10.23.2025. Harrisonburg, VA. My husband and I enjoyed strolling through the Edith J. Arboretum, a…read morefour-season public garden located on James Madison University's East Campus. The 125 acre urban arboretum "provides all students and community members with an outdoor classroom, a forested haven that is home to a rich oak-hickory habitat of flora and fauna, flowering gardens, and native wildflowers." The arboretum is open from dawn to dusk 365 days a year, and has free admission. (That said, I encourage you to support the EJC by becoming a member). We enjoyed walking on the 0.9 easy loop trail, passing through or near the family garden, the oak-hickory forest, fern valley, the pond, and more. Being late October, there weren't any flowering plants, but it didn't matter. There are restrooms, family restrooms, a water fountain, picnic area, a few benches, and an information kiosk. There are also three free parking areas on University Blvd, all with handicap parking spaces. We parked in the largest R5 lot. The garden and paths are well-maintained and enjoyed by a variety of users -- students, people walking their leased dogs, and older folks getting in some gentle exercise. I had only two disappointments -- (1) I so enjoyed the arboretum that I wish it were bigger! (2) can hear some traffic noise, but I guess you'd have to expect that in an urban garden. We look forward to returning when next in Harrisonburg!

The arboretum appears to have been constructed out of land that was too uneven to make into the…read moreusual college buildings, as it is hilly and has some weird angles. While the streambed running through it was dry, it had the insect population of a wetland and I struggled to stop and be still at any point during my exploration. The site has two small parking lots and a variety of attractions, including extensive play facilities for the pre-college crowd. Most of the other attendees, however, appeared older than college students. There were certainly some interesting sights to be seen, and no charge to get in.

Beautiful small park by the river with nice fish pond, and Bicycle parking. Cute benches and table…read morewith embed chess board.

Nice having a park this large within city limits. But be sure to bring a map and allow ample time…read moreto be walking in circles. The trails are poorly marked. Who's responsible for maintaining these trails???

Great park for hiking. They have several shelters for picnics and family gatherings. Volleyball…read morecourt, a couple of horse shoe spots and a basketball court. Plenty of space so that your not on top of the next picnic goer.

Elevation Sports was an activity on one of our https://reachinternationaloutfitters.com/ cards do…read morewe decided to give it a shot! The card recommended knockerball but we are too old and concussion prone for that so we did Nerf wars with our adult kids and had a blast. The staff was super accommodating to our last minute schedule change and overall just great. I wish we had one in Virginia Beach!

Took a group of 13 year olds for an impromptu birthday celebration on a Wednesday evening. We…read morelucked out by it being open so I reserved a hour for Knockerball and Nerf Wars. The price was great and service even better. We had an uneven number of kids so the guy working the party (later found out that he is the owner) jumped right in and played with them. The boys had a blast! After an hour, the kids were contently exhausted. Such a great spot for kids to run off some energy!

Nice facility. A couple cracks on a couple courts. Racks to add you paddle to join games. There's…read morealso shade!!

We had the absolute most amazing time with Lester! He was a wonderful tour guide and also taught us…read moremuch more about caves than we expected to learn. He taught us how to safely spot or catch someone in front of us if they're falling back, he taught us the different whistle signals used, and how to use a compass! I had no idea that I didn't even know how to use a compass in the first place. Once he navigated us about halfway to our ending point, he had one of us navigate the rest of the way using the cave map and our compass, and then had us switch on the way back (there were 2 of us). We had never caved before, but he saw that we are the active type, so he not only led us horizontally through spaces, but we also got to go vertical and climb up and down spaces. I couldn't stop raving about our experience afterwards. This tops the list of most exciting things I've ever done, and most unique as well because I can't say I know anyone else who has ever done caving. On our way home, we stopped by Luray Caverns and it was really cool walking through with newfound appreciation. We were able to point out things and appreciate how it was formed in ways we never would have beforehand. The only issue is we wished we could have strayed off the beaten path and explore more nooks and crannies the public doesn't get to see! If you're questioning whether to book a tour with Wild Guyde, I would without a doubt recommend it. If you think you might get claustrophic, I had the same fear going into this, but the cave is very open and even when you're crawling you still have plenty space around you that you don't feel trapped. Plus, you don't have to do anything you don't want to or feel comfortable with! I promise you won't regret it.

Amazing! Worked with our family to elevate our first underground adventure. Loved the emphasis on…read moresafety and empowered us to go out on our own. 10/10