Things to Do in Norwood

Embellished with precarious overhangs and crevices, RockQuest Climbing Center’s 20,00-square-foot wall affords challenges to climbers of all skill levels. The expanse features separate areas for bouldering and roped climbing and is open to all climbers who can pass a simple belay test. A staff of experienced climbers, meanwhile, offers belay courses to acquaint newcomers with proper climbing technique and safety considerations.

Patty first discovered rock climbing in college. “I got sucked in right away,” she says. Before long, she found herself marrying a fellow climber—a man she met at Climb Time back when it was still managed by the original owners who also blended their relationship with climbing. “They got married at the gym,” Patty says, describing how the first owners scaled the roof to say their "I dos." Though Patty and her husband didn’t exchange rings at the top of a wall, they did decide to buy the gym.

The expansive arena challenges climbers with a 24-foot climbing wall, where novice and expert mountaineers alike grasp handholds with chalked palms or coax a gorilla to carry them up piggyback style. Along the other side of the facility, Patty and crew dare climbers to test their strength on a wide array of 15- to 60-degree bouldering inclines that sit above moveable pads to cushion jumps or falls.

Pump It Up's indoor inflatable arenas send sock-footed younglings high off the ground with a plethora of kid-friendly bounce pads. Trained, amiable staffers supervise fun-filled visits in which parents can leap around with their kids in gargantuan, air-filled bounce houses, skip down air-filled slides, and slither like snakes covered in bacon grease through an air-filled obstacle course. Attendees can also focus their free play for special events, such as custom birthday parties and private team parties. These themed soirees immerse children in a schedule of interactive activities befitting a pirate or a superhero while melting off youthful energy faster than ice cubes thrown into a running DVD player.

Train hobbyist Don Oeters founded EnterTRAINment Junction in 2008 to showcase railroading in an educational and amusing way. Two years later, his 80,000-square-foot facility was voted Ohio’s Best Family Entertainment Center of 2010.

At the centerpiece, a 25,000-square-foot indoor model train display dazzles visitors with 90 G-scale trains and 2 miles of track winding through handcrafted landscapes, including an 11-foot waterfall, thousands of trees, and scenes documenting railroad's early, middle, and modern periods. Each train car is the size of a loaf of bread, making it easier for groups to see it or break it into communal pieces, and Oeters and his staff continually tweak the locomotive's surroundings by adding seasonal touches and installing minor or major updates. Historical train artifacts, educational videos, and interactive exhibits await amblers in the railroad museum, and the Imagination Junction kids' area entertains youngsters with train-themed play structures, hand-cranked and electronic locomotive rides, and a section dedicated to Thomas the Tank Engine, the first train to successfully learn sign language.

Hundreds of unadorned pottery pieces line the shelves and wooden worktables at Mad Potter, a whimsical studio where walk-in artists can select the preferred vessels for their creativity and set to work crafting custom masterpieces. The studio’s panoply of provided art supplies includes patterns, stencils, and colorful paints with which to decorate vases in floral designs and pasta bowls with step-by-step instructions for wielding silverware. Professional potters emerge from the earthenware scenery to answer questions throughout the process and to fire finished artworks until each is hardened and safe for food, dishwashers, and microwaves. Large groups can rent out the studio to fashion brittle cakes for birthday parties, and resident artists often travel to businesses and homes to allow kids to paint in their natural habitats.

Throughout her entire adult life, Sharon Obermeyer has lived and breathed art. She studied it at the University of Cincinnati, taught it at Antonelli College for 17 years, and she created it for children's books at Standard Publishing. Despite her career successes, she felt the need to spread her passion to a wider audience. "I made the decision to make art accessible and affordable," she says, and this led her to found Mount Washington Art Works, where she designs inspiring art curriculums for both children and adults. Certified by the National Association of Art Educators, she uses step-by-step lessons to teach an array of styles, including drawing, painting, perspective, and charcoal. No matter which lesson she's teaching, she supplies her students with all the of the necessary art materials, such as a canvas, brushes, paints, and a resident oyster that allows for reenactments of Girl with the Pearl Earring.