A Great Park In the Blue Mountains: Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area

The Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area is one of Pennsylvania's newest state parks. Straddling the Blue Mountains with 1,025 acres of pristine wilderness, the park is home to many species that are ordinarily hard to find on a quick outdoors trip. From unique large trees to deep forest birds, fields of wildflowers, and seasonal gatherings of butterflies, this is a haven for nature lovers as well as anyone who wants to get back and reconnect with the quiet simplicity of the natural world. Visitors are encouraged to explore on their own, but guided tours and special focus programs offer a more in depth experience for anyone looking to learn a little along the way.

Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area
Fishing Creek Valley Road
State Road 443
Harrisburg, PA 17112
(717) 567-9255
www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/boydbigtree.aspx

Five Senses Gardens

All this city life can make a soul pine for the natural world! Luckily the Five Senses Gardens are right here for Harrisburg residents and visitors alike to enjoy. Situated on the Capital Area Greenbelt, this lovely and distinctive park has endured some seriously adverse conditions in recent years, but thanks to the efforts of a very dedicated group of volunteers has rebounded and continues to serve the community. As you might guess from the name, the park is divided into five individual “gardens,” each one of which is designed to stimulate a specific sense! The sight garden offers flowering plants and beautiful botanicals that tantalize the eyes with color. The sound garden plays host to a wide variety of songbirds. The smell garden boasts a number of different plants that emit distinctive and pleasurable odors. The taste garden offers mint, blueberries and other examples of nature’s bounty. And, finally, the Labyrinth uses the sense of touch to navigate a maze. This is an experience not to be missed.

Five Senses Gardens
www.caga.org/five_senses_gardens

The Coliseum: Fun For Everyone

Dubbed an “entertainment megaplex,” The Coliseum is a 35,000 square foot destination offering a little something for everyone. Start with the massive bowling alley, which boasts incredibly high-quality lanes that are kept in perfect condition and illuminated by a futuristic light show. Flat-screen projection TVs offer sporting events, music videos, and other cool stuff to watch. If you’re all bowled out, head into the awesome game room, which features over 100 video games, tests of skill, and more. There’s even pool tables and dartboards for the more adult sportsman. The Coliseum also hosts a restaurant on the upper level, offering a variety of American classics. Thursday nights see ten cent hot wings, which are remarkably popular among the locals. Some note that prices can be a bit high, but they do offer a wide variety of coupons and special deals for cost-conscious families. On the weekends, The Coliseum can get packed since it's such a popular destination!

The Coliseum
415 Saint Johns Church Road
Camp Hill, PA 17011
(717) 972-1001
www.coliseumfun.com

Metro Bank Park: A Harrisburg Baseball Destination

Home to the Harrisburg Senators minor league baseball team, Metro Bank Park is a perfect destination for baseball fans and outdoors Americana seekers alike. With a seating capacity of more than 6,000, the well-sized venue is undergoing a non-disruptive $32 million renovation that will propel it to a new level of sports standards. Though the current park was built in 1987, it is located over the same plot that has served as Harrisburg's baseball destination since 1907.  With this much history as well as reasonably priced tickets for its loyal visitors, Metro Bank Park is a great destination to while away an afternoon rooting for your favorite team or just enjoying all the classic baseball amenities.

Metro Bank Park
City Island
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 231-4444
www.senatorsbaseball.com

Popcorn Hat Players: Theatre With Salt

If you’re looking for a more irreverent take on the stage, Harrisburg’s Popcorn Hat Players might whet your appetite. This much-loved local children’s theatre troupe has been putting on shows since 1993, using professional actors and directors to bring top-quality performances to children of all social and economic backgrounds. Plays put on by the troupe include adaptations of classic Mother Goose rhymes as well as fairy tales like The Little Mermaid and Rumpelstiltskin. Their performances are very entertaining. Although the stagecraft is serious business, each show has a real sense of humor that will keep kids riveted to the stage. And, of course, the Popcorn Hat Players throw in a few jokes for the grown-ups as well. Ticket prices are incredibly reasonable – just seven dollars – which makes it an excellent entertainment value. The troupe also runs a number of educational and outreach programs and mentors a group of young actors who perform in a yearly show.

