toxic and food safe. Deck out your design with more hues than a neon-splattered Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper dipped in a rainbow, or make a statement with a mod motif. Aspiring artists can also try their hands at fusing glass pieces, with no experience required.

It was supposed to be a utopia. When Professor Angelica D. Ream painstakingly planned her Dream City, she failed to anticipate the demonic intentions of her own family, who twisted the peaceful community into Scream City, a hellscape terrorized by werewolves, bill collectors, and other evil beasts summoned from the underworld. Snaking throughout Scream City is the Trail of Terror, which reaches deep into a haunted forest where a power-hungry werewolf notoriously slaughtered a Dream City farmer. The path is known to shape-shift from year to year, keeping even regular travelers on their curled toes.

Elsewhere, Hades’s Hayride creeps through cornfields menaced by packs of brutish monsters and, allegedly, the most fear-inducing demon ever spawned. Towering over the grounds is Lusion Manor, where Professor Ream concocted Dream City and her evil family now plots their continued reign. Entrants wander each room of the house—including an attic rumored to imprison many of the villagers—which was just expanded to five times the size of the original structure to stave off noise complaints filed against howling werewolves.

Once wanderers have been sufficiently terrified, they can fight back against roving zombies in Paintball Apocalypse. From aboard a double-decker steel cart, battlers shoot glow-in-the-dark paintballs at unarmed zombies as they stagger past. Warriors can power up at the concessions area, where groups scorch marshmallows over open flames and annihilate plates of deep-fried Twinkies, pizza, and funnel cakes. Though the backstory remains in place at Field of Screams every year, each attraction takes on new twisted twists each fall.