USA Travel Guide

It’s a children’s museum that a parent can love, it’s a nationally accredited zoo, it’s a top downtown Dayton, Ohio attraction, and it has a name you can set your watch by: the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery brings a whole lot of “yes” to the Midwest. Let’s check it out together.

The history of the Boonshoft tendrils all the way back to the 1800’s, when the Dayton Museum of Natural History first began. Actually, the Natural History Museum was the history of the Boonshoft for nearly 100 years, when the idea for a dedicated children’s museum finally crept its way onto the scene

Noting their similar goals, the Dayton Museum of Natural History and this new children’s museum combined from day one to create the Dayton Museum of Discovery. The museum was later named for majority benefactor Oscar Boonshoft.

With no other zoo, aquarium, planetarium or science center in town, the Boonshoft Museum of Discover sets out to do it all and succeeds admirably. Bring along the kids or simply visit yourself for a day of fun and learning at any age.

So what do we like:

• Wild Ohio Zoo – this AZA-accredited “zoo within a museum” is modest in scope, but always a worthwhile visit. While I’m partial to the creepies and crawlies, the two river otters are the most popular exhibit.
• Tidal Pool – if aquatic animals are your bag, the Tidal Pool offers a chance to meet sea stars, sea cucumbers, anemones and more.
• Science on a Sphere – this hi-tech exhibit consists of a large animated globe that is used to display fascinating shows about our planet and solar system. Kind of an IMAX in reverse. See it in action (not from the Boonshoft).
• Mead Tree House – it must be the boy in me, but tree houses are awesome. This artificial tree house is a children-geared exhibit, so if you’ve got the little ones in tow, don’t skip it.

The museum regularly hosts temporary and traveling exhibits. View the current schedule.

The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, Ohio is open daily but for a few holidays, and better yet, it’s way affordable. Only $8.50 for adults and $7.50 for children (2-12). As you can probably guess, the Boonshoft is a popular field trip destination, so I recommend calling ahead and trying to dodge the school groups. Learn more.

Hotels in Dayton, Ohio:
Stay less than 2 miles away at the Ramada Plaza Dayton Hotel. The hotel features a free area shuttle the travels to the museum as well as a kid-friendly Atrium Fun Center for swimming, games and play. A good choice for families in a business-minded city. Learn more about the Ramada Plaza Dayton Hotel.

Have fun!

Maybe it’s the romantic idealist in me, but I always like to imagine Mark Twain lounging on a rickety steamboat somewhere along the Mississippi. Peppery white hair frizzing every which way. Pipe hung low from his lips. Scrawling out the last few lines of Huck Finn.

Truth is, Twain was a thousand miles away from the Mississippi when he wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, not to mention Tom Sawyer, The Gilded Age, The Prince and the Pauper and even Life on the Mississippi. He was, in fact, at his home in Hartford, Connecticut.

While the scenery may never live up to my ideal, it’s nevertheless fascinating to learn about the real life and times of the Great American Author at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut.

He only spent 16 years of his long life in Hartford, but during that time author and humorist Mark Twain wrote some of his most important, controversial and ultimately beloved works. A visit to the Mark Twain House is your chance to see where a lifetime of adventure became words.

Not surprisingly, the main house tour is the likely highlight of your visit. Knowledgeable docents guide you on an hour-long tour of the home, somehow quaint, huge and whimsical all at once. The architecture is known for its embellished wood features and striking outer façade. As you explore room after room, your guide gives you an idea of the day-to-day Twain: where he wrote, how he spent his days, how he entertained guests (which he loved to do).

In 2003, the Mark Twain House became the Mark Twain House and Museum. The attached museum can hardly do justice to the original mansion, but is a looker enough in itself and manages not to spoil the authenticity of the site. In the museum wing you can view a video biography by documentarian Ken Burns and photographs, artifacts, clothing and rare manuscripts written by Twain himself. The museum regularly hosts temporary exhibits as well.

All-in-all, it’s a high-concentration booster shot of Mark Twain in the span of about two hours. An absolute must for Twain superfans and history buffs.

