Culpeper, VA Outdoor Activities

A massive figure floats across the sky, roars, and sends fire into the air as it elevates higher and higher. The creature soaring above the Shenandoah Valley isn't a common dragon—it's one of D&D Ballooning's hot air balloons. Since 1981, the company's steadfast pilots have welcomed children and adults into their floating baskets to feast upon views of lush forests and rolling mountainsides. D&D's colorful aircrafts take off just before sunset or sunrise, letting passengers gaze at a sky painted with rich reds, bright oranges, and pinks delicate enough to pad a princess's walls.

The adventure-seeking staff members of ThrillZOWN organize outdoors adventures at more than 100 locations nationwide, letting customers experience the waters, air, and land of America’s diverse regions. Seasoned guides lead adventurers on whitewater-rafting trips on inland rivers, and instructors conduct lessons in surfing and filling out life guards' paperwork at coastal beaches. Other guides help guests plunge to earth safely in tandem-skydiving and tandem-paragliding flights, while aeronauts sweep them through scenic country vistas during hot-air-balloon flights. On dry land, equestrians teach customers to think like a centaur on horseback trail rides, and professional stock-car drivers guide them in laps around a racetrack.

Sometime in 1952, Gilbert and Vernie Kingree stood in front of Stoney Creek Park—the combination grocery store and dance hall they owned—watching a friend skate up and down the street on his new roller skates. The Kingrees, the parents of five children, immediately saw how roller skates could entertain the whole family. They quickly decided to add a wooden roller rink to their facility, and that’s how Stoney Creek Roller Rink & Fun Center was born.

Since that day, the owners have continued to add new attractions in an effort to entertain familial units. These attractions include bumper cars, laser tag, and an arcade with more than 85 games, only half of which are actually sleeping robots. Visitors still glide around a classic roller rink on rented rollerblades or skates, but they can also putt on a nine-hole green-turf miniature-golf course. Smaller visitors hop inside a ball pit after navigating plastic tubes and slides in the indoor play area, and guests of all ages refuel with oven-baked pizza and hot wings served in an onsite restaurant.

In an annual event at the captivating World Heritage site, community members gather to taste local wines, listen to live music, and wander through Monticello’s restored vineyard, staterooms, and cellar. Representatives from nearby wineries fill glasses with samples of their signature varietals, while attendees can sip slowly on the estate’s West Lawn while soaking in views or nibbling on fruit and cheese.

Teams of recreational combatants assemble in tactical formations across the fields at Southern Maryland Paintball, using obstacles and fortifications to their advantage as they engage enemies in fast-paced matches. Six fields with three distinct styles present diverse battlegrounds—from the wooden partitions that dot the open space at the Castle field to the menagerie of inflated obstacles and out-of-work parade floats that populate the Airball field. Players that excel in stealthy maneuvers will thrive at the Village field, where tiny huts obscure ambushers approaching from multiple angles. Each match is regulated by an experienced referee who shouts down those who shirk the rules. Southern Maryland Paintball keeps its fields mired in a barrage of colorful ballistics year-round, and also offers nighttime play on lighted fields on the weekends.

Away from the frenetic pace of organized matches, guests can soothe itchy trigger fingers and practice their marksmanship at the paintball-shooting range. Southern Maryland Paintball also encompasses a mini-golf course for those who prefer to compete in a game where their only enemies are subtle slopes and territorial windmills.