Fort Campbell North, KY Outdoor Activities

Cheekwood's assemblage of botanical gardens stretches across more than 55 acres of verdant land, inviting members to explore its natural nexus of wooded streams, gentle pools, and stone grottoes. Visitors can appreciate Mother Nature's leafy hairline by weaving through Japanese, wildflower, and perennial gardens and cruising down avenues of crepe myrtles in lilac-powered lowriders. Green-thumbed guests can also admire each display's unique gardening style and exchange salutations with bursting seasonal flora. Guests can venture inside the 30,000-square-foot Georgian mansion to find Cheekwood's collection of decorative arts and Visions of the American West, a Wild West exhibition on display until May 4. The video-installation galleries explore Buffalo Bill's life and his legacy as Wild West icon and fearsome ventriloquist.

Boasting five all stars in the 2011 Prospect League, the Nashville Outlaws look to continue their ascent toward the top spot in the West Division. With the season coming down to the wire, contests against the first-place Quincy Gems (August 1–August 3) and league rivals the Dubois County Bombers (August 5–August 6) take on playoff implications, their stakes raised like a flag made of filet mignon. The slugging showdowns throw down at the recently renovated Dugan Field, where muscles flex under brilliant stadium lights on turf handsomely outfitted in team colors. Munch on two included hot dogs as the athletic action picks up speed, or use the meaty cylinders to get in some batting practice of your own, swinging at the nearest pair of disco-ball earrings.

At Sumner Skate Zone, disco balls shower the blue-and-white-checkered floor with sparkling patches of light. As the beat rolls onward, so too do the wheels of traditional, speed, and inline skates. Off the rink, an arcade room buzzes with the sounds of reckless point scoring and the giggles of ticklish joysticks.

During skating breaks, visitors can refuel on pizza, nachos, and cookies at the snack bar or peruse the center's stock of skating gear and accessories. Open-skate sessions, parties, and special events populate the arena on a daily basis. An afterschool program helps to ensure kids have a safe place to do their homework or discuss the impact of performance-enhancing drugs in the world of spelling bees.

Founded with the goal of transforming downtown Nashville into a compelling, culturally rich urban center, Nashville Downtown Partnership fosters a sense of community via fun-filled initiatives that showcase the city’s finest offerings, such as the tenth annual Downtown Home Tour. Participants on the tour get a chance to see a variety of chic private spaces, ogling unique floor plans with an emphasis on ultramodern design that whisk guests into the future without the disheveled hairdos inherent with leaps through the time-space continuum. The Partnership creates such interactive experiences to help introduce locals to the benefits of living in the center of Music City, such as having easy access to its hundreds of restaurants as well as sports and entertainment venues.

A real stock car roars around a banked oval track. As it navigates the chicanes and wrestles g-forces to the floor, a coach's voice crackles in the driver's ear. This isn’t the Indy 500; it's L.A. Racing. Featured on NBC Today in L.A., L.A. Racing's Adventure programs let would-be racers grip the wheel during fast-forward laps around a real track. This video shows the rubber meeting the road at Irwindale Speedway.

Inside, L.A. Racing's instructors educate new drivers with BlueTiger simulators, helping them get a feel for new tracks and learn to follow the proper line through turns. These practice cars feature realistic racing effects—engine vibrations, road-surface texture, bumping, and deer attacks, for example. Competition courses are available for drivers who want to take racing to the next level and master advanced techniques such as throttle control, trail braking, and passing.

Sporting two distinct nine-hole layouts built more than 20 years apart, Ravenwood Country Club's 18-hole golf course boasts 6,264 yards of splendid fairways running alongside the stately grounds' cerulean ponds and misting fountains. The lengthier of the two, the front nine eases rusty swings and slow-to-wake irons into the round with a relatively open, gently undulating layout before clubbers must contend with the dramatic elevation changes, larger greens, and omnipresent water hazards that await in the course's second act. Before duffers return through the majestic double doors of the clubhouse, they must traverse the climactic 18th hole, a 385-yard par 4 with a stream stationed squarely in the landing zone of aggressive drives and local spacecraft.

Along with its picturesque par 72, Ravenwood Country Club encompasses a recently refurbished outdoor swimming pool and eight tennis courts flanked by covered spectator areas. Guests weary from days looping the course, lapping the pool, or combing the tennis courts for edible neon fuzz can retire to the club's dining facilities, which host everything from quiet dinner dates to lavish events and celebrations.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Length of 6,264 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 71.0 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 125 from the farthest tees
• Four tee options
• Link to scorecard