The Mark Twain House and Museum is open daily through much of the year, with tours starting about every half hour. On the weekends, these tours do fill up quickly and whole days can sell out early, so be sure to call ahead if visiting on a weekend. Adult admission is $15. Learn more about the Mark Twain House.

Unbelievable, the Mark Twain House is located just off downtown, and that’s where we like to stay. For hotels in downtown Hartford, CT, look to the Crowne Plaza Hartford Downtown. The hotel offers free Internet, free area shuttle and free weekend parking, which is hard to find in Hartford.

Have fun!

If you’re anything like me, you didn’t much care about the La Brea Tar Pits until Arnold Schwarzenegger took a face plant into them in Last Action Hero. Turns out there’s, like, a whole museum and stuff. Do something different the next time you cruise L.A.’s Miracle Mile and visit the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park.

Compared to the massive dinosaur skeletons you’ll see at the flagship facility, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the Page Museum has a relatively modern collection. The oldest of its finds, a chunk of wood, dates back only 40,000 years, and all of its once-mobile specimens date back only 10,000-40,000 years. This is as much a warning as it is a fact: at the Tar Pits, you will not see dinosaurs!

What you will see is an exhaustive collection of remarkably preserved and perilously restored bird, mammal and plant fossils fished from the inky depths of La Brea. Well, they dig them out of the ground like a normal excavation, but the process in these asphalt-strewn pits is not without considerable challenge. It’s something you’ll learn a lot about at the museum.

At the park you’ve got the pits themselves, many of which you can explore free of charge and at your leisure, and then you’ve got the Page Museum, which does carry a small free but benefits you by adding some context to all the holes in the ground. Inside the museum you’ll see the very best specimens from an enormous collection of over 3 million bones and fossils.

Fossils on display, bits and whole skeletons, include the remains of Harlan’s ground sloths, American bison, American mastodons, Columbian mammoths, saber-tooth tigers, dire wolves, California condors, mountain lions, prehistoric skunks, mice, rabbits, several kinds of bear, and the partial skull of one human.

Until recently you could watch a live excavation at Pit 91 during the summer months, but the dig has gone on temporary hiatus with no set schedule to restart. It’s definitely a missed feature for you summertime visitors.

The Page Museum is located at 5801 Wilshire Boulevard in Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Make it to the museum, you won’t have any trouble finding the Pits. The Page Museum is open daily except for select holidays, offers daily tours as park of the Hancock Park guided tour, and charges an adult admission of $7. Learn more.

Hotels in Los Angeles, CA
If you’re traveling in, stay well and for not too much money at either of today’s recommendations:

• Holiday Inn Express – Century City Hotel – This surprisingly chic HI Express is never overpriced and is located just 5 miles from the pits. Stay “green” with their hybrid car package.
• Holiday Inn LAX Airport Hotel – Stay simple in Los Angeles at this airport hotel which was recently renovated up to a more than modern standard. The hotel is 100% smoke-free and offers an airport shuttle.

Have fun visiting the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California.

Not even back on the grind a month and already some school districts have recess in their eyes. Here in Texas we don’t have that. You’ve got your winter break, your spring break and that’s it! This whole “February Recess” that some states do is downright scandalous.

Massachusetts has a February Recess coming up, and families looking for a little mini-vaykay (or staykay) are looking toward the epicenter of family entertainment: Boston, Massachusetts. Here are some Boston staycation ideas and packages for February Recess in 2010.

New England Aquarium
One of the best and certainly most attended aquariums in the nation, Bostonians and other area residents are lucky to have the New England Aquarium on their doorstep. On the world stage, the aquarium is known for its incredible contributions to conservation and the overall vision of modern aquaria, but as guests what you’ll really love is the more than 20,000 fascinating sea creatures that call the NEA home. Don’t miss our favorite, the “temporary since 2004″ Amazing Jellies exhibit. Why? Because jellyfish are awesome!

Info: 1 Central Wharf, Boston, MA, 02110, open daily, Web site
Hotel: Holiday Inn Boston at Beacon Hill
Package: Staycation Aquarium Package

• Overnight accommodations
• 2 adult and 2 child passes to the New England Aquarium
• Kids under 12 eat free with dining adult

Learn more about this New England Aquarium package.

