When an upcoming guest asked how she could keep three teens occupied during their family vacation, we did a deep dive into local experiences that teens or, really, any adventurous soul, would have a blast doing. The sheer breadth of exciting options is pretty amazing, ranging from the thrill of water sports, biking, climbing and ziplining to wild and crazy activities like axe throwing and indoor skydiving, with the lake house as an ideal epicenter. Ready, set, go!
WAKESURFING
Lake Sammamish was the birthplace of wakesurfing in 2000 and today it’s not only wildly popular, it’s the leading watersport on the lake. The learning curve is a lot less steep than learning to waterski, and it’s a whole lot of fun to play around on top of the boat-generated wave. Guests last summer hired a wakesurf boat and driver to give lessons to their teens. The operator lives on the lake and has deep experience as a boat driver and wakesurfer. The guests gave him high praise, and everyone had a fantastic time!
JET SKIING
For water-soaked thrills, Ohana Kai Watersports offers half- and full-day jet ski rentals. They meet guests at the Lake Sammamish State Park boat launch and offer training and advice before turning riders loose to carve rooster tails. You probably wouldn’t want to drive them all the way back to the house since it’s 3 miles in often-choppy water, but it can be done if you want to give everyone a chance to enjoy.
KAYAKING
We have three kayaks for exploring the lake, but if you’re rounding up people for a group paddle, you can reserve single and tandem kayaks (as well as paddleboards and pedal boats) at Issaquah Paddle Sports at Lake Sammamish State Park, at the south end of the lake. It’s probably best to use them in that general vicinity, since it’s a 3-mile paddle back to the house.
HIKING
The nearest hiking trails are only a half-hour away, along the I-90 corridor heading up to Snoqualmie Pass. Denny Creek (6 miles round-trip) is especially wonderful on a hot summer day since the stream runs across a sun-warmed granite rock formation with natural water slides! Alpine lakes are also refreshing and make for fun summertime destinations. Here’s a helpful guide to alpine lakes. You’ll find hundreds of additional trail options at Washington Trails Association’s website, which allows you to filter for everything from mileage to difficulty level to elevation gain.
BIKING
The Raging River mountain bike trail system, just 20 minutes from the lake, offers up to 40 miles of trails. You can rent bikes at Line Bike Experience, which has a rental kiosk at Snoqualmie Point Park, at the entrance to the trail system. For a more laidback bike experience, Edge & Spoke, in nearby Redmond, offers cruiser bikes for rent for excursions on the absolutely gorgeous, willow- and alder-lined Sammamish River Trail. Or you can do as we did recently, and rent e-bikes from The Line Bike Experience’s North Bend shop and ride along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to picturesque Rattlesnake Lake, in the Cascade foothills.
CLIMBING
Edgeworks Climbing, on the hill above the house, is a massive indoor climbing gym with 10- 15-foot bouldering walls and ropes courses on 45-foot-tall walls. This place isn’t just for experienced climbers, it’s for everyone. For the ropes courses, you wear a harness and are tied into a pulley system, giving you the chance to climb really high and be belayed back down. It’s super fun! They offer private lessons (for 2) and a pro belay experience, with an instructor doing the belaying, for up to 4 people.
ZIP LINING
Zip lining is in my opinion one of the most fun outdoor adventures you can have. Bellevue Zip Tour, less than 15 minutes away, features 7 zip lines, the longest more than 450 feet in length. The lines allow you to fly through a maple and Douglas fir forest at up to 35 mph. Suspension bridges between trees add to the fun.
INDOOR SKYDIVING
At iFly Seattle, near Southcenter Mall, less than a half-hour from the house, you can defy gravity and literally fly, inside a vertical wind tunnel. Once you stabilize and are able to fly effortlessly, an instructor will launch skyward with you, circling high up near the ceiling. It’s great fun to see who is the best at lifting off. The experience is thoroughly exhilarating and impossible to do without wide eyes and huge grins.
MINI-GOLF
Monster Mini-Golf is great for a rainy day, with options ranging from an 18-hole glow-in-the-dark mini golf course—with monsters, of course—to an arcade that offers everything from classic games to virtual reality games. A laser maze and mini bowling alley are additional features. The facility is about 20 minutes away, at Factoria Square Mall. A much more upscale mini-golf experience can be had at The Bellevue Collection’s Lincoln Center, where Forum Social House offers a highly entertaining course with everything from a “koi pond” with a projected image of swimming fish to a carousel horse to perch on, to a flying saucer. But the main attraction here is virtual golf, in several TopGolf Swing Suites. (In evenings the place transforms into a nightlife venue with a bar and a live music lounge.)
BLACKSMITHING
For something entirely different, at Lawless Forge, in Seattle, kids ages 6 and up can learn about the age-old art of blacksmithing and then fashion a knife out of a horseshoe or create a bouquet of metal flowers. Everyone will go home with a unique handmade souvenir. The facility offers group courses or private lessons. Lawless Forge is under the West Seattle Bridge, about a half-hour away.
GLASSBLOWING
The Seattle area is nationally recognized for its extensive history of glassblowing, and The Seattle Glassblowing Studio, in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, offers families (with kids ages 5 and up) and small groups the opportunity to learn the ropes while creating unique works of art. I did this with my teen a number of years ago, and it’s fascinating and exciting to watch glass melting in the forge and see how the colors of glass beads you chose blend and swirl into a unique work of art.
VIRTUAL REALITY
VR is a magnet for teens. Putting on a VR headset and wandering through an alternate universe is nothing short of mind-blowing. If you haven’t visited a VR experience center yet, we highly recommend you and your teens give it a try. At Zero Latency VR, in nearby Redmond, small groups ages 10 and up can choose among several adventure games , and roam freely throughout a large space, which allows all the range needed as your avatar undertakes tasks and adventures.
AXE-THROWING
This sport is popping up everywhere, and it’s popular. Axe-throwing sounds like the last thing any parent would want to encourage their teen to do, but at Pacific Axes, in nearby Redmond, axe masters guide all ages through the experience so they learn safety techniques and the proper way to throw an axe. After learning, practicing and passing a safety test, groups can compete with each other on the Wall of Glory.
