Salisbury, MD Outdoor Activities

Pasadena Golf Center lets visitors create the satisfying thwack of a club hitting a golf ball in one of two locations. They can make out the sound on the 18-hole mini-golf course—where ears will also pick up the sound of trickling waterfalls and the gurgling of landscaped streams and ponds—or at the driving range. Golfers can manipulate a variety of clubs there since targets are set up at different lengths, and 20 of the range’s 34 hitting stations are covered to provide shade during warm months and heat during cold ones. In addition, a full setup of lights let them swing away into the evening or when Apollo's chariot of fire is in the shop. To assist in swing mechanics and proper alignment, the center organizes lessons led by Golf Academy of America–certified instructor, Brett Francisco.

Pasadena Golf Center is also equipped with a nine-station batting cage that challenges visitors with baseball pitches of varying speeds as well as slow- and fast-pitch softball. A 1,600-square-foot patio nearby can facilitate birthday parties or other special events.

Sports Authority Field's turf trembles beneath the stampeding cleats of the teams in the Mile High Classic, which will showcase some of the country's best collegiate lacrosse in a precursor to May's NCAA Tournament. As reigning national champions, the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers sprint into the event with last season's national and ACC Player of the Year, Steele Stanwick, whose average of nearly five points per game is among the nation's elite in 2012. The Penn Quakers, meanwhile, roll into the Centennial State with a chance to boost their national ranking by ousting the Cavaliers or carving "Quakers #1" into nearby mountainsides.

The backstories of most famous pirates are filled with ruthless deeds and dangerous raids. Inspired by their own kids' love for all things pirate-related, two mothers founded Urban Pirates. The swashbuckling crew whisks families on one-hour voyages around the Baltimore Inner Harbor in the 52-foot ship Fearless, regaling them with maritime songs, games, and activities. But the passengers aren't mere spectators—they become real members of the crew, donning pirate costumes complete with drawn tattoos and facial hair and manning water cannons to help protect the ship when it's stormed by rival pirates.

The charismatic buccaneers can also personalize their charters, whether by distributing eye patches and other goodies to birthday-party guests, hosting on-the-water weddings, or guiding corporate groups through team-building exercises, such as teaching a parrot to say "profits are up!" On evening adult cruises, they even encourage patrons to bring their own grog from home. And, though the Fearless stays moored for the winter, the crew hardly abandons their mission to spark young imaginations. Rather than take to the sea, they visit Baltimore libraries and put on free pirate-themed story events that also incorporate games and songs.

At Chesapeake Beach Water Park, guests swiftly wind down eight curling waterslides, skimming through fast-paced twists and gravity-defying turns before shooting out into the pool's calm, cerulean waters. A league of EMT-trained, certified lifeguards watch over the waters, ensuring visitors stay safe as they romp through the beach-like lagoon and the kids' activity pool. Glistening streams flow over picturesque rock faces, splashing onto guests as they float lazily beneath on complimentary rented tubes or pet sea monsters brought from home.

Those who've tired themselves out with daylong Marco Polo matches can sunbathe on lounge chairs on the expansive decks, or walk to the Chesapeake Beach Resort & Spa to rejuvenate. Further connecting with the community, the park supports local organizations such as Relay for Life, the Red Cross blood drive, and Great Dane Rescue.

While waiting for a group of tour participants aboard his kayak on Cape Island Creek, Bob Lubberman made a new acquaintance when a 4-foot great blue heron landed on the nose of his boat. It's not an entirely new experience for the owner of Miss Chris Kayak Rentals and Tours, as opportunities to commune with nature came often as he crabbed and fished as a child from his grandmother's dock. Now he's able to connect visitors to this ecosystem as they independently paddle rented sit-on-top kayaks or as they participate in guided kayak or boat tours.

Paddlers on kayak tours often catch close-ups of ospreys, terns, and other birds, and see diamondback terrapin turtles sunning themselves on the shore or trying to hold their own ice-cream cones. Day and sunset tours let guests explore the wildlife-rich salt marshes, and night tours led during high tide let them paddle over grassy terrain to otherwise inaccessible areas. Guests explore similar territory on tours aboard the Osprey as they watch migrating shore birds or look out on the harbor's historic buildings. Kayak tour guides include an associate naturalist and a Cape May Bird Observatory field associate, and land-based staffers maintain a touch tank on the Miss Chris mooring dock, which they temporarily fill with conches, eels, and other sea life pulled up using open-sided conservation traps.

The Baltimore Blast is a professional indoor soccer team that plays at 1st Mariner Arena.