Boston Museum of Science
Another world-renowned institution in this historic city. Like the New England Aquarium, the Boston Museum of Science has a global reputation for the quality of its exhibits and a history tracing back to the beginning of modern science museums. More importantly, they always have something new to see. The current exhibit, running through the end of February Recess in fact, is “Harry Potter: The Exhibition“. Advanced reservations recommended.

Info: 1 Science Park, Boston, MA, 02114, open daily, Web site
Hotel: Holiday Inn Boston at Beacon Hill
Package: Boston Museum Value Package

• Overnight accommodations
• 4 general admission tickets to Boston Museum of Science
• Kids under 12 eat free with dining adult

Learn more about the Boston Museum of Science package.

You can learn more about the hotel itself using the links above, or you can check out a first hand account by MomGenerations blogger Audrey McClelland. She actually made a video about her stay at the Holiday Inn Boston at Beacon Hill. Check it out.

Enjoy your Boston staycation!

With highs in the 20’s and nearby Dollywood closed for the season, you might think Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is no place to be. On the contrary, there’s still plenty going on in this cozy resort destination at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains. One of our favorite area attractions is inside and open year-round. Join us at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies.

Driving through Gatlinburg, you certainly can’t miss the humongous structure, A-framed roofs stretching to the sky and dwarfing everything around them. Inside is no less impressive, with thoroughly modern facilities and tanks housing more than 10,000 sea dwellers from over 350 species (and possibly many more, depending on the special exhibit).

Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies is nothing pretentious, and they don’t trade quality for razzle-dazzle. Despite what you might be thinking with the brand name attached, this is actually a low-key but very high quality aquarium.

Your time is split up into a number of themed exhibits (no surprise there). In the rainforest exhibit, probably the first you’ll see, discover some of Mother Nature’s most vivid creatures like poison dart frogs, cardinal tetras and the fierce red-bellied piranha. The next exhibit, Deep Ocean, houses some of my favorites: giant octopi, West Coast sea nettles (a large jellyfish), and the unbelievable weedy sea dragon with its strange seaweed-like protrusions.

If you’re ready for a ride, head to the most popular exhibit: Shark Lagoon. A slowly strolling glide-path carries you past a 2 million-gallon tank packed with every manner of sea life, but none more stunning than the sand tiger sharks, which drift menacingly amongst the sprawl. You can hop on the moving path as much as like – I think they just put it there because otherwise the kids would never leave.

Speaking of kids, if you’re visiting with little ones, don’t pass up a visit to the Discovery Center. The center is given over to hands-on games, exhibits and educational modules, not to mention a live horseshoe crab touch tank. Just remember, to look at the underside of a horseshoe crab is to look at madness itself.

More hands-on fun can be had at the Stingray Bay. A shallow lagoon allows guests to pet the safer specimens, while a large tank holds the most impressive rays, including the best-named fish of all, the Bowmouth Guitarfish. And finally, in one unusual attraction, you can step behind the scenes to see not the animals, but the nuts and bolts of the facilities themselves. Explore the massive banks of computers and imposing filtration tanks that keep the whole aquarium running. A cool choice for you folks who just have to know how stuff works.

Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies is open year-round. Regular adult tickets cost $19.99, or you can purchase a combo ticket online that also includes admission to a selected number of partnered attractions – Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Ripley’s Haunted Adventure, Ripley’s Moving Theatre, etc. Learn more.

Although the aquarium is located in Gatlinburg, we almost always stay in nearby Pigeon Forge for a central location to just about everything. For hotels in Pigeon Forge, TN, we often stay on the Parkway at Vacation Lodge. It fits the aquarium’s theme of simple, dependable quality over needless flash.

Have a fun time at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies!

We’ve featured a few car museums and shows in the past – from Florida to Michigan to the warm coast of California – but you wrangle up some experts and chances are they’ll agree that America’s Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio is one of the best. Car Collector magazine even said so, naming it one of the top ten in the country back in 1998.

