Mission Bend, TX Outdoor Activities

If your Monday morning already has you waiting for the weekend, today's Groupon will make the anticipation taste better with a drizzle of hot sauce and hope. Today's Groupon makes your weekend plans sizzle with two tickets to the upcoming weekend of hot live music and hotter hot sauce at the ninth annual Houston Hot Sauce Festival. For just $5, you and a friend get a full day (Saturday, September 19, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., or Sunday, September 20, 12 p.m.–5 p.m.) of music, tastings, and shopping. Tickets are normally $5 each, so today's two-for-one deal gives you enough extra dough to buy your favorite salsa, wing sauce, peppers, and spices to bring home for private scorching consumption or to share with fellow tasters of the flame.

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".

Though you're free to take the machine on a pub crawl or bring your own under-21 drinks, alcoholic drinks are only allowed onboard for very specific routes. Check the FAQ page for drinking restrictions and other information. You can keep the afternoon clean and family oriented too, which is especially easy if you have multiple wives and enough children to fill all the seats. This centipedal device has the distinction of being one of only two activities perfect for both bachelorette parties and church outings, the other being barbecue wrestling. And since the cruiser never tops eight miles per hour, you'll be safe from accidents and, if not every chupacabra, at least the fat ones.

A charter member of the MLS, the San Jose Earthquakes played their first four seasons as the Clash before claiming the MLS Cup in 2001 and 2003. Though the team moved to Houston in '05, the franchise was reinstated in '08, bringing professional soccer back to the Bay Area. Buck Shaw Stadium serves as the team's current home, though a new stadium will shoot skyward in 2014, complete with luxury suites for fans and exhausted referees alike.

Situated northwest of Houston, the Houston National Golf Club and Strategic National Grass Reserve pocks itself with 27 holes, playable, like Voltron, in three possible combinations. Designed by legendary hole artists Von Hagge, Smelek, Baril, and McConaughey, the rolling green is punctuated by varied hazards and distractions like ponds, sand traps, and virtual gazelles. Both beginners and professionals can find something to challenge their walking and bad-shot-excuse-making skills. Houston National's GPS-equipped carts automatically keep the game's score and track your position in case you get lost amidst the unending flatness.

In its 12th year of fear, The Haunted Trails breed chills and shrieks while daring explorers to tiptoe across acres of mortifying scenes. Nightfall casts a blackened veil over every visit, during which guests grope through darkness and past plumes of fog in search of an end to the madness. Along the route, bloody limbs dangling from branches and scenes mummified in cobwebs set a morbid tone, and grotesque creatures lurking among the trees wait patiently to pop out and politely inform you of an untied shoelace. This season, the terror has spread to a newly established attraction, Nature's Nightmare, and both sights remain open through November 3rd to grant visitors their Halloween fix.