Five Family-Friendly Adventures

March 29, 2015

1. SPOT A MYSTERY

Mystery Spot – St. Ignace mysteryspotstignace.com Since the 1950s, The Mystery Spot has been mystifying and baffling visitors, allegedly because the land where the Spot sits has unusual, mystical properties. The jury’s still out on that one, but the consensus of fun is certain. You and your kids can play with gravity and optical illusions during the park’s quirky tour guided by enthused college students. Sit on a chair that’s balanced on the wall, see who’s the tallest in your family (the answer might not be who you expect) and watch things roll uphill. Afterward, the head-scratching Maze in the Woods and 18 holes of miniature golf give you plenty of time for heated debate about the illusions you just experienced.

2. HOP TO HOLLAND

Tulip Time Festival – Holland tuliptime.com How do you visit a foreign country without ever leaving the state? You head to Holland, a Michigan town that relishes its Dutch heritage.

A great combination of history and festivity, this destination is perfect for kids and adults alike. The Dutch Village theme park (opening for the season April 18) demonstrates what it would’ve been like to live in a Dutch community a century ago, while the yearly Tulip Time Festival (May 2-9) offers such diversions as an antique carousel, the Zweefmolen Swing Ride, the Giant Wooden Slide and loads of authentic performances and demonstrations, from music and dancing to candle making. Leave with wooden shoes for the whole family, plus great new family photos set against a backdrop of colorful tulips.

3. SHIVER YER TIMBERS

Michigan’s Adventure - Muskegon miadventure.com You don’t have to go all the way to Cedar Point or Disneyland to take the whole family to a top-notch amusement park. While Michigan’s Adventure may not have Mickey or Elsa, it does offer 250 acres of fun, from a complex mini golf course (designed especially for families, with tricky sand pits and water hazards) to bumper cars and boats, plus 53 major rides that’ll keep you and yours yelling all day long. At the top of the list is the legendary Shivering Timbers, a wooden roller coaster that towers 125 feet above the ground and is the only coaster in the world with a trick track (you just wait and see). Other favorites include the suspended looping roller coaster, The Thunderhawk, the wild Grand Rapids River rapids ride, and the Flying Trapeze swing ride.

4. SEEK OUT SCIENCE

Hands-On Museum – Ann Arbor aahom.org What do you do on days when your adventures are ruined by rain? Head indoors, of course – and this is one of the best places to do it, with more than 250 hands-on exhibits to keep everyone entertained and educated all day. The museum’s tagline is "discover the scientist within you" and this happens through both simple activities, like whisper dishes and indoor tornados, and more complex ones like the DTE Energy Foundation light and optics exhibit, which allows you to experiment with light optics and polarization. Block Party is a massive foam block building spree, Blast Off lets you experiment with rocket pressurization, the Magnetoscope shows you how to craft cool patterns in ferrofluid"¦ the list goes on and on.

5. ZIP RIGHT ALONG

Various locations ziplinerider.com Zip line adventures combine thrills with sightseeing and are fun ways to build courage as a family. There are plenty of zip tours to choose from in Michigan, including specialty zips, starting with the state’s longest at 1,350 feet, located at Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs. Boyne’s sister resort in Boyne Falls boasts the Twin Zip, a double zip line that lets you race friends. The Wildwood Rush zip near Lake Charlevoix offers their Triple Zip for similar thrills, with views of the lake from the top. The Adventure Park in Frankenmuth has a complete aerial tour built around their zip lines and Glacier Valley Zip Tours in Howell offers special Glow Zip Tours. Many zip lines also offer Haunted Zips, so check back around Halloween.