We like it, because it’s a settled piece of history. The last Packard was built over 50 years ago now (depending on whether or not you tolerate this), and with each passing year this stunning collection of more than 50 classic sedans only grows in prestige and fascination. Sadly, also, with the American auto industry at one of its lowest points, the Packard Museum is a preservation of an American icon. Some might say one of the most American.

Maybe I’m jumping ahead. America’s Packard Museum is a car museum in Dayton, Ohio dedicated to the Packard line of luxury sedans and automobiles, built from 1899 to 1958. The museum is dedicated both to Packard, the company that the cars, and to the Packard, the series of cars themselves, with more than 50 automobiles from throughout the almost 60-year history.

What history buffs may find even more interesting, however, is the museum itself, located in the original Packard Dealership Building. Built first in 1917, the building has been exquisitely restored, and now a step out onto that iconic Art Deco showroom is like a step back 75 years in time.

Along with the cars, America’s Packard Museum features a respectable gallery of classic Packard artifacts and memorabilia – car ornaments, company papers, advertising, that kind of thing. It’s well worth the walk, but nothing compared those beautiful vehicles, dutifully waxed and polished to a just-off-the-line shine.

If you live in the area, you may even find the time to grab a ride in one. The Packard Museum actually provides transportation service with a few select vehicles. Got an event coming up that necessitates a limo? Surprise everyone by rolling up in a 1930 Packard 740 Open Front Town Car. It’s a perfect ice breaker, and it supports the museum.

Speaking of support, the Packard Museum does rely quite a bit on contributing patrons and charges only $6 admission to visit. We encourage you to check it out, and if you like what they’re doing (we know you will), go ahead and chip in a little more. You’d be supporting a piece of American history.

America’s Packard Museum is open seven days a week, excepting some holidays, and is located at Franklin and Ludlow in Dayton, Ohio. Again, admission is only six bucks. Learn more.

Stay cozy in Dayton, Ohio at the Ramada Plaza Dayton Hotel. We love a hotel that lays on the free – free airport and area shuttle, free Internet, free parking, free business center. All with comfy rooms to boot.

Have fun!

Image by TonytheTiger permitted for use under GFDL v1.2. Learn more.

I’ve never lived in New England, and I’ve never lived near the ocean. I’ve never, in fact, lived near much water of any kind. So I can hardly say why I find the sight of a wintry New England harbor so alluring. The ghostly silhouette of docked sailing ships in the fog, the peacefulness of an evening snowfall, the faint radiance of a lantern bouncing along the water’s edge.

Okay, so maybe that owes more to Tim Burton than reality, but the point is that historic imagery and seafaring spirit can be found today at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. Transport yourself one-hundred-and-fifty years into the past, all for about twenty-four bucks a person, with a trip to one of the top museums in Connecticut.

Actually, Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea, is probably one of the top museums in the country. As America’s largest maritime museum, Mystic Seaport invites you to explore a meticulous recreation of a 19^th-century New England seaport. I don’t know if the folks at Mystic Seaport would agree, but think Colonial Williamsburg with boats.

First you’ll stroll a lovingly refurnished 19^th-century village, which has … oh, who am I kidding? I know you want to hit up the boats first.

Mystic Seaport owns over 500 tall ships and other vessels, several of which are open for on-board tours. The prestigious, to say nothing of exhaustive, collection even includes four National Historic Landmarks as designated by the federal government.

• Charles W. Morgan – what the Seaport calls their “crown jewel”, the Morgan is a truly stunning 1841-built wooden whaling ship, America’s last surviving example.
• S. S. Sabino – one of the oldest coal-fired steamboats in operation, the Seaport offers daily cruises aboard Sabino during the summer season.
• L.A. Dunton – one of the nation’s few remaining Gloucester Fisherman, this iconic schooner has be restored by the museum back to its earliest glory.
• Emma C. Berry – though not as visually striking, the Berry holds a special place in the heart of the region, as it first embarked in 1866 just two miles up the river.

Learn more about the tall ships at Mystic Seaport.

