Things to Do in Pottstown

Offering a menu of inventive American cuisine with seasonal ingredients, SugarToad's kitchen at the Hotel Arista excels at bold flavors. The chef sources the freshest ingredients possible, including produce plucked from his own Chef’s Garden right outside the door. The rotating menu changes to match the calendar, with past entrees including pork tenderloin with dried-apricot chutney, sweet-potato mash, and napa cabbage, and Slagel Family Farm beef burgers with sun-dried-tomato relish. Willis also serves an ever-changing roster of organic brunch entrees, which may include smoked-salmon benedicts and caramel-banana french toast with candied walnuts and maple syrup. Between bites of tot-sized brunch boxes with fresh fruit and housemade twinkies, children may sip milk flights of chocolate, strawberry, and banana flavors while caregivers sample cucumber-cantaloupe mimosas, french-press coffee, and the sweet, fleeting silence of a tear-free breakfast.

A champagne toast signifies luxury, but Air Ventures provides an even more luxurious amenity—champagne toasts conducted while floating in midair. Customers sip from bottles of bubbly while on one of the company’s hot-air-balloon rides, which float over Chester County’s rolling hills, glistening lakes, and historic estates at either sunrise or sunset. The rainbow-hued balloon’s trips range from one-hour jaunts to flight packages with overnight inn stops. After their airborne adventures, passengers take home a souvenir picture of the balloon, which they can supplement with downloaded shots of their own tour.

Marsh Creek Lake, lined with verdant shores and rolling hills, bobs with fishing boats, kayaks, sailboats, and windsurfing boards. About 535 acres of azure waters bejewel the surrounding 1,705 acres of hiking trails and picnic areas. Throughout the day, Marsh Creek Watersports leads one-hour pontoon-boat excursions that take guests through a history lesson of the park and surrounding region, leaving time for peaceful moments spent gazing at the natural wildlife. During the summer months, Marsh Creek also hosts kids' sailing camps to acquaint young ones with the techniques and safe practices of aquatic navigation, such as defending against Peter Pan attacks.

Valley Forge Bikes—the land-based arm of Marsh Creek Watersports—sends hoards of cyclists into the miles of trails snaking through Valley Forge National Historical Park. Among its network of paths carved from converted railroad beds lies a 5.5-mile paved loop adjacent to the Schuylkill River Trail. Visitors can amble through these thoroughfares on foot or aboard an assortment of mountain, racing, or combo bikes, as tots ride behind on trailer bikes and buggies.

Schuylkill River Outdoors outfits guests with tubes and rafts before sending them off to take tranquil, relaxing jaunts downstream. Customers can choose from three different aquatic sojourns—a brief, one-hour float, a two- to three-hour trek, or a five-hour marathon—to complete at their leisure. During trips, tubers and rafters can take time out to wade in the shallow waters or invent backstories for the wild turkey, ducks, and bald eagles they may encounter along the way. Multiple islands populate the gently flowing waters of the Schuylkill River, providing a convenient spot for explorers to stop to picnic or skip rocks. Schuylkill River Outdoors recommends that customers bring along their own snacks and drinks, sunscreen, bathing suits, and a pair of water-friendly shoes as footwear is mandatory.

As an associate Baptiste Vinyasa yoga teacher, studio owner Linda Zogas strives to develop personal relationships with each of her students as she guides them in their yoga practice. She draws upon previous teacher training with celebrated yogi Baron Baptiste and continues to deepen her knowledge through boot camps and workshops. With help from her three fellow certified instructors, Linda leads a schedule of heated Vinyasa-based classes designed to help beginner, intermediate, and advanced students sculpt long, lean muscles, increase flexibility, and tame restless spirit horses.

Linfield National Golf Club's 18 holes keep golfers on the edge of their cleats with landscape features and obstacles borrowed from various styles of course. The links-style sand bunkers are plentiful and deep. Traditional distractions, such as water hazards and dense lines of trees, demand shrewd club choices. The 6,164-yard course's undulating fairways force golfers to leave their unicycles at the clubhouse as well as figure slope into every swing calculation.