Our last full day, Friday, we split up. My little family went one way, and my brother and his family went another. They headed to the beach and rockhounding, we headed to the woods. I had done some googling and was curious about this place called Raven Hill Discovery Center, which was about 45 minutes from our cabin. It is a place of learning that combines art, history, and science, and best of all, the website said it was accessible! I spent some time inspecting the website and images online, and saw that at the very least there was an accessible treehouse in the woods. We weren’t sure what to expect honestly, but we were so pleasantly surprised by what we found!

This place was like a hidden gem, tucked away in the quiet northern woods, away from the tourist crowds and tourist attractions. From the initial grounds, it is not overly impressive. Just a few low buildings, a parking lot, and you can sort of see some of the stuff from the car, but not really. But we were willing to see what it was all about, and headed on in! And boy, was there so much to discover!!

We got there just in time for the reptile talk, which you know our family enjoyed. If we hadn’t just sprayed ourselves all over with bug spray we could have draped the corn snake over our necks, but we had so we just admired her beauty. We did get to meet the bearded dragon though, and the sulcata turtles, of which they had four. All of their reptiles are rescues from the area – one reason they have so many sulcatas. They start off so small, but then get gigantic. They also had two tarantulas. I had been considering getting one but now, no. I am uncomfortable with their urticating hairs that fill the air like fiberglass if they decide to shoot them out. I noped out of that decision after learning that.

After the reptile talk, we explored the rest of the building, which had so very much to look at! There was a big magnet table in the middle that had a very powerful magnet, with signs saying to stay three feet away if you had something in you that would react to the magnet, like a pacemaker. Wyatt’s shunt is now magnetic, and although I know that he can go in an MRI machine, it still freaked me out so we stayed away from that part of the room. However, it didn’t matter since there was a lot of other hands on things to play with and explore.

I talked to Cheri the owner while the guys played a bit, getting the lay of the land and learning the map and which areas were the most accessible, then we headed outside.

Our first stop was the Earth Tones Music Garden, which reminded Billy and I of the Blue Man Group. Wyatt of course loved playing all of the giant instruments, and once he got tired of it, we headed through the Exploring Beyond Jurassic Park trail, which is a short trail that details the geologic history of the earth, complete with “fossils” for kids to touch, and from there, we walked over to the schoolhouse and played around in there a bit. Wyatt really loved ringing the school bell, and Billy and I posed for silly pictures.

After we finished fooling around at the schoolhouse, we decided it was time for the woods and the treehouse!

We played around here a bit, then walked over to the Ancient World. It was much, much larger than we anticipated, and would be such a great field trip for a school group or a homeschool family, especially if you were learning about a particular time in history. Wyatt loved “Ancient Egypt” and the Easter Island head was amazing, especially when you learn that it was built by middle schoolers!

(Easter Island Head photo credit goes to Raven Hill Discovery Center website)

Can you believe we still weren’t done? We completely missed a few trails, including the Connections Trail that was built during Covid. We did see part of it though.

Before we had left the facility itself, Cheri had asked us if we would check the accessibility for a new feature they are building, a boardwalk for the pond. After doing the Ancient World, we were ready to see the pond and headed over to the building, where Cheri joined us. She told us that it had originally all been swamp, and now it is a beautiful pond for visitors to enjoy. I believe she said it is part of a Boy Scout’s project, and is designed for all to view how the pond goes from shallow to deep, and to get closer to the water and see down to the bottom. We saw some turtles swimming about while we were there!

Cheri had one more “job” for us – previewing the loan they have from the Smithsonian, called the Musuem on Main Street! She wanted us to wheel through and see if the wheelchair could fit, and it did! She explained to us that this exhibit is only on display in rural areas, and designed to bring the museum to areas that may not have many museums, which I think is awesome. The exhibit itself was really neat from what we could see, but by this point Wyatt was done and rushing us through.

Overall, we had a blast at Raven Hill. At just $10 per person, it was a very affordable day as well! I highly recommend this place to any family visiting the area, for those looking for accessible options to explore outdoors in Northern Michigan, for local schools in that area, and of course, for homeschool families! What a fantastic resource this place is! It looks like they do a whole heck of a lot more too! For more info check their website, it looks like there are classes and workshops and all sorts of different creative outlets as well.

This was an awesome way to spend the last day! After exploring we met back up with my brother, and all of us went out to dinner before heading back to the cabin to clean up and pack for leaving the next morning.

We had such a fantastic trip, so many memories were made, so much relaxing and shopping and exploring was done. I am so glad that we had this time together!