Things To Do in Muskegon Heights

The ghosts, ghouls, and monsters at Witch's Walk may only come out after dark, but each year it gets a little trickier to avoid them since the maze’s designers keep increasing its level of difficulty. Explorers now wander through more than one mile of winding paths and switchbacks, passing by a cemetery, swamp, and snake pit before visiting the wood maze.

Witch's Walk avoids excessive blood, gore, and any occult themes, instead scaring visitors along dark paths with ghouls and monsters. It reserves the scares for the nighttime, allowing younger visitors to explore the maze safely during the day. After wandering through the maze, guests can explore the onsite gift shop for seasonal costumes, accessories, and snacks.

Drawing on the latest work in sports psychology, the coaches at Zonifi clinic enrich the three main components of a high-school athlete's mental performance: energy, attitude, and focus. During drills and exercises, they present strategies for generating and conserving stamina, maintaining a positive outlook, limiting distractions, and staying clearheaded under pressure.

Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, Centennial Fitness members can stop by the 18,000-square-foot facility for a workout tailored to their individual needs. Across five different training rooms, free weights and Hammer Strength equipment tone physiques, while the gentle whir of cardio machines signifies the rapid burning of calories. Certified personal trainers customize workouts, and instructors lead groups through kickboxing and zumba classes. The center’s sauna and steam room lull muscles into a state of relaxation, while an on-site daycare takes away the stress of finding a babysitter.

A nonprofit movie house, The Harbor Theater offers cinefiles a welcome reprieve from stale screen fillers by stocking its theater with rich, artistic, and fresh independent and foreign films. Sharpen subtitle-reading skills by catching an upcoming screening of The Illusionist (coming soon), an animated feature from the French filmmakers behind The Triplets of Belleville. Or brush up on American history with Made in Dageham, a period drama exploring sexual discrimination during a 1968 walkout at the Ford Dageham plant.

Since opening in 1930, Kent County Conservation League has sheltered shooting fields and courses dispersed among more than 170 acres of wooded and open land. Sharpshooters of all experience levels can mill about a sporting clay course's 13 shooting stations as they shatter targets flung from abundant angles or nestle into a five-stand course's covered range before eliminating 25 clays. The League's rifle range distributes targets at intervals between 50 and 300 yards and their pistol range remains lit for nighttime sessions. As they draw back a tightly strung bow on the archery course, patrons can finally live out their childhood Robin Hood fantasies without donning green tights in an effort to frighten neighborhood kings.

Certified instructor Tim Wiley gives pupils the benefit of more than 15 years' skeet shooting experience during group or private lessons on five fields huddled behind Kent County Conservation League's clubhouse. Visitors can find additional instruction at defensive shooting sessions or a shooting program for youngsters that covers trap, sporting clays, and skeet. Delectable bites await famished gunslingers at Shooter's Grill, and a pro shop equips patrons with gun-toting apparel and silver bullets for clays that transform into werewolves. Kent County Conservation League hosts private and public events annually, and their grounds have welcomed major shooting outings such as the 2010 Michigan Sporting Clays Championship.

Approaching its 50th anniversary and under new ownership, Cannonsburg Ski Area livens up winter with plentiful runs that invite skiers and snowboarders of all skill levels to fly safely down the slopes or develop their technique. Roughly 15 miles from Grand Rapids, a network of meticulously designed parks challenges sports folk with half a dozen jumps and more than 50 terrain features, and a newly overhauled snowmaking system keeps the tracks covered in fresh snow from brand-new snow guns and a duck whose quacks somehow control all weather.

Guests of all ages can hone their skills under the watchful eyes of instructors before hitting the mountain's 19 runs, which are served by ten lifts, including one magic carpet. After relishing rushes of downhill velocity, visitors can peruse the well-stocked shop or refresh themselves with treats from the Cedar Lounge restaurant.

Engines start to roar, propellers spin, and a large parachute expands into the sky, carrying a light aircraft and its passengers toward the clouds. Silver Lining Aviation's certified instructors create adventures like this every day as they teach visitors to soar behind the controls of sport aircrafts such as powered parachutes, weight-shift trikes, and gyroplanes. Led by licensed FAA flight instructor Craig Ewing, Silver Lining's team takes prospective pilots on introductory flights that allow them to experience aircrafts such as the Airwolf 912 and nibble on different flavors of clouds. The aviation experts also sell sport aircrafts, which patiently wait onsite as customers work through custom ground- and flight-training programs. In most cases, the flight instructors prepare their pupils for aerial navigation in as little as two weeks. They also assist new pilots with replacement parts, provide 24/7 support, and cook oil soup to feed hungry aircraft.