Chillicothe, OH Outdoor Activities

Train hobbyist Don Oeters founded EnterTRAINment Junction in 2008 to showcase railroading in an educational and amusing way. Two years later, his 80,000-square-foot facility was voted Ohio's Best Family Entertainment Center of 2010.

At the centerpiece, a 25,000-square-foot indoor model train display dazzles visitors with 90 G-scale trains and 2 miles of track winding through handcrafted landscapes, including an 11-foot waterfall, thousands of trees, and scenes documenting railroad's early, middle, and modern periods. Each train car is the size of a loaf of bread, making it easier for groups to see it or break it into communal pieces, and Oeters and his staff continually tweak the locomotive's surroundings by adding seasonal touches and installing minor or major updates. Historical train artifacts, educational videos, and interactive exhibits await amblers in the railroad museum, and the Imagination Junction kids' area entertains youngsters with train-themed play structures, hand-cranked and electronic locomotive rides, and a section dedicated to Thomas the Tank Engine, the first train to successfully learn sign language.

The FAA certified flight instructors at Champion City Aviation jet students into the skies with both college and casual training programs. The facility's combination of ground school and in-the-air education covers vital aviation techniques, including flight rules and regulations, radio procedures, and how to handle inclement weather. Ground school sessions unfold inside a modern classroom equipped with computer technology, and air training utilizes Champion City's fleet of training aircraft.

Colonial Pines Golf Club’s 18-hole course blankets 127 acres of tranquil Ohio Valley farmland for 5,966 yards of rolling hills and imposing hardwoods. Golfers traverse the par 70 layout on the backs of motorized carts or caddies hoping to improve their piggyback-ride form, steering balls away from a menagerie of hazards, including mounds topped with swaying heathers, woodsy thickets, and six lakes spanning 11 acres. The first tee shot aptly foreshadows a round in which avoiding water hazards and ingratiating oneself to ball-stealing fish will be critical, as drives must cross a pond that runs from the tee box to the beginning of the fairway.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 70 course
• Length of 5,966 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 68.3 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 117 from the farthest tees
• Three tee options
• Link to scorecard

The Five Seasons Family Sports Club houses tennis courts, a dining area, fitness facilities, swimming pools, and a full-service spa under one roof. Within air-conditioned indoor courts or on outdoor clay courts, racquet slingers compete in friendly bouts to sharpen swings, refine backhands, and showcase grunting abilities. Members can also break a sweat in exercise areas speckled with modern cardio equipment and weights or cool off in an Olympic-sized pool with diving wells and wading areas. Before meeting others for a postgame beverage at the lively café, clients can wander to the spa for a relaxing massage or partake in a sports workshop to gain a firm grasp on game mechanics.

Lurking in the darkness of moisture-saturated topsoil, the mud ninja challenges only the toughest competitors to attempt his 5K obstacle-laden course. Serving the dual purpose of allowing entrants to live out their reality-show fantasies while helping to raise money for Autism Speaks, the Mud Ninja race requires participants to crawl through mud pits covered with barbed wire and scale steep walls before leaping onto multiple mounds that punish imbalanced racers with a splash. Throughout the 5K course, contestants splat into mud pits in front of hundreds of spectators. The Little Mud Ninja race scales the course for younger racers, and an after-party engages all with music and a plethora of food vendors.

Shielded from the elements, customers at Glowgolf traverse the course’s 18 holes of indoor miniature golf amid an extraterrestrial neon glow. Vivid murals of jungle and underwater scenes adorn the course’s walls, with giraffes, zebras, and otherworldly creatures serenely coexisting. The course itself brims with potted plants and decorative treasure chests along with traditional mini-golf obstacles such as loop-the-loop ramps and water traps filled with live sharks.