Checkpoint, please. It may be November, but there are still plenty of opportunities to get outdoors with the fam. Join the Cascade Orienteering Club for a no-pressure ramble through Lake Sammamish State Park; using your mad navigational skillz, find checkpoints in the park that have been marked on a map. Take it easy or race against the clock — it’s up to you. If you’ve never done this before, help is available for free. Take exit 15 from I-90 and look for orange-and-white signs once you enter the park. Start anytime on Nov. 7 between 10 a.m. and noon (I told you it was relaxed). $5–$10. All ages.
Yule betcha. Celebrate the holidays Scandinavian style at the Nordic Heritage Museum’s annual Yulefest. Stuff yourself with scrumptious cardamom-scented aebleskiver (tennis-ball-shaped Danish goodies dipped in jam — mfff), pick up traditional Swedish straw ornaments for the tree, listen to music and set the kids loose in the crafts room. Oh, and Santa will be there, too. $1–$3, children younger than 3 free. Nov. 21–22, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. 3014 N.W. 67th St., Seattle.
Holmes for Christmas. Taproot Theatre Company presents the world premiere of a Sherlock Holmes mystery, based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s book The Final Problem. In “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol,” Holmes turns up after three years of being presumed dead. What happened to him while he was gone? Three callers appear on Christmas Eve to solve the mystery of Holmes’ disappearance — and to save the detective from “a dire end” (dun dun DUN). The family-oriented show opens on Nov. 27 and runs through Dec. 30, with previews on Nov. 20–21 and a pay-what-you-can performance on Nov. 25. Tickets are $20–$33. Taproot Theatre, 204 N. 85th St., Seattle.
