After reading the thread on Greenfield Village, I came across this article the other day and it got me thinking about places or things that I might like my kids to see before they grow up. As a history grad student, my first thoughts were of local historical sites. Luckily there are tons in New England like Strawbery Banke right here in Portsmouth, NH. Of course there's Salem, Plimoth [Plymouth] Plantation, Mystic Seaport, and Canterbury Shaker Village, not to mention Boston. I'd also like the kids to go out on a lobster boat, a whale watch, lighthouse tours, etc. But I also plan on taking them to see the stuff that I really liked as a kid when we lived in Michigan, like Mackinac Island, Fort Michilimackinac, Old Mill Creek, the Soo Locks, or taking a boat ride up the Cheboygan River to Lake Huron.

What are some recommendations from your area? or where would you really love to take your kids?

I noted a couple books on the subject including Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up and 101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12! by Joanne O'Sullivan.

Indiana Mounds, especially The Great Serpent Mound and Fort Hill Monument (a defensive mound on top of a hill that makes for a 300 foot climb before trying to get over what once was 5 more feet before getting tot he people who built the mound), both in Ohio.

Particular Art Museums, where they have collections that contain some of the most important paintings and sculptures (The Art Institute of Chicago)

The Henry Ford Museum should really be on anyone's list. They're working on marketing themselves outside of their vicinity. I really would rank it up there with Epcot Center. It's Henry Ford's Epcot, predating Disney's by a long, long time.

I would also add The Wilds. A huge refuge for animals that haven't done well in zoos but were born in captivity, so can't be released in the wild. This is reclaimed strip mine land in SE Ohio, planted with African grasses for erosion control and streaked with bus routes for visitor tours. An incredible place. Now managed by The Columbus Zoo.

This subject has been something my wife and I have given a lot of thought to lately. Our oldest is about to turn 12. He's a great kid, but very close to eyeball rolling teenagerdom -- a phase that is not the most hospitable to family travel.

So we want to try to get some trips in.

Looking back on the travel we've done with the kids, we've done good job of talking the grandparents into taking us on trips to the beach getting the kids to scenic and faraway places, but they haven't done much in the big city. My oldest has started begging us to get out of the suburbs and "go downtown" as he puts it.

Along those lines my kids have never been to New York or LA or San Francisco. They've also never been to DC. And I think this is the one we should get on the docket first. See the Smithsonian, shakes hands with their congressman, see the Lincoln Memorial. Cheesy, but important.

I'm adding Dyersville, IA. It's where The Field of Dreams is located. I happened on it on accident a long time ago. It's really more fun when you're a little kid or have a little ball player to take. The college players who drove for hundreds of miles were very disappointed to see a field with dads pitching wiffle balls to their kids and no place to play with real equipment without endangering a child. The soybean fields were disappointing, too, but Crop Rotation is important.

Daddy Clay -

Screw the Lincoln memorial, every good Libertarian will tell you that the Jefferson memorial is where all the action is!

For a 12-year old boy, I strongly recommend the "International Spy Museum". It's not free like the Smithsonian, but it will certainly capture the imagination of a 12-year-old boy. It's just a short walk away from the main Mall.

@halldur We've actually been to Plimoth Plantation a couple of times, usually when the weather was bad on the Cape. The kids liked it, though tended to get just a bit skittish around the re-enactors. I drive them crazy because I love to talk to the costumed folks.

Nearby is the always cheesy but kid enthralling Zooquarium, which is the New England cousin of our much beloved local institution, the Snake Farm.

Sure, if you dive another 30 minutes, you're at the much heralded San Antonio Zoo, but did Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs or DadLabs ever film at the SAZ? No. And not because we couldn't get permission either. Because the Snake Farm is just cooler.

Deserts
* Badlands National Park South Dakota - like a lunar landscape, run over by prairie dogs.
* Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada - just outside Vegas, and one of the most beautiful red sunsets anywhere.
* Painted Desert, Arizona - home of the petrified forest.
* Death Valley, California - 280 feet below sea level, unworldly, and perfect for watching the stars.

Great suggestions. Canyon de Chelly is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. They should see the Grand Canyon, too.