J. Sarti

This was a cool experience! We did go on a weekend in spring, but decided to go early. We got there when it opened, and saw online that you could rent everything for the day or bring your own items to dig. Dig. Since we were from out of the area, we did rent everything from the state park. Park. The only thing that we brought were gloves, we decided to stop and get gardening gloves ahead of time. I'm kind of glad we did! It was pretty cold that morning, and that really saved our fingers. For checking out the items, they require you to make a larger down payment but then you do get some of it back for returning the items clean. I think we got a bucket, some pans, and then a shovel. That was pretty much all we needed.

We decided to head out into one of the farther corners of the designated space. We spent a little over an hour and a half perusing the areas. It was pretty fun to do as a family! We found a variety of different stones, and then when you bring the items back to check them in, they do have somebody sitting at a counter helping you determine what type of gems and stones you find. We didn't find anything worth money, but we did find some neat rocks.

Some helpful hints, if you have kids they will get muddy. When we went, it didn't rain for a few days, but both of our preteen kids got full of mud. They were even trying to stay out of the mud and they still got mud all over them. So I would recommend bringing a change of shoes and or clothes along. Probably a good idea to wear older clothes as well. Another good idea would be to bring a bag or something to store your rocks and gems in after you're done digging. Luckily we had a ziploc bag in the car, and we were able to store what we decided to take with us. We didn't think of that ahead of time. Would recommend going early if you can, as we were leaving later, buses of people were arriving. It definitely got busy!

They did have a nature center, gift shop, and good size parking lot. The people we encountered were very helpful and friendly.

Overall it was a very cool experience and we were glad we did it.

Beautiful garden. Unfortunately we had only planned to spend about 2-3 hours here, and due to time we never got through it all. I would definitely recommend planning at least a half a day maybe even longer. So many different plants and flowers to see, all artfully arranged. It is a fantastic garden. This would also be a great place to see multiple times a year just to see how it changes. Or different times a day. The flowers were lovely, in full bloom when we went. Plenty of places to take pictures, sit and enjoy the outside, or take a stroll among nature. We went during the week, early, and it wasn't too busy, however the parking lot was full when we left.

Interesting and vast science museum. A variety of both hands-on and hands-off and opportunities. Extremely clean, and love that the exhibits are spread out. There are a ton of employees walking around helping and keeping things in order. We took two school aged children there and we learned a lot. We spent about 2 hours here, but you could spend a little bit more. Prices seem very reasonable for a science museum. There was parking outside, however you did have to pay. There is a map they give you too and nice washrooms.

Lovely little park. Very clean, and great access to the beach.

Decent size parking lot. Was clean and had lots of available. Spaces. Did go before opening season.