COMPETE AND RETREAT |
Treat Your Work Team to Pasco’s Great Outdoors
Trying to boost company morale? Forging an important alliance? Skip the expensive consultant and pump your team up with a shot of adrenaline and a side of Vitamin D in the great outdoors of Pasco County’s Sports Coast.
Tread the Cotee River on a paddleboard or relax under the shade of Cypress and long-leaf pine trees. Race kayaks. Shoot targets. Get up close to exotic animals. Or enjoy a good, old-fashioned picnic in one of the county’s lush and shady parks.
Pasco’s many parks and attractions can help you and your team detox and de-stress while leaving them with picture-postcard memories sure to last a lifetime.
GO OUT ON A LIMB
Monkeying around may be frowned upon at work but TreeHoppers Aerial Adventure Park allows your staff to make like a macaque and scale the top of lofty, old-growth canopies. Climb, crawl and zipline through the Dade City adventure park’s eight treetop courses. Color-coded trails mark beginner paths, which are less challenging and closer to the ground, and the expert-level course will get your most athletic cohorts’ adrenaline pumping.
PULL!
Get your team on target at Tampa Bay Sporting Clays, a 260-acre archery and shooting range in Land O’Lakes. Everyone at this compound gets a shot at fun as there are multiple courses for all experience levels. Take advantage of Tampa Bay Sporting Clays’ group packages, which include golf cart rentals for exploring the wooded terrain, ear protectors and access to the 4,000-sq.-ft. covered pavilion. After taking aim, your staff can balance things out by getting warm and fuzzy with the critters in Tampa Bay Sporting Clays’ petting zoo.
SAVANNA SMILES
Go on safari or take your team on a camelback tour of one of the Sports Coast’s most breathtaking expanses of wilderness. Giraffe Ranch spans more than 45 acres of forest and pastures in picturesque Dade City. The wilderness reserve invites your tribe to feed resident giraffes and pet camels or get a rare look at rhinos, Brazilian tapirs and pygmy hippos. Giraffe Ranch also herds tiny Irish Dexter cattle. Family-owned and operated for almost 20 years, the working game farm gives visitors an authentic agritourism experience and a lifetime of memories.
SHOW THEM WHO’S BOSS
Level the playing field by pitting employees against higher-ups in relay races, scavenger hunts and other field day-style competitions at Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park. The 12,000-acre park has volleyball courts, primitive campsites, cabin rentals and wide-open spaces for all types of play.
TAKE TO THE WATER
Let the Gulf currents sweep your worries away as you gather the team for easy-breezy watersports. Get Outside Sales and Rentals leases kayaks, canoes and paddleboards for the entire day at surprisingly reasonable fees. Plus, their friendly guides provide drop off and pick up at various parks with convenient amenities.
Navigate mangrove tunnels or drop a line off one of Eagle Point Park’s multiple docks. Brasher Park has abundant wildlife, fishing, picnicking and magnificent sunset viewing. Travel the winding Cotee, short for the Pithlachascotee River — a Seminole name meaning “the canoe-building place.” The Cotee River transports your team back in time as you row past moss-draped oaks and the historic homes of New Port Richey’s Main Street district. James E. Grey Nature Preserve, by the headwaters of the Cotee, will drop jaws with its untamed greenery.
Cap off the day with a stop at a restaurant with an Old Florida dockside setting. Renowned for its scenic location, Whiskey Joe’s Bar & Grill serves up Gulf Grouper Tacos, Mango Glazed Scallops and Coconut Rum Chicken. Grab a seat at the always-fresh Raw Oyster Bar. After dinner, treat the team to a local craft brew at Cotee River Brewing.
OFF-THE-GRID GORGEOUSNESS
For a more tranquil retreat, charter a boat to Anclote Key State Park, an island recreation area that spreads across 11,773 acres and is home to 43 species of birds. Stroll along Anclote’s pristine shores as American oystercatchers and piping plovers scuttle by. Spot a bald eagle soaring overhead. Pitch a tent, barbecue, and float in crystal clear saltwater and stargaze. A lighthouse built in 1887 beckons from the island’s southern end — a lovely backdrop for a souvenir group photo. Get there with the help of Windsong Charters and Boat Rentals, 727-859-0213
RAIN OR SHINE
If you plan an outdoor retreat and it gets rained out, there’s plenty of indoor fun in Pasco, too. Opt for a movie party at New Port Richey’s family-owned Cinema 6, where your staff can enjoy better-than-average nosh, watch a first-run film or play video games on the big screen. Or, take the department heads bowling at LaneGlo, a lively, kitschy spot for company parties.
Whether indoors or out, Pasco’s Sports Coast has a wide variety of recreational activities, accommodations and meeting spaces, offering the utmost in quality time with your team — definitely something to build on.
