California City, CA Outdoor Activities

GolfTEC has thirteen convenient locations in the Los Angeles area, all staffed by experienced golfing professionals and computers who’ve sworn allegiance to the Three Laws of golfing robotics. Motion sensors and high-speed cameras monitor your swing and break down your form on a high-definition video display. GolfTEC’s PGA specialists point out your flaws, strengths, and coach you on how to permanently improve your game, from tee to green. Sensors chirp with approval when you’ve executed a perfect stroke or cracked an especially witty golfing joke.

Under the gleam of black lights, even teeth glow luminously, exposing the smiles of adventure-seekers as they putt mini-golf balls or set high-score records on arcade games at Fin's Glow Zone. The mini-golf course’s 18 holes come to life under glowing depictions of pirates, treasure, and spooky aquatic creatures such as sharks, giant octopi, and scuba-diving Bengal tigers. Inside the Balladium Ball Blaster, players compete for points amid a volley of foam balls throughout the neon playground. The private party room at Fin's hosts birthday celebrations, which can include pizza, arcade tokens, and trick candles that can only be extinguished after being doused in a gallon of milk.

The Sylmar Olive Festival celebrates the harvest with a sampling of oils and recipes for olives, tasty food, and dancing to a diverse schedule of entertainment. On Saturday at 11 a.m., a 3-mile parade kicks off the festivities before wending its way to the park to watch the Folklorico Dancers and listen to old-school funk-infused sounds from the Positive Source Band. On Sunday, Radio Disney broadcasts live from the festival, where guests test their bellies in a burrito-eating contest accompanied by the festive sounds of a mariachi band. On Monday, feathered and furred wildlife stops by for a meet-and-greet, and the sass-talking car from Knight Rider rolls in to dazzle eyes and lament its separation from David Hasselhoff. A different car show will be featured each day. Throughout the fest, some 50 world-class chalk artists dazzlingly decorate the ground with modern and classical images throughout the park.

Nobody in Santa Monica has a snow-covered slope in their backyard to practice slalom runs. Some think they can just march up a mountain and dominate a black diamond on courage and instinct alone. Instead, they wind up face first in snow, wishing they’d practiced.

In order to prepare skiers and snowboarders for the real deal, and to spare them from slushy, frostbitten shame, two-time world ski champion Bob Salemo devised his innovative Virtual Snow training system. In a controlled indoor environment far away from menacing ski lifts and snowballs tossed by mountain goats, winter-sports enthusiasts perfect their maneuvers in fun training drills led by skilled instructors and the clever teachings of Salemo himself. The faux ski-course simulator, which resembles a large conveyor belt, mimics the smooth surface and wily turns of a downhill slope as its snowy surface rolls beneath the feet of students on skis or snowboards. Future Picabo Streets or Shawn Whites not only expand their abilities to new levels, but they can also practice tricks without bailing out and shake off any bad habits they learned from sleet gangs.

Each year, Boulder Creek Ranch transforms itself into a venue for the autumnal revelry known as the Harvest Festival. During the week, guests trundle about the farm on hayrides, cavort with baby goats in the petting zoo, or pick out their next jack-o'-lantern or replacement head in the pumpkin patch. At the playground and bounce house, kids can build up their cardiovascular endurance with fast-paced trick-or-treating on Halloween night.

Over the weekends, the festival kicks the fun up a notch with live music, a beer garden, and carnival games. Food vendors peddle provender to give visitors enough energy to cheer on their favorite driver during the mini-tractor race. Throughout its two-week run, the Harvest Festival hosts several special events, including a chili cook-off, a battle of the bands, a costume contest, and a Huckleberry Finn-inspired fish-off, where piscatorial hunters haul in their quarry with bamboo poles.

The rapids rock beneath the raft, pummeling the vessel like a boxer delivering uppercuts to a heavy bag. After successfully navigating the foamy surges, the paddlers hit an abrupt drop that tosses one adventurer out of the rear of the raft. He resurfaces, bobs in the water, and then presents a thumbs up, inciting cheers and laughter from his fellow rafters.

The guides at River's End Rafting & Adventure Company pride themselves on delivering fun and safe adrenaline-pumping adventures like these. Based about 15 minutes from downtown Bakersfield, the crew transports rafters to the mouth of Kern Canyon, then guides paddlers through Class II¬–III rapids before the river yawns into Lake Ming. In addition to whitewater rafting, the team at River's End also coordinates outings including kayaking, rock climbing, and paragliding over Ant Hill, a 100-foot-high skyscraper of luxury ant condos.