Round Lake Beach, IL Outdoor Activities

At Woodwind Farm, trainers Bonnie and Megan Kittredge guide both riders and horses through professional instruction in a large indoor arena. In addition to honing horses’ show skill, the duo acquaints human students to riding fundamentals during group and private lessons for adults, teens, and children as young as 4 years old. Instructors with more than 120 years of combined experience preach the need for safety and proper horsemanship, helping beginners get comfortable in the saddle and experienced riders improve their form. The farm also instills a love of riding in its youngest students with children's birthday parties and the Showstoppers youth group, which raises funds for charitable organizations and keeps rebellious young horses from associating with gangs of streetwise chickens.

The sudden roar of gunfire rolls over Richmond Hunting Club's facilities, which sprawl across 850 untamed acres. The club's location nearly adjacent to Chain O' Lakes State Park draws sportspeople of all levels who can spend time shooting skeet, boarding a loyal hunting dog at the onsite kennel, paintballing, or stocking up on ammo at the pro shop. Outdoorsy folks who frequent the club often tie up their mountain goat outside and congregate inside the Bar & Grill, refueling weary trigger fingers with buffalo burgers and pheasant pot pies in a classic hunting-lodge setting.

Raging Buffalo's adrenaline junkies have turned their athletic addiction into a successful enterprise by offering snowboarding and wakeboarding lessons to beginners and experienced riders. In the summer, their instructors take to the wake for lessons that start at the wakeboard school—open since 2001—before taking students on 15-minute riding sessions. When winter comes, the instructors dry-dock their boards in local bear caves and show students how to navigate the drifts with snowboard lessons at their ski park, which opened in 1992 and keeps slopes board-ready with an abundant supply of self-made snow. Additionally, Raging Buffalo plays host to a variety of events, from rail jams to USASA competitions.

Booming top 40 hits echo throughout Just For Fun Roller Rink’s two vast arenas, amping up the entertainment as skaters glide and showcase moves in open-skate sessions and parties. The glittering of disco balls and the surreal glow of black lights transform the colored wheels of rental roller skates, speed skates, or roller blades into vibrant blurs as they spin across polished floors. While smooth movers hold hands and stack themselves into speedy human pyramids, video-game enthusiasts can get their fix at the arcade games along the side of the rink, and food enthusiasts can whet their palate with pizza, hot dogs, and snacks. Come Saturday night, the rink transforms into a live-music venue for local bands, and on holidays and special occasions such as New Year's Eve, Halloween, and Insomniac-Appreciation Day it puts on all-night celebrations.

Aloha Falls Miniature Golf channels the exotic vibes of a waterfront locale with waterfall- and beach-themed mini-golf courses. The harder of the two layouts, the Waterfall Course runs alongside misting cascades and challenges players with tricky bridges, ramps, and sudden drops. For a less-competitive outing, guests can traverse the Beach Course, which features fewer obstacles and sand ideal for etching only mildly threatening heckles such as “Your mother is terrible at badminton!” Aloha Falls also engineers group fun with a variety of party packages for birthdays, corporate outings, and fundraisers.