Owensboro, KY Outdoor Activities

Discovered by brothers Squire and Daniel Boone in the late 1700s, Squire Boone Caverns is a vast network of underground caverns filled with stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone, all formed by the gritty sands of time. Rushing rivers and waterfalls carry more than a million gallons of water through the caverns each day, often accompanied by disoriented surfers and bewildered penguins. A trained tour guide leads visitors through the nearby woods and into a man-made entrance to the caverns, where lighted walkways take visitors through the same enchanted labyrinth discovered by the brothers Boone, winding past natural formations, the coffin of Squire Boone, and a goblin king played by David Bowie.

At regular intervals each day, Swonder Ice Arena’s trusty Zamboni rolls out to keep the NHL-size ice rink smooth between lessons and public-skating sessions. Once the glossy surface is ready, professional instructors begin to lead students through classes in hockey fundamentals, ice skating, and figure skating. Hockey lessons are offered in four levels, beginning with the essentials of hockey skating and stick handling. Ice-skating lessons include nine separate curriculum sets, such as choreography and synchronized skating.

In addition to winter-water fun, Swonder Ice Arena is home to a fitness center with cycles, free weights, exercise machines, and personal trainers.

Golf Shores Fun Center's mini metropolis of family fun welcomes guests of all ages with two mini-golf courses, an arcade, and ample space for groups of frolicking tykes. Sapphire waters trickle down stone walls and spring from rocky outcrops alongside the outdoor mini-golf course, where subtly sloping greens can complicate even the shortest of gimmies. At Golf Shores' indoor course, players traverse a darkened wonderland illuminated by black lights and neon décor, where both jungle- and underwater-themed decorations convince phosphorescent golf balls that they are amphibious.

Alongside the putters' park, joystick jockeys can warp into the Center's video arcade and take aim at pixilated game in Extreme Hunting or contemplate the nutritional value of blue ghosts while playing Ms. Pac-Man. The Center also encompasses a cozy coffee shop with free wireless Internet.

Ranked second on the Kentucky edition of Golf Digest's Best in State list, the golf course at The Falls Resort & Golf Club makes use of the 2,500-acre resort's size with a verdant layout of varied terrain and historic flavor. Architect Jody Kinney encapsulates the bermuda fairways and bentgrass greens with rough of pure Kentucky bluegrass, yielding a layout that incorporates elements of wooded parkland, open links-style design, and galleries of chirpy avian. The course ranges from 4,200 yards from the front tees up to 6,900 from the back, and players of all skills must negotiate with the land's lakes and rivers. Between shots, idle players can wonder at the simple beauty of flowers populating the landscaped areas between holes or prepare their putters for a jousting duel in case of a tie.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole course
• 6,900 yards from back tees
• Five sets of tees per hole
• Designed by Jody Kinney

At Farnsley Golf Course, you can sharpen your long and short game at a nine-hole, par-3 course or on multiple practice fields. In 2011, five of the course’s greens got a makeover and all caddies were required to dispose of their shoulder pads and acid-wash jeans. Off the course, golfers can perfect their swing at a driving range lined with 300 yards of bermuda grass, or focus on chipping in a short-game practice area. If you’re looking for more in-depth tweaks to your technique, feel free to enlist the help of a teaching professional with personalized lessons.

Paintball Asylum equips paint-slingers with all the gear needed to tackle a 40-acre wooded playing field landmarked with castles, forts, and villages, or one of its three professional-grade turf fields. Before hitting the battlegrounds, the adventure begins at the shop, where the Asylum's techs outfit each player with his or her weapon for the day––a Tippmann 98 custom paintball marker or a box of 64 Crayolas. Visitors then strap themselves with 500 paintballs, a refillable 3,000-psi steel air tank, a 200-round paintball hopper, and a barrel bag. To prevent injury, sharpshooters don chest protectors that guard torsos from paintball tickle squads, and goggles that shield eyes.