Sightseeing in The Pinery

The Wildlife Experience, one of the country's more aptly named museums, offers a chance to encounter members of various animal kingdoms and habitats through an uncommon combination of interactive exhibits, natural history, fine art, and documentary films. Once inside, explore a variety of permanent and not-so-permanent exhibits. Globeology, is a three-dimensional jaunt that takes visitors through biomes from wild Colorado to the barren, WiFi-less tundra. Frogs!: A Chorus of Colors, meanwhile, gives visitors eyewitness access to fifteen types of colorful and vocal anurans, offering young guests insight into what frogs do when not playing a banjo or being chased by a pig.

Arthur Murray Dance Studios has been a leading name in social dance since 1912, when the entrepreneur began selling mail-order dance lessons. Expanding his reach, he enlisted teachers to spread his signature dance lessons on first-class steamships and skyrocketed to fame in the '30s after introducing the public to such dances as the Lambeth Walk and the Big Apple. By the 1950s, Arthur and his wife, Kathryn, were hosting their own highly popular TV show on ABC, the Arthur Murray Dance Party, which ran for 12 years. Today, Arthur Murray's team prepares students for rug cutting at special events and weekend nightclub jaunts. Clients who arrive to lessons partnerless will be paired up with certified instructors. Throughout lessons, instructors teach the foundations of two to four dances from a long list of styles that range from Latin to country-western, helping students to learn basic step patterns, timing, and the ability to lead or follow.

Over the course of a decade, FastFrame has mushroomed into more than 300 international locations on the strength of their meticulous craftsmanship and lifetime guarantee. To showcase artwork, photos, or the first dollar made in the family counterfeiting machine, the professional framers sort through a treasure trove of materials, such as gold and silver settings, fabric-wrapped mats, and lamination. For light-sensitive items, they apply Preservation Plus framing, which uses acid-free framing accoutrements to protect portraits from fading under the withering gaze of UV rays or laser-eyed art critics.

The Plains Conservation Center is an offshoot of the West Arapahoe Conservation District, an organization appointed in 1949 to teach farming and ranching techniques that could help prevent another devastating Dust Bowl. While the PCC's mission has since expanded, the nonprofit organization's main goal remains the same: preserving the health of Colorado's plains. Between its two sites—a main 1,100-acre location in Aurora and more than 10,000 acres spread along West Bijou Creek—the organization maintains several attractions devoted to the history and environmental character of the region. These include more than five miles of hiking trails, a Cheyenne camp from 1837 with four standing tepees, and Wells Crossing, a replica 1887 farm consisting of sod houses, and heirloom gardens. For more modern sites, the Aurora location's visitor center features interactive displays and seasonal events such as Hops for Habitat, an annual fundraiser with beer tastings from local craft brewers.

At Bella Glass Studios, students unleash boundless creativity during a variety of do-it-yourself craft classes including paint-your-own pottery, glass fusing, and glass ornament-making classes. The Twigs-N-Berries class equips students with the tools and necessary know-how to fashion two quirky, colorful pendants. Or they can create functional dinnerware in the Sue, She Needs a Plate! class. Students can also design key chains, letter openers, or the global currency: marbles. Throughout each class, staff members monitor students as they arrange smooth glass balls among thin vitrigraph to craft abstract compositions or wield colors as bright as their imaginations.