Things to Do in McMinnville

Wild Blue Yonder's founders Johannes Zwart and Gina Goldie have been populating Alberta's picturesque, serene landscapes with myriad adventures, including rafting trips and paintball battles, since 1998. The pioneering pair combine Zwart's 20 years of experience as a guide for canoeing, dogsledding, and rafting with Goldie's entrepreneurial spark to lead a team of friendly, insured, and safety-minded staff members that spearhead adventures. Licensed guides who are certified in Swiftwater Rescue and first aid lead rafting adventures that take leisurely, pirate-themed jaunts or trips over moderate rapids that ignite the body’s production of adrenalin and Mountain Dew. Guests can also don camouflage coveralls and facemasks to reenact the War of 1812 with paintball guns in the facility's woodland fields. Zwart and Gina can plan adventurous outings for both small and large groups, and can coordinate accommodations, meals, and transportation.

After paddling his way into the U.S. Olympic Team–trial finals twice, Jeff West, founder of Ace Kayaking School, began sharing his love of the sport with readers of popular publications and more than 5,000 eager students. Striving for a maximum 3:1 instructor to student ratio in all of his courses, Jeff and his team teach key skills to beginners and experienced rollers alike while gliding down the Ocoee River's famous Table Saw rapids. In addition to whitewater kayaking, Ace teaches stand-up paddleboarding and the advanced waterfall navigating techniques of creek boating and freefalling in a barrel.

Ocoee Zipz lifts its riders off the ground and transports them to new lands along seven lines named after beloved Wizard of Oz characters and featuring varying grades, distances, and terrain. Staff members, aptly nicknamed The Flying Monkeys of Oz, help adventure seekers soar above Ocoee's 40 acres of rustic scenery during two-hour zipline tours. Tours begin at the 30-foot-high Cowardly Lion launch tower, where fraidy cats find the courage they need to skim the tops of trees. The Dorothy line zooms along the Ocoee River to meet up with the Toto tower across a swinging bridge, where cushy crash pads wait with loving arms to catch especially enthusiastic zippers. Guests may try an upside-down dive off the Scarecrow tower, then test their speed on the Wicked Witch of the West line, which features a steep enough grade to get patrons up to 45 mph. Like Shakespearian arguments or family reunions, Ocoee Zipz's tours end with a duel on The Wizard's parallel lines, as participants race their way to the finish.

Launched in 2000 as a humble 20'x20' shop, Frontier Firearms has grown into an 11,000-square-foot facility that encompasses two 25-yard, five-bay indoor shooting ranges. Each gallery enhances visitors' comfort with technological touches, such as sound dampening and granulated-rubber-bullet traps that capture rounds mostly intact, thus minimizing particle dispersion into the air. By removing these potential distractions, the ranges let marksmen focus on following the Mancom Touch Plus Active Target Shooting system. Used by law-enforcement agencies such as the FBI, this computerized system can make targets turn, rush toward, and flee from the shooter. Frontier Firearm's team includes instructors who claim NRA and state certifications, which they apply to supervising the ranges and leading handgun classes that range from a ladies-only course to advanced defensive tactics and how to look tough in a saloon.