Itching to get outdoors and resume a life of adventure? This spring, point your compass toward Carson Valley, Nevada, roughly 25 minutes from Lake Tahoe. The town’s enviable location at the base of the Sierra Nevada makes it ideal for a skydiving jaunt with Skydive Lake Tahoe. Take off from Minden-Tahoe Airport and fall toward stunning views of soaring mountains and the Lake Tahoe Basin.

You can get the same extraordinary views with a little less rush on a glider flight with Carson Valley’s Soaring NV. Participants are whisked off to the skies above the valley and lake via tow cable, then released to drink in the quiet of the skies and the area’s natural beauty. For another engine-less airborne experience, opt for a hot-air balloon excursion with Balloon Nevada. Experienced professional pilots escort guests on a sky-high trek across the photogenic valley, which ranks as one of the country’s most-photographed lakes.

Prefer to stay on the ground? There’s plenty of fun there, as well, from golf at one of the valley’s four golf courses to wild horse tours with local guides to photography expeditions to capture dramatic images of birds of prey. For cycling enthusiasts, there’s mountain biking along trails through the Sierra Nevada, with routes appropriate to a variety of cycling levels.

Once you’ve worked up a thirst with your activity of choice, head to Genoa Bar. Dating back to 1853, the bar stools at this historic watering hole supported famous guests including Mark Twain, Clark Gable, Red Skelton, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ulysses Grant.