Now, about that village. Mystic Seaport’s 19^th-Century Village never existed as you see it today, but it’s not inauthentic either. Actual buildings, which at one time served these actual purposes, have been transported from all over the east coast to the museum where they have been fully-restored and brought to life. Visit more than 30 genuine shops and trade buildings, including a rigging loft, a hoop maker, a chapel, general store, lighthouse, bank, shipping office and plenty more.

Because this is a living history museum, the 19^th-Century Village is also brought to life by costumed actors, which they call “roleplayers”, who strive to represent the people of the 1800s as well as they do the architecture.

There’s plenty more – a live preservation shipyard, lantern tours, carriage rides, holiday events, a planetarium, rowboating, shopping – but I’m already running long.

Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut is open throughout the year, though the daily schedule does vary by season, so plan ahead. General admission is $24. Learn more.

Mystic, Connecticut is located about an hour out of Hartford (or 40 minutes, if you drive like I do), so we usually stay up there and make a daytrip down to the Seaport. For hotels in Hartford, CT, we again recommend the Crowne Plaza Hartford Downtown. Free Internet, weekend parking, shuttle, and the affordably upscale Crowne Plaza rooms we like so much.

Have fun!

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. is a treat to behold no matter how old you are or where you come from, but when you’re a 12 year-old boy from North Texas, I think it seems especially magical.

It was a whirlwind vacation for the family that year – New York City, Baltimore, Atlantic City, Rhode Island, and of course D.C. – but nothing stands out to me now like that Air and Space Museum. The women, that being my mom and sister, had gone their own way. Women in the Arts, I think, or maybe the Holocaust Museum. That left just my dad and me to have the real fun.

With the largest collection of air and spacecraft in the world within eyesight, real fun is easy to have!

Give your 12 year-old son memories to last a lifetime with a trip to the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington D.C. The monolithic structure is unmistakable. The broad-shouldered façade and glass atriums, surprisingly simple in our oft-elaborate capital, welcomes more visitors than any other museum in D.C. Step inside and it’s really no wonder why.

I guess we should get the marquee displays out of the way. Famously, the National Air and Space Museum houses the: 

• Spirit of St. Louis, which carried Charles Lindbergh on the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris
• 1903 Wright Flyer, the Wright brothers’ first successful aircraft
• Columbia, an actual command module from the Apollo 11 (that’s the good one)
• Bell X-1, the first plane to exceed the speed of sound
• North American X-15, built in the 50’s, still the fastest plane ever

Those are the really famous ones, and of course you’ll want to see them. In fact, most of them are in the front hall gallery, so they’re kind of hard to miss. But, there’s so much more to the National Air and Space Museum. Like: 

• Albert Einstein Planetarium, one of the most advanced planetariums in the world
• Early Flight, a gallery of pre and post-Kitty Hawk aircraft
• Space Race, a wide-reaching exhibit exploring space travel as well the terrestrial and political implications
• Exploring the Planets, this exhibit jets way past the moon
• IMAX Theatre, flight-themed shows on a humongous screen

I’m not sure it’ll take you a whole day to see it all, but I am sure that after you do, you’ll be museumed out. If you’re doing the Natural History Museum as well, which I totally recommend, you’ll want to space them out.

Like all Smithsonian museums, the National Air and Space Museum is free to visit, although some attractions – the planetarium and IMAX – do carry an admission charge. The museum is open daily, excluding Christmas, and is located on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Learn more.

Located just minutes from the Mall, and frankly just one of our favorite hotels, is the historic Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill. You can easily walk from the hotel to the museum, which in a town like D.C. is exactly what you want to do. They tend to run cool museum packages, too, so keep an eye out the next time you’re headed into D.C.

Have fun at the National Air and Space Museum.

La Jolla, California was made for cruising. Despite the obnoxious price tags you see all over town, especially along the coast, this is no place for monster-engine, tear-up-the-tread Ferraris and Lamborghinis. You know it the moment you hit the coast: La Jolla wants classic.