Popcorn Hat Players
Third Floor
605 Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 238-4111
www.gamutplays.org/popcorn

John Harris-Simon Cameron Museum

If you’re interested in the rich history of the Dauphin County area, there’s no better place to learn about it than the John Harris-Simon Cameron Museum. Located in one of the oldest and most majestic buildings in Harrisburg (the Harris-Cameron Mansion) the Museum is an enormous building constructed from locally quarried limestone. Simon Cameron, the house’s second occupant, was best known as Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln, and his family held onto the house until donating it to the Historical Society in 1941. Since then, the mansion has been carefully preserved and decorated to simulate 19th century life in the Harrisburg area, with each of the rooms arranged and decorated to provide insight into the lives of the families that lived there. The Museum also serves as the headquarters of the Dauphin County Historical Society, which presents a wide variety of educational programs, re-enactments and more. A visit here's sure to expand your mind.

John Harris-Simon Cameron Museum
219 South Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17104
(717) 233-3462
www.dauphincountyhistory.org

Midtown Cinema: Enjoy The Show

Most movie theaters left in America are fairly generic corporate-owned affairs, content to program the latest Hollywood blockbusters and leave everything else out. Not so with Harrisburg’s Midtown Cinema. This awesome indie theater was founded in 2001 by a pair of film lovers who wanted to bring the most cutting-edge cinema to the area, and they’ve programmed a regular slate of challenging, intriguing films for over a decade. Midtown Cinema has a fun, funky DIY feel, with comfortable couches in the waiting room and perfectly serviceable seating with good sightlines. They even have board games to play while you’re waiting for your screening to start. A semi-regular movie trivia night draws local cinephiles out of the woodwork as well to challenge themselves with increasingly difficult questions in exchange for prizes. This is a great example of what a community movie theater should be, and it’s well worth paying a visit.

Midtown Cinema
250 Reily Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
(717) 909-6566
www.midtowncinema.com

Atomic Warehouse: It’s A Blast

If your interests lie in the art and design of the 20th century, Harrisburg’s Atomic Warehouse is going to feel like a paradise on Earth. Specializing in art deco, Mission, and mid-century modern design, the two gigantic floors are packed to the rafters with incredible merchandise plucked from the vault of history. Atomic Warehouse's owner is obsessed with his finds and will gladly regale you with the details of their provenance. Even if you’re not going to buy anything, Atomic Warehouse is still an incredible place to spend an afternoon digging through treasures. Of course, the staff would really prefer it if you bought something! From amazing furniture to vintage magazines, Atomic Warehouse has something for every interest. Some complain that prices are a little high, but it’s not like a factory can just make more of this stuff. There is literally no other store like this in the country, so visitors should be thankful that it even exists.

Atomic Warehouse
1021 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
(717) 236-1900
www.atomicwarehouse.com

Oyster Mill Playhouse: Curtain’s Up

Live theater can add an important facet to a city’s cultural life, and Harrisburg locals are lucky to have the Oyster Mill Playhouse in their town. Nestled in a gorgeous converted oyster mill on the banks of the Conodoguinet Creek, the space was converted in 1988 and has hosted a robust variety of theatrical performances since. A completely volunteer-run non-profit theatre company is the space's exclusive tenant, putting on eight shows a year that run the gamut from comedy to drama. The playhouse is quite small, which means that you’re guaranteed an intimate evening with the actors. On the flip side, that also means that shows sell out quickly, too. In addition to the scheduled performance, the troupe raises funds by conducting entertaining murder mystery parties at your location, with clever improvisation bringing your guests into a hilarious and suspenseful world of deduction. The Playhouse’s lobby features a rotating gallery of work from local visual artists as well.

Oyster Mill Playhouse
1001 Oyster Mill Road
Camp Hill, PA 17011
(717) 737-6768
www.oystermill.com

Linglestown Paintball: Make A Splat

Paintball sometimes gets a bad rap as a sport enjoyed just by teenage boys, but if you can look past the stereotypes you’ll find it’s actually great for team-building in a family or business context. Harrisburg's Linglestown Paintball is the perfect place to check it out for yourself! The basics are simple: players divide into teams and work together to blast their foes with paint before being shot themselves. Going off solo, however, will get you out of the game quick. Talking with your teammates, coordinating covering fire, and cooperating to flank enemies and take advantageous positions is where the real fun comes in. Linglestown Paintball gives you everything you need to get into the game, from a rental shop with guns, paint and safety gear to an excellent course filled with obstacles to take cover behind. If you’ve heard horror stories about how the paintballs hurt, ignore them – as long as you’re wearing long sleeves and pants, you’ll barely feel a thing.

Linglestown Paintball
7548 Linglestown Road
Harrisburg, PA 17112
(717) 541-8323
www.linglestownpaintball.com

Next Page »