Things to Do in Binghamton

Colossal train engines once pulled hefty freight along the O&W Railway's main line. Today, where the rails lines formerly cut through glistening tree canopies, a 2-mile unpaved trail splices through six rural hamlets, just 90 miles from New York City. It's along this rails-to-trails path that Woodridge Segway Tours whisks its adventurers through beautiful mountain views, clean country air, and the sounds of fresh water trickling. With safety helmets securely atop their heads, tour takers steer the two-wheeled segway transporters with intuitive gestures: leaning forward to go ahead, leaning backward to reverse, and pulling on their ears to make the segways sing.

At Create Art Studio, owner and instructor Karyn equips prospective paint-slingers with the instruction and inspiration to realize artistic dreams during step-by-step classes, private parties, and open-studio sessions. The studio seamlessly combines two of Karyn's greatest passions, drawing on both her art-education degree from Purdue University and more than 10 years of classroom experience as a teacher.

During the two-hour step-by-step sessions, she and other instructors equip aspiring artistes with all of the necessities to create an original masterpiece, including smocks, easels, canvases, paints, brushes, and haughty French accents. In addition to the instructors' aid, creatively challenged participants can glean clever ideas from the inspiration wall, which helps pupils explore art-worthy subjects beyond traditional bowls of fruit and sunsets. Like conscientious speakeasies, the studio invites guests aged 21 and older to bring along their own snacks and alcohol.

Twenty-one runs streak across the Toggenburg Mountain Winter Sports Center trail map, furnishing skiers and snowboarders with ample real estate to perfect swerves and test nerves in the crisp high country air. Five lifts—two doubles, a triple, and a pair of beginner rope tows—hoist snowy revelers to the top of runs such as the black diamond Oh My Goat, the blue square Angora Alley, and the green circle Capricorn Caper, as well as two terrain parks. Here, a gantlet of rails, boxes, and tables not only give daredevils the chance to show off their aerial acrobatics, but also provide a rough idea of what it would be like to wear skis into a furniture store. First-timers and skiers in need of a refresher can sign up for snow school, where expert instructors illuminate proper technique during private, semiprivate, and group lessons.

Off the mountain, Chilly Choices ski shop keeps skiers and snowboarders warm on the outside with hats, gloves, goggles, and apparel. Meanwhile the Foggy Goggle and Toggenburg Cafeteria keep them warm them on the inside with toasty eats such as braised tenderloin tips and pizza.

Concealed by glowing dividers, combatants creep along the AstroTurf, hunting for a clear shot at an opponent's battle suit. The 6,900-square-foot arena's lasers, black lights, and shadowy corners call to mind a real-life video game or a haunted discotheque. Skirmishes typically run for 15 minutes, pitting the red team and the green team against each other in a tactical contest. During cease-fires, laser combatants can fire quarters into an assortment of arcade games.

Floodlights replace the sun during nightfall at Four Seasons Golf and Ski Center, keeping the miniature golf courses and batting cages aglow for nighttime visitors. During the summer, guests can wind through miniature fairways that incorporate small-scale replicas of The Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, and the world's smallest caddies. During the winter, Four Seasons’ slopes welcome copious amounts of snow to facilitate skiing, snowboarding, and snowtubing. The newly renovated facility also hosts a game room and specialty ice cream shop.

At the tender age of 19, young businessman Mikeal Wood founded Upstate Party Rental in 2001, provisioning celebrations with tables, tents, and glassware while roping in a 2006 award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Association. When not raising his three kids, Mikeal stays hard at work alongside his team of trusty roustabouts, hammering stakes for canopies and tents, setting out seating, or enveloping flatware in crisp linens. With a wealth of tables, chairs, silverware, coolers, and equipment at hand, Mikeal and his team can equip any style or size of gathering, from laying out cloth-clad tables for a fancy barbecue to putting down a dance floor for weddings. After each revelry, workers speedily dismantle the rented furnishings, load up their vans, remind the hosts it was all a dream, and leave backyards or banquet halls exactly as they found them.