30 Adventures to Experience #1-15
If you're passionate about adventure and consider yourself a real thrill-seeker, this list is for you! Release your inner Adrenaline Junkie and have the time of your life in Virginia!
(1) Race! | (2-4)
Adventure Camps | (5) Whitewater! | (6) Roller Coasters
(7) Downhill Ski/Snowboard | (8-12) Fly | (13) Go Kart
(14) Buy a Pony | (15) Deep Sea Fishing
or Bristol Motor Speedway.
1. Richmond International Raceway — featuring a 3/4 mile D oval track — can be all yours for as little as $109 with a professional driving instructor in a Real Stockcar Racer in a qualifying run as part of the Richard Petty Driving Experience™. Then become a Rookie and drive yourself around the track for 8 laps starting at about $399. The entire experience lasts about 3 hours!
The King's Experience is a 5-hour, 18-lap program costing about $800. But, heck, you only live once! Bristol Motor Speedway offers its own Richard Petty Driving Experience™ 12-lap program for about $450. More Information
2. Ever wonder what it was like to be a Civil War soldier? Enjoy the Civil War Adventure Camp at Pamplin Historical Park, where you'll travel back 140 years and become a buck private. Dress in either a Union or Confederate uniform, participate in drills, period games and skirmishes. Sleep in a platform tent, eat the Civil War era meals, learn military codes and communications. Think you can cut it as a soldier in the 1860s?
3. Virginia Space Flight Adventure Camp is just for students 12-15 years of age. Wallops Island, an operational NASA base, is the campsite where you can see F-18s, C-130s and research aircraft. You'll enjoy model rocketry, robotics and flight simulation in the classroom as well take field trips to other NASA facilities, such as launch sites and the U.S. Navy Aegis Training Center. It's like training to become a real Top Gun pilot and astronaut!
4. Wilderness Adventure at Eagle Landing promotes leadership, confidence, communication and team interaction. Groups and individuals can enjoy the Low Ropes Team Building course, High Ropes Adventure Trail, a 900-foot Zip Line as well as a 50-foot climbing wall. Other adventures include mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing, caving and rock climbing/rappelling!
Enjoy a White Water Adventure!
5. Awaken your senses and invigorate your spirit on a white water adventure! You'll want to begin with experienced instructors who know how to navigate the river and the rapids, and can provide transportation back to your vehicle. Some adventures can lasts days! Contact the following experts at:
Central Virginia: Adventure Challenge, James River Runners, James River Reeling and Rafting
Shenandoah Valley: Front Royal Canoe Company, Massanutten River Adventures, Shenandoah River Trips
Blue Ridge Highlands: New River Adventures
Heart of Appalachia: Russell Fork Whitewater Adventures
Read about Virginia's Waterways.
Return to topRide 15 Roller Coasters in 12 Hours!
Start the day at Kings Dominion and get in line for the most popular and newest coasters first — The Dominator (brand new in 2008!), Backlot Stunt Coaster, Hypersonic XLC, Volcano the Blast Coaster, and The Flight of Fear — followed by the classics.
Then, drive south on I-95 to I-64 east to Busch Gardens and ride more — Appollo's Chariot, Alpengeist, The Big Bad Wolf and the newest — Griffon! 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the Loch Ness Monster - now that's a coaster you don't want to miss!
You'll be exhausted, but what a day to remember!
For more information on roller coasters in Virginia, read Roller Coaster Mania!
Learn Downhill Skiing and/or Snowboarding!
7. Virginia has four Mountain Resorts where you can learn to ski and snowboard. They even have children's classes, so bundle up the cuties and bring 'em on!
Your winters will never be inactive, boring or lonely again when you stay and play at Bryce, Massanutten, The Homestead or Wintergreen!
8. Skim the tree tops in a Hot-Air Balloon! It's feels just like your dreams of flying! The average flight is about an hour, followed by a champagne toast inspired by the first hot-air balloon flight in 1783 in France! A special celebration is reserved for First Time Balloonists, too! More Information
9. Skydive with an instructor on a tandem parachute jump or jump alone from a static line, which automatically opens your chute! Accelerated Free Fall classes teach you everything you need to know for your first solo jump. More Information
10. Take an old-fashioned hair-raising Open-Cockpit Biplane Ride at the Flying Circus Airshows in Bealeton, May-October. Goggles are provided. Bring your own white scarf!
11. Take Flying Lessons in a Cessna 172, Piper Warrior or Diamond Eclipse at one of the airports affiliated with Heart of Virginia Aviation or Immersive Flight School or with Ultralight Introductory Flights! Most instructors offer a Discovery Flight to see if you will take to the sport . . . but of course you will. Earn your private pilot's license in no time, and your wild-blue-yonder dreams become a reality!
12. Hang Glide off a 40-foot-high training hill with an instructor at High Peak Hand Gliding and then move to higher and higher ground. You'll soon soar from the mountain tops of the Blue Ridge, just like the hawks and eagles do!
Make the buoyant air over Virginia your personal playground!
Virginia
Air Sports
13. If you didn't get to ride a go-kart as a kid, now is your chance! Motor World in Virginia Beach offers eight different tracks and 14 different styles of go-karts!
Drive high-speed endurance races along a half-mile road course or try an over/under figure-8 slick track. There's even a Grand Prix track with hairpin turns and windy S-curves!
Virginia International Raceway provides The Euro Rally School and Corporate Motorsport Experience, featuring instruction all all levels for go-kart racers on their 5/8-mile Plantation Valley Kart Track! All drivers must be 16 or older.
Buy that Pony You Wanted as a Kid!
14. Remember when all you ever wanted was a little pony? Not a horse, just a little pony. Your folks never bought you one, and Santa didn't either! It's time you got yourself that little pony — one that won't grow up into a big ol' horse.
Visit the Chincoteague Pony Centre and see all the ponies that trace their lineage back to the original Misty of Chincoteague! You can buy yourself a pony there or wait until the annual Chincoteague Pony Penning & Auction in July.
15. What does the Blue Water Bullet, Hakuna Matata, John's Addiction, Smokin' Gun, Backlash, Jamestown Hooker, Miss Yorktown, Seaspray, Bay Quest, Miss Linda, Scorpio and Miss Fitz have in common?
They're all charter fishing boats that sail the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads coastal waters, the Atlantic Ocean and the inlets of the Eastern Shore!
More Information on Charter Services
Go to More Exciting Adventures: 16-30
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