Things to Do in Bristol

In the past 40 years, the Southern Litchfield Hills of northwestern Connecticut have seldom stood without an echo of laughter or music. That's because Woodbury Ski Area keeps them pulsing with skiers and snowboarders during winter months and warm-weather revelers and concertgoers throughout the summer. Tubing slides run down the hills throughout the summer, along with zorb balls—inflatable spheres that carry passengers to the bottom in 45 seconds.

Woodbury Ski Area's president Rod Taylor, who competed as a member of the U.S. Ski Team, maintains the facility with the same drive he used to become the national downhill ski champion and record holder for clearing 222 feet in the Glendale Jump contest. While helping to keep adrenaline levels high, Rod ensures the facility hosts more laid-back cultural events with concerts on the Woodbury stage. Past shows have featured legends including The Wailers, Fela Kuti, and UB40, as well as Muddy Waters, The Band, Bonnie Raitt, and Earl Scruggs.

Hornet Marine President David Hartmann got his taste for boat design from his father, Hal, an engineer who helped create the smooth-riding deep-vee hull now included on each Hornet 17 speedboat. Today, the 17-foot seacrafts zip through the water with help from Mercury MerCruiser engines, each carrying up to five passengers perched on custom upholstery. Hornet Marine invites landlubbers on factory tours and test drives at its headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, where a staff of nautical experts also keep ships shipshape with oil changes, detailing, and other boat-maintenance services.

The NRA-certified instructors of Your Pistol Permit have one goal: to instill in their students responsible handgun practices as outlined by the National Rifle Association. To do this, they lead the NRA Basic Pistol Shooting course, blending both classroom and range training so students feel comfortable handling a firearm and auditioning for the next Police Academy movie. Along with demonstrating the proper mindset needed to responsibly operate a handgun, instructors teach terminology, stance, loading and unloading, and firearm cleaning. They also offer private instruction for clients who prefer training tailored to their skill level.

The sounds of jovial chit-chat, sharply struck drives, and golf balls rattling into holes fill the air at Canton Indoor Golf Center, where guests can hone their swings or putting strokes in a festive environment with its own sports bar. Stationed around the center’s perimeter, eight high-definition Year Roundz golf simulators transport clubbers to digital models of courses such as Pebble Beach and Bay Hill. Throughout rounds, swing-tracking technology ensures that each flush tee shot finds the fairway and each errant swing prompts digital avatars to berate their 9-iron. An indoor green fosters freestyle putting practice, and the colorful, pirate-themed corridors of Glow Cove’s black-light mini golf offer a more competitive challenge to slope-reading skills. The multifaceted practice facility provides a climate-controlled venue for lessons conducted by PGA-certified instructors, who use the simulators’ swing analysis features to sharpen their observational prowess and gather intelligence for mankind’s reckoning with intelligent machines.

Sudsy libations from Year Roundz Sports Bar & Grill keep guests in high spirits as they engage in golf fun or simply lounge in the glow of sports-tuned TVs. Guests hungry after a simulated round of golf or a club-shaft-bending competition can curb their appetites with a burger, cheesesteak, or margarita pizza from the kitchen.

Pequabuck Golf Club traces its origins back to 1902, when it welcomed its first fairway explorers as a 5-hole course. After surviving the putter shortage of the Great Depression, the verdant grounds underwent a massive redesign by renowned golf-course architect and author Geoffrey St. John Cornish, who dreamt up more than 200 courses and was reincarnated as a golf cart now free to graze the land.

Under Cornish’s talented eye, Pequabuck became an 18-hole course that incorporates the rustic beauty of nature as its challenging terrain. The course takes golfers on a tee-to-green journey across its mature pine forest, over the Bristol Reservoir that runs through its fairways, and past the railroad tracks that drop off vagabond caddies on two fairways.

After conquering the 18th hole, golfers can head to the clubhouse for casual fare and drinks at The Pequabuck Pub, which features an outdoor patio with views overlooking the course.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 69 course
• Length of 6,015 yards
• Course rating of 70.2
• Slope rating of 118
• See the scorecard

Inside Cork & Brew, a husband-and-wife team infects customers with their passion for brewing, judging, and, of course, drinking wines and beers. Primarily, they hope to de-mystify home brewing and winemaking with classes, winemaking parties, and even homebrew get-togethers at a residence or office. They stock all the necessary equipment, including fresh hops, grain, and malt, as well as wine must from all over the world. The duo’s hookup with a custom-labeling source allows their clients to brighten up bottles before giving them away as gifts, displaying them on wine racks, or using them to christen newly-purchased ocean liners. Guests also may mingle through the newly opened banquet and party facility, which hosts soirees of 10–80 people.