Doral, FL Outdoor Activities

Since 1986, Brian Lutz has taught a panoply of tennis players how to improve their game and savor the sport's social aspect. Over time, he honed his teaching techniques and eventually devised his own tennis curriculum. In 2003, that curriculum inspired him to launch TennisTip, a program where experienced instructors help adults and teens improve their tennis game through self-discovery and fundamental skills.

TennisTip instructors work to provide hands-off guidance and gentle inspiration, letting students discover their best game through strategic practice. Combined with tennis-specific cardio exercises and an emphasis on social bonding, the regimen seeks to form independent, effective, and affable players out of every student. Since first starting up in the Big Apple, TennisTip has expanded to a second location, where pros instill students with courtside skills amid the warm Miami sun and attentive pelican ball boys.

In the 1950s, Bayside Marketplace’s Pier 5 was a hub of activity, bustling with fishermen, cooks, and gossiping locals. Nowadays, though, the pier is a hub for a more modern demographic: jet skiers. As the home base of Miami Jet Ski Rental, the pier hosts a fleet of 2009 Yamaha VX Deluxe jet skis and a team of CPR- and First Aid-certified staffers. Aboard their rental vessels, adventurers can zoom through Biscayne Bay or take to the Atlantic Ocean, catching glimpses of wildlife such as dolphins, manatees, and librarians.

Challenge Nation pioneered the urban-adventure race with a race season that includes visits to 35 cities across the country. Each scavenger hunt is personalized to the hosting city, exploring its many diverse neighborhoods with a series of clues that would test even the most skilled children's-book detective. The teams—comprised of at least two people—vie for a $300 first-place prize. The _Amazing Race_–style competition rewards quick wits and wise planning over physical fitness, so the best way to prepare is by doing logic puzzles while eating Funyuns and lounging in a La-Z-Boy. The top 25 teams qualify, the top five receiving free entry, to compete in the national championship, which rewards winning teams with a $5,000 cash prize.

The tropical murals around Pines Ice Arena's expansive indoor rink look down on skaters careening across the ice or using expressive figure skating to re-enact favorite scenes from 12 Angry Men. Lauded as one of the area's best places for ice skating by CBS Miami, the arena hosts public-skating sessions open to all ability levels seven days a week. Accredited PSA and ISI instructors lead hockey and figure-skating lessons for all ages and experience levels, while youth and adult hockey teams regularly clash on the frosty terrain. Arcade games and a concession stand offer visitors respite from icy exercise, and birthday-party packages equip guests with food, decorations, and a private room.

With hands gripped to the wheels of karts capable of cresting 45 miles per hour, up to 12 racers hum around the hairpin turns and straightaways of K1 Speed's indoor track during adrenaline-spiking sprints toward the podium. This brand of excitement can be found at all 15 locations, where racers eschew the fumes and inflammatory skywriting of gas kart exhaust for European, eco-friendly electric karts designed to instantly accelerate out of curves, which are bordered by safety barriers that absorb impacts. To keep everyone in the chase, dialed-down junior karts (available at select locations) safely carry tiny drivers between the height of 48" and 58".

The Taste of Brickell Food and Wine Festival serves culinary samples from 40 local restaurants with a side of exotic cars and multicultural music. Chefs from such area eateries as LaBoca, Taverna Opa, Piola, and Baru Urbano distribute freshly prepared portions of signature menu items. Wine experts entice visitors to try new vintages by hosting tasting demos and dispensing samples. Beyond gourmet treats and libations, the festival hosts an exotic-car show, a free arts-and-crafts area, continuous free music, and a free kids’ park with activities that keep tykes occupied with hands-on entertainment rather than menacing their siblings or balancing their checkbooks. A portion of all event proceeds help fund the Boys and Girls Club of Miami-Dade.