Rye, NY Outdoor Activities

Bayville Adventure Park stretches across land rumored to have been passed down by the pirate patriarch of the Bay family. Here, visitors can capture the Bays’ adventurous spirit by immersing themselves in adrenaline-pumping explorations. Attractions include the Mystery Funhouse, the Bungee Bounce Dome, and the Lost Temple of the Forgotten Maze, which showcases ancient artifacts such as ceremonial daggers, painted skulls, and the widely unpopular square wheel. Visitors also can attempt to scale an indoor rock wall and earn redemption prizes at the arcade, whose $500,000 worth of games include skee-ball and air hockey. To reenergize between activities, guests can stop by one of three onsite restaurants for hot dogs, pasta, or, if they’re old enough, a glass of beer or wine.

Jenks Productions has been handling the nuts and bolts of consumer trade shows for 33 years. Partnering with local and national businesses, Jenks specializes in home, bridal, and pet shows, which fill sprawling spaces with vendors eager to share their wares and visitors looking for inspiration. The services that Jenks Productions provides are extensive, as the team can do everything from onsite event management and budget planning to marketing efforts such as developing newsletters, logos, and jingles that rhyme the words “impending nuptials.”

Tall trees and flourishing hedges surround the pools and tennis courts at Maplewood Swim and Tennis Club, tossing healthy amounts of shade onto lounge areas while also adding to the club's private atmosphere. For more than 50 years, the member-owned club has helped families fill warm and restless summer days with one full sized pool with a slide, a kiddie pool, four tennis courts, and a basketball court with a snack bar and and plenty of organized kid-themed activities. The clubhouse hosts ample storage space for chairs and pool rafts, in addition to a supply of board games and books. Each weekend, Maplewood's tennis pro visits the deco-turf courts to provide private and semiprivate lessons on how to improve tennis techniques and make games of fetch more interesting to all skill levels, from the youngest player to the professional level.

At Tread Bike Shop, a team of cyclists and professional mechanics unite patrons with their perfect two-wheeled soulmates. Two employees are masters in the art of Body Geometry Fitting, in which they adjust handlebars and saddles to account for riders’ comfort, efficiency, and safety while maintaining their ability to outrace cheetahs escaped from the zoo. Further catering to customers’ individual needs, the staff helps to select bikes from brands such as Cannondale and Dohan and prepare them for test drives. Throughout the store, a vast inventory of accessories and apparel equips riders for any biking situation, and a repair center tunes up frames and erases evidence of collisions with car doors suddenly painted on brick walls. The shop also rents out both comfort and sports models for abbreviated excursions through the city’s streets and parks.

Typically, you can only see Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, and Yankee Stadium in less than an hour while leafing through a stack of New York postcards. However, Zip Aviation confounds expectations, whisking tourists over those landmarks and more on one of three helicopter tours in 12–30 minutes. Helmed by a team of pilots with an impeccable safety record, the tours grant passengers a bird’s-eye view of the city aboard either their AStar or Bell helicopters, which have never once caused sea sickness. The aviation company complements its sightseeing excursions with an array of other transit services, including private charters and special-event transportation options.

Get America Tours's knowledgeable guides escort groups of sightseers on more than 20 extended and mini tours. Tours journey to places like New York City and the Grand Canyon on 1- to 11-day jaunts taken at a comfortable pace, allowing patrons to hit the area's highlights and spend time soaking up their new setting. Highly trained guides share a wealth of information about history, local gems, and cultural tradition with their tour members. Some guides, able to speak Spanish and German, are also trained as multilingual emissaries. Passengers are ferried across the United States and Canada in either buses, vans, or minivans, depending on the number of passengers, ensuring that tours are never cancelled due to a lack of passengers or an overabundance of giant stuffed animals.