#27: Archery Adventure

Maya, Me and Luca

Some people might think my 40x40 project is sponsored by Groupon. The detoxifying bodywrap, salt cave, fitness boot camp and family trail ride posts were all inspired by Groupon deals, as was this one. I recently purchased a four-hour archery adventure for four at Cinnamon Creek Ranch in Roanoke, partly because of the great value from Groupon, but also because I knew my oldest daughter, Maya, an avid Hunger Games fan, would enjoy playing Katniss for an afternoon.

This was a little difficult for me as I detest weapons. I don’t even allow my kids to play with water guns and they know to steer clear of any shooting games at the arcade. So I had to look past the reality that bows and arrows can kill and think of archery as a simple sport to be ok with it. To my surprise, our entire family (even me) really enjoyed the adventure. After getting sized for bows and arrows, we spent about 20 minutes in Cinnamon Creek’s indoor archery range receiving some basic instructions and practicing shooting at targets.

Rick aiming at a bear target

After we mastered the indoor range, we headed to what Cinnamon Creek calls “The Zoo.” One of the employees described it as a mini golf course for archery, and that’s exactly what it was – a series of archery targets spaced for safety through the woods of Roanoke. Most were what I think they call “bag targets” with pictures of multiple animals to aim at but others looked like real bears, foxes or deer.

Experience #27 was definitely a different one for us, but we would do it again and recommend it to others!