Best attractions in you area that are NOT theme parks?

[treesinger]

Inspired by the "what theme park do you live near" thread...

What attractionc in your area, other than theme parks, are personal favorites or places you recommend visitors see?

Top of my list would be Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. (Near Philly). It's enormous and gorgeous! There is no one area that stands out because it ALL stands out! I think I read that it regularly makes National Geographic's list of one of the 50 places you must see before you die (or some such title).

No brainer, go to the Jersey Beach for the day. Wildwood is enormous but has a rowdier reputation. Ocean City NJ has my favorite boardwalk but the beach is rather teeny.
**Once when I was a wee kid, we stayed at the Mount Royal Hotel at the corner of Boardwalk and Park Place, and as a Monopoly fan at the time, that was abut the coolest thing in the world!**

And don't miss the Phila. Zoo. The oldest zoo in America and still one of the best. If you like shopping for antiques and/or contemporary art, New Hope PA. is a wonderful little shopping district. I love this little town. Very charming and absolutely GORGEOUS in the fall. It's one of my secret little dreams to open a shop there someday.

Simple pleasures? Get a triple thick chocolate shake at the Charcoal Pit. Or if your whole group is feeling adventurousm try to takle the 20 scoop Kitchen Sink. If you finish it, you get one free! Gather at Brandywine Creek State Park from 9 pm to 12 am in mid-August to watch the Pleides Meteor shower. Bring plenty of Bug Guard though. One thing I haven't done is to watch the herding (pinning is it called?) of the wild horses on Assateague Island. I've heard that it is quite a sight.

That's a pretty good start. Anyone care to chime in?

 

[pjlla]

I'm sure that anyone who pays money to vacation here in NH would have a long list, but since I live here I cannot think of anything!!

Seriously, the White Mountains are beautiful and the Lakes Region is very nice.... but that is all I can think of. Of course, if you are a motorcycle fan, our "Motorcycle weekends" here are very popular !...............P

 

[CyranoJones]

Gettysburg battle fields, Baltimore