Coppell, TX Outdoor Activities

Boasting more than 26 years in the aviation industry, Breeze Balloons' pilots expertly harness the wind to soar riders over north and east Texas in multihued hot-air vehicles. Pilots helm various sized balloons, which accommodate twosomes or let groups as large as 30 high-five Texan clouds. Pilots also do double duty as safety-training instructors, helping other hot air balloon pilots maintain Breeze Balloons' zero-safety-issue record.

The members of The National MudRunners Association strive to build challenging and entertaining obstacle courses with their medium of choice—mud—motivating participants to get fit while having fun and getting filthy. Each of their events attracts nearly 14,000 participants, who sprint across muddy terrain, climb over walls, and splash through muddy pools of water created by dinosaur footprints. After crossing the finish line, dirt-caked participants can amble into the event's post-race area to pick up their medal, grab a T-shirt, stroll around vendor booths, and dry off while soaking in live music. Committed to giving back to the community, The National MudRunners Association gives a portion of its events' proceeds to charitable organizations, which have included the American Red Cross.

Indoor Safari Park embodies childhood dreams of the Serengeti with a varicolored landscape of tropical murals, plush jungle creatures, and both educational and entertaining activities. Cerebral toys teach little tykes the basics of numbers and colors, and wooden train sets review the basic origins of interstate commerce. Around the facility, mechanical elephants and zebras trot through a safe indoor jungle beneath giggling children and a kid-size, primary-colored train chugs to life around a palm-flanked track. On an obstacle-flecked mini-golf course, prehistoric creatures guard the borders of each pin and avoid the ball pits that colorfully resemble the meteorites of their ancestors' demise. Age limits become obsolete with a specific play area for toddlers, and a huge retail area generously yields gift ideas to stumped shoppers.

More than 65 vivid clan tents cover the grounds at each year’s Texas Scottish festival, where Scots strut proudly around, wearing kilts and displaying their clan tartans. The notes of bagpipes float through the air, blasted from the lungs of talented soloists or from the year’s featured pipe-and-drum band. Market stalls show off Scottish and Celtic wares, from kilts and tartans to artisan Celtic jewelry and art. Competition flourishes amid Scot-descended attendees and curious festgoers at professional or amateur athletics as well as in an all-Scottish-breed dog show. While multitudes of Scottish beers wet whistles and fortify bagpiping or kilt-twirling courage, food vendors sell American fair food alongside traditional Scottish sundries that include meat pies, Scotch eggs, and haggis—chopped meat cured in a sheep’s stomach to the sound of Highland lullabies.

With a veritable banquet of indoor and outdoor amusements, Putt-Putt Fun Center beckons fun-seekers to its three area locations. Challenging miniature-golf courses and variable-speed batting cages put competitors to the test while pixel professionals tackle the latest games inside raucous arcades. Friendly staff members handle all the details of birthday-party packages, laying out ice-cream cups, cutting cakes, and personally pre-opening all of the presents.

The Hurst location, the largest of the three, fields many additional games and rides. Go-karts zoom around dual tracks, bumper boats bob and ricochet in their pool, and rides such as teacups and planes teach youngsters important lessons about centrifugal force.:

Originally leased from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1988, Meadowmere Park welcomes its guests to 250 acres of parklands and lakefront ripe for outdoor activities. As kayaks and paddleboats launch into Lake Grapevine and float across 8,000 acres of water, miles of trails surrounding the lake allow visitors to run, bike, and set world somersault records. As the evening sets in, tents sit beneath twinkling stars at campsites along sandy beaches, and special events unfold at a waterfront pavilion.