Things to Do in Pennsville

Most camp counselors can teach children how to tie-dye a t-shirt or braid a friendship bracelet. Very few, however, have experienced the exhilaration of vaulting into the end zone for a goal-line touchdown or intercepting a game-winning pass in front of thousands of rabid football fans. Across the country, Sports International Football Camps grant participants the opportunity to learn firsthand from professional athletes, whose gridiron battle scars have been forged by bell-ringing collisions with fearless opponents and reckless mascots on motorcycles.

Since 1983, the organization has partnered with veteran high-school coaches and pros, such as three-time Pro Bowl running back Priest Holmes, All-Pro linebacker Brian Cushing, and Super Bowl champion–cornerback Terrell Thomas. In those years, the camp has schooled some 91,000 alumni, including current NFL quarterback Byron Leftwich. Coaches break campers into groups by age, position, and ability and run practices that are competitive yet fun and supportive. For in-depth focus on the specific techniques of skill-position players, the camp also offers special academies for passing and receiving as well as kicking, punting, long snapping, and cooler lifting for Gatorade victory showers.

Have some fun with your friends by recreationally hunting other humans (a sport made popular by Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles) with today's Groupon: $20 gets you entry, a full day of play, rental equipment (semi-auto paintball marker, hopper, face mask, goggles), and free CO2 and N2 refills (a $30 value), as well as 200 paintballs (a $12.80 value) at Poco Loco Paintball in New Hanover. Your Groupon is good for Sundays in October and November, and Saturdays and Sundays from December on. Fulfill fantasies of expertly evading crossfire as you infiltrate enemy territory and annihilate the opposition faster than Reverend Johnson threatened to leave town after discovering that the sheriff has been murdered. Or just spatter strangers with neon splotches. Poco Loco is designed with both novices and expert players in mind, so you don't need years of mercenary training or a Blu-ray copy of Blazing Saddles to try it out.Follow @Groupon_Says on Twitter.

Just as the Roman god Bacchus represented both wine and revelry together, Pinot Boutique celebrates wine by—how else?—throwing parties. The staff regularly stages wine-tasting events—including the recurring Vino Voyage, held aboard a 19th-century warship, Olympia —and hosts several events amid the exposed-brick walls in its downstairs venue, known as The Cellar. Upstairs, the shop’s main floor is dedicated to fostering at-home celebrations, earning the title Best Gift Shop of 2012 from Philadelphia Magazine. The acclaimed boutique displays accessories such as wineglass charms, corkscrews, and picnic gear to complement an exclusive selection of vintage wines and fresh labels from Pennsylvania's Paradocx Vineyard.

Sportations connects amateur adrenaline jockeys to certified professional adventurers, drawing from a nationwide network of aeronauts and speed demons to introduce habitual pedestrians to the wonders of skydiving, ballooning, hang gliding, and stock-car racing. Thrill seekers can zipline across a forest canopy, hollering like Tarzan or taunting nearby birds until they agree to race. Helicopter tours ferry patrons skyward over landmarks and cityscapes, whereas paragliding adventures get up close and personal with blue skies and clouds. For most sports, Sportations accommodates groups of any size, from physics classes empirically proving gravity's existence to solo ballooning supervillains declaring dominion over all they see.

The 8th Annual Harvest Festival will showcase the 2010 vintage grapen goodness of eight distinct wineries along the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail. With barbecues, hayrides, and free license to use words such as oaky, robust, and foozy, the festival is bound to please cork-poppers of all philosophies. Tickle ear hammers with live music on the 26th and 3rd at Black Walnut Winery or at Chaddsford Winery, which is also hosting a festival wine sale. The Kreutz Creek Vineyards are having their second-annual Grape Stomping Competition on the 25th and 2nd, and Stargazers Vineyard is holding a blending workshop (additional $5 fee).

Right where the mouth of the Susquehanna River yawns into Chesapeake Bay lies the protected, uncrowded waters of Havre de Grace harbor. BaySail's instructors take advantage of these opportune conditions, operating a sailing school that's accredited by the American Sailing Association. Upholding training standards that have won the ASA's School of the Year award, they lead sailing classes ranging from introductory lessons to certification courses in coastal cruising and bareboat chartering. In addition to lending its fleet for lessons, BaySail's team rents its vessels—from a Capri 22 to a Hunter 460—to members. The sailboats also glide out on chartered cruises, taking guests to nearby destinations such as Inner Harbor and the Sassafras River, where sassafras trees come to spawn every winter.