Reading, PA Outdoor Activities

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.

Delaware River Tubing launches tubes, rafts, and kayaks on five- to six-mile trips down scenic waterways just north of where George Washington historically crossed the Delaware River. Shuttles ferry groups to launch points, where watercraft journeys begin along the wide river. In addition to renting vessels, Delaware River Tubing's crew leads guided kayak tours that can highlight local wildlife and tackle class one rapids like a mall cop tackling a gummy-bear thief.

During river adventures, scents of barbecue waft across the water from the aptly named Famous River Hotdog Man. The riverside eatery, founded in 1987, partners with Delaware River Tubing to give each customer a hot meal, which they can devour at picnic tables in the water.

After high school, Michael Richardson spent the next 15 years training show horses and winning a bushel of regional trophies at Richardson Stables. He eventually moved to Frenchtown, New Jersey, where he worked for Revelation Farm as a trainer and met his future wife, Jessie Kieren, who pioneered Revelation’s riding program. Fusing components of their respective last names, they founded Kierson Farm, whose verdant greens and indoor heated facilities house a fleet of trained American saddlebred show horses that ferry riders of all ability levels. The farm’s boarding services demonstrate their dedication to caring for hooved friends by delegating one staff member for every five horses, ensuring that each steed receives tender attention when not studying pig Latin.

In 2003, QuickShot Paintball set up its base camp in the back of a food mart; since then, its headquarters has grown to feature six playing fields and a fully loaded pro shop. After choosing a game format such as capture the flag, elimination, or scenario play, you can deploy your team to any of five woodsball fields. Obstacles and hiding spots are scattered throughout the arenas; on the Pond field, for example, teams can dart past a number of water features. Meanwhile, inflatable bunkers are speckled throughout the regulation speedball field, which has brightly colored grass thanks to its special irrigation system and regular shower of green paintballs. After matches, players can retire to the pro shop to check out a full stock of markers, equipment, and tactical apparel.