So it’s no wonder that every year they host the awesome La Jolla Motor Car Classic. This one-day showcase at stunning La Jolla Cove brings classic car enthusiasts from all over to show off their vintage rides. And we mean vintage: 

• 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Sedanca
• 1930 Cadillac V-16 Series 452A Roadster
• 1911 Auburn Model N 5 Pass Touring
• 1958 Jaguar XK 150 OTS Roadster
• 1968 Innocenti Mini Minor MK1 Two Door Sedan
• 1967 Shelby Ford GT 500
• 1938 Studebaker Commander Coupe Express
• 1917 Pierce Arrow 4 Passenger Touring

And this list could absolutely go on.

This year, the La Jolla Motor Car Classic is dedicated to the automobiles of Carroll Shelby. For you gearheads and car nuts, that’s really all you need to know, but if you’re from my generation, it’s like this: Carroll Shelby inspired and helped design the 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500, the car known as “Eleanor” in a certain Nicolas Cage movie.*

The showcase is only open for six hours, so if you’re looking to pad your day (or your impromptu La Jolla vacation), a trip to one of La Jolla’s splendorous beaches is a fine afternoon treat. More for sport than surf? Head to the world famous Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla. Just make sure you’ve got a reserved tee time, or you won’t be playing that day.

The 2010 La Jolla Motor Car Classic will be held at La Jolla Cove on January 10, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. See over 150 classic rides for just $20 per person, advanced admission. Learn more.

In La Jolla, which is just a few miles north of San Diego, we like to stay at the Hotel La Jolla. This boutique La Jolla hotel treats guests to contemporary comforts while retaining the laidback, coastal atmosphere of Southern California. It’s just a comfortable place to be. You can also walk to the beach, which just makes sense in La Jolla, and the on-site restaurant, Clay’s, is leagues above your average hotel dining.

Have a fun afternoon at the La Jolla Motor Car Classic.

*At least my wife will get this. It’s one of her favorite movies (as much as that hurts my heart).

Walking through an art museum – let’s say the Fresno Met – you’ll inevitably run into a gallery or two that you just don’t get. Maybe it’s a random jumble of black and red squiggles, maybe it’s a post-modern sculpture of a teddy bear wearing a sombrero eating a giant chicken, maybe you’re positive that you’re kid could do that.

Whatever it is, you can’t fight the feeling that this is only art because someone somewhere said it was art. That can be a fun intellectual challenge, but today I thought we’d look at something genuine. Here’s a museum that you can really get a feel for.

The Legion of Valor Museum is Fresno, California is like a hall of fame you never want to have to get in to. It represents the efforts of men and women driven beyond their limits, beyond what any country can reasonably ask of its citizens, beyond, as they say, the call of duty. The museum celebrates the lives and sacrifices of U.S. Armed Forces Medal of Honor and Cross recipients.

As they say on their Web site, “Membership is not achieved by birth, social position, political appointment, wealth [or] academic achievement…” Only extraordinary heroism in the line of duty, or “gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life … against an enemy of the United States,” can earn a soldier, sailor, airman or marine a spot in this illustrious legion.

Well, when you put it like that, it’s no wonder the Legion of Valor Museum carries such an absorbing sense of reverence. The museum displays are donated largely by the medal recipients themselves. Framed citations, historic plaques, official letters, newspaper articles, stunning murals and one-of-a-kind photographs place you inside the stories of the heroes.

These pieces are joined by hundreds of authentic military artifacts – cannons, vintage rifles, a naval searchlight, uniforms from several eras, commissioned statues and munitions among them. It’s a provocative military museum and honorable celebration of some of the nation’s finest patriots all in one.

It’s also completely free to visit. The Legion of Valor Museum is open Monday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., no admission required (though donations certainly go to a good cause). Learn more.

Less than half a mile from the museum, the Holiday Inn Fresno Downtown Hotel offers a choice downtown location and sublime accommodations to go with. We almost always stay here when traveling through Fresno.

Have fun!

Note: One thing I forgot to mention is how gorgeous the building is. Some of the galleries feel a little cluttered, but in the grand expanses (like the lobby pictured above), there’s a soaring, magnanimous quality to it.