Crestview, FL Outdoor Activities

Cypress Lakes Golf Club’s course was designed by William Amick to rise and fall across the natural landscape for 6,396 yards of fairways hugged by gentle waters and towering trees. Unlike most Floridian links, the course unfurls across somewhat mountainous terrain, where cresting hilltops can obscure distant targets, leading to blind shots that aren’t just the result of opponents kicking sand in your eyes. Fairways bob and weave around groves of leyland cypress trees, more than 300 crepe myrtle trees, and 500 lush azaleas, giving advantage to players who can work drives and approaches around the arboreal impediments. A circuit of streams ebbs and flows across the picturesque par 71, adding to the native obstacles and striking fear into the caramel hearts of hydrophobic golf balls. A roaming beverage cart slakes midround thirsts, and the club also boasts a driving range with grass hitting areas and a fully stocked pro shop.

Course at a Glance:

• Designed by William Amick

• 18-hole, par-71 course

• Length of 6,396 yards from farthest tees

• Course rating of 70.4 from farthest tees

• Slope rating of 118 from farthest tees

• Four tee options

Although true time travel is still a thing of science fiction, Teddy and Jenny Meeks have captured a similar sensation at Pier Park. In 2009, the couple purchased the 1964 Allan Herschell Carousel that had been an iconic attraction at the now-closed Miracle Strip Amusement Park. The 30 horses and two chariots were immediately swarmed with giddy riders—some children, and some adults who fondly remembered feeding the horses wooden apples at the carousel's former home. The spinning steeds so charmed the locals that Teddy and Jenny began a more comprehensive revival. They bought Miracle Strip's 1985 Balloon Race and 1952 Red Baron rides, and when they couldn't find the park's original 1975 Ferris wheel, they hunted for one of the same make and model.

The Big Eli wheel now awards its guests views over the Gulf of Mexico and several other classic rides, including a Tilt-a-Whirl and train cars that kids crank by hand. Flowers cloak hanging baskets, and topiaries mimicking animal figures accent sandy paths, adding to the venue's picturesque nostalgia. Teddy and Jenny have also installed a butterfly pavilion, about which Bay Life magazine reports that visitors can glimpse 700 flying specimens, hatching cocoons, and caterpillars drawing up blueprints for wings.

The course at Country Club of Brewton challenges players to navigate tree-lined fairways and avoid the two lakes that summon errant golf balls. Sculpted into the landscape in 1997, the Jerry Pate design rises and falls over frequent elevation changes, forcing golfers to continually readjust their shots on difficult-to-read terrain and wonder if a never ending figure-eight fairway might be around the corner.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Total length of 7,019 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 73.7 from the back tees
• Course slope of 131 from the back tees
• Four sets of tees per hole:m]]

Country Club of Brewton's rates fluctuate throughout the week.

Emerald Coast Tours' knowledgeable guides champion the bicycle as Pensacola's ideal mode of transport. They strive to serve as ambassadors to city visitors, customizing sightseeing biking tours to suit cyclists' interests and happily recommending travel destinations to patrons seeking daylong rentals. Their shop's single-speed Sun Revolutions cruisers prove ideal for coasting down city streets and laying siege to sand castles along the coastline.

A 5,000-square-foot splash park, 50-meter Olympic pool with diving well, covered picnic shelter, and full concession stand await visitors to PCB Aquatic Center, which invites bathing-suit clad citizens to revel in its refreshing, state-of-the-art facilities. After emerging from locker rooms with heated showers, patrons can plunge into classes on lifeguarding, water-aerobics instructing, or basic and advanced pool figure-drawing or just relax and lap alongside other swimmers in the temperature-controlled waters. As scuba-geared divers explore underwater views in certification courses, children can splash their way into swim lessons led by certified water-safety instructors, before winding down from their amphibious education by winding down one of several water slides.

Since its humble beginnings on Tomahawk Landing in the '70s, Adventures Unlimited has been reconnecting city dwellers and outdoors enthusiasts to the natural world through paddle-powered river trips, exhilarating ziplining flights, and team-building rope courses. Its staff of nature lovers young and old find their niche in the lush woodlands surrounding Coldwater Creek, with its robust ecosystem of hawks, turtles, and fish, as well as sasquatches disguised as hawks, turtles, and fish. When adventurers tucker themselves out with day trips into the wild, they can settle in for a long haul at Adventures Unlimited's selection of cabins and campgrounds.