We first traveled to Baraboo Wisconsin after going to the Dells (down the road over the expressway) because my mother loves circus wagons and AAA gave it a great rating. Since we went in the fall it was kinda quiet, but it was still an amazing trip. The town of Baraboo is quaint and lovely, full of charm. Right next to the tracks down a bit from downtown sits the winter headquarters for Ringling Barnum and Bailey Circus Museum. It houses a gift shop, tons of history on the family, amazing costumes and a fun house. During the summer the park is open with animals, rides and activities. BUT the best part has to be the restoring of the old circus wagons that pulled the animals through towns back in the day. You can actually get up close to the HUGE wagons full of color and life and imagine the lions and tigers that were housed inside. You can also see experts working on more wagons. I cannot tell you how many pictures I took but I still look at them with amazment and I think your family will love it too. From May 21st to Sept 5 the outdoor park is open. $14.95 for adults and $7.95 for kids admission.

If you have any doubt just look at there website, its not just a store but an adventure, with animals, food from everywhere, shops, music... I saw it first on TLC and my family made a trip out of it. I loved everything about Jims from the fun animals, a giant Campbells soup can guy in the sky to the waterfall. They often have beer and wine testing for adults and samples of the food from around the world. I have never been to such a large grocery store in my life and it was fun. If your in the area visiting Cinn. stop in and check it out.

I saw this candy store on TLC, and since we were going to be in Ohio I thought what the heck. Very near the border of Ohio and Penn, it was relatively easy to find. There was tons of hard candy to pick from, and a candy sculpture in the back, and they chocolate candy was heavenly-careful it adds up. Cute gifts with kids names and tons of religious items. We had lot of fun and ate at a local 50s diner overlooking the river. Great day of fun.

We were on our way to Mall of America and AAAs roadside attractions pointed us here so we spent the day at House on the Rock. Now since I love antiques I thought the house was totally cool. Not for little kids of course because you can't touch most of the items because it is museum, but ideal for 10 and up. It shows kids it's cool to collect things and take care of them. The gift shops were trashy and could have had more unique items (kind of reminded me of Times Square crap). The carousel was one of a kind because it has NO HORSES-frogs, birds... but no horses. Kind of dark and musty and sometimes hard to navigate it was an still an adventure I will never forget.

After going to MOA (mall of america) we wanted to do something totally different. I have always wanted a SPAM tshirt and after spending $75 in the gift shop I still didn't get one :) but I did get SPAM fake tatoos and other kid stuff that I love too. The musuem has the history of spam but it doesn't take itself too seriously and gives kids a chance to see that museums are not stuffy places but interestly places to learn about something fun and new. AND YES YOU CAN EAT SPAM-right across the street is a restuarant that serves fried spam hamburgers. I hate spam out of the can but I tried it fried and it's GOOD. They also have many unique spam items so give it a try and don't let the waitstaff intimidate you because they were rude but we were in too good a mood after the museum to care. GO if your in the area, you'll have a ball (of spam).