A few weeks ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada, and as many families do my family gathered in Windsor, Ontario, for the holiday weekend. Relatives traveled from all over southern Ontario to share a turkey meal together, and after a long day of eating and drinking, we thought it would be fun to do something a bit more energetic the next day – something that would help us feel less guilty over our calorie-rich indulgences.

Since there were kids ranging from 8 months to 13 years old to entertain, we decided to go to Colasanti Tropical Garden and Petting Zoo in Leamington.

Boy did we ever have a good time! Colasanti’s has just about everything you can imagine to entertain little kids (and grownup kids) for a solid four hours. We started out in the petting zoo where you can buy tokens to redeem for handfuls of feed for the goats, pigs, lamas and emus. And yes, there was something strangely ironic about visiting the live, surprisingly majestic turkey that survived our Thanksgiving feast.

Next we grabbed our fistful of tokens and headed over to the kiddie ride area, where the four-year-old in our party got to ride on a train and take a flight in a bumblebee. For him, riding in Lightning McQueen (a character from the Disney Pixar's Cars movie) was a major highlight; for me, riding the spinning bumper cars took the cake!

Exhausted, we headed over to the massive buffet where we dined on platters of fried chicken, surprising ourselves at how hungry we were despite all the food we’d eaten the previous day!

That’s when I found out about one of Colasanti’s most exciting offerings – the Horror Hayride! According to my relatives, this haunted hayride is one of the best Halloween attractions.

Thanks to the help of drama students from the local university, the farmer’s fields surrounding Colasanti’s are transformed into some of the scariest acres around! You get on a hay cart at dusk and are taken on a trip that is apparently so scary, you won’t be able to tell if it’s you or the person sitting next to you screaming in terror!

In fact, my cousin complained that last year no one came to her rescue when one of the actors grabbed her from behind and tried to drag her into the woods. Her family said they couldn’t hear her screams, but there was also a whole lot of winking and nudging going on.

Colasanti’s Horror Hayride got me wondering about what other spooky activities are offered in the Windsor/Detroit area. It turns out the Motor City pulls out all the stops when it comes to scaring people! Here’s just a short list of some of the activities I found:

Erebus
18 S. Perry St., Pontiac, Mich.

This massive haunted warehouse dares you to stay in long enough to visit all four floors!  Themes include traveling into the past, encounters with the undead, depraved medical experiments and encounters with demons and zombies.

The Fear Factory
Gibraltar Trade Center, 237 N. River Rd, Mt. Clemens, Mich.

You can expect to have trouble talking the next day after 30 minutes of terror-induced screaming in this haunted house! Zombies, body bags and a massive vortex tunnel all set the stage for the fright-fest, and if you’re brave enough to find the secret door, they’ll refund twice your money back.

The Deadland Haunted House
County Line Antique Flea Market 20900 Dequindre Road, Warren, Mich.

This haunted house claims to be so terrifying it’s not suitable for small children – probably because it’ll feel like you’re walking through a zombie-filled death scene!

Southfield’s Haunted Nursery
24620 W. Nine Mile Road, Southfield, Mich.

Taking a twist on the traditional haunted house, nine greenhouses are filled with spooks and frights to help you get your Halloween scream on.

Halloween in Greenfield Village
20900 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn, Mich.

Located at the Henry Ford Museum, this is a much more family-friendly Halloween attraction. Costumed characters with magical themes interact with your family, and goblins give you candy instead of trying to frighten you. Eight hundred hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns light up the pathways of Greenfield Village.

For additional Halloween events across the U.S. and Canada, see the Kooky, Spooky Things to do for Halloween post.

What are you going to do this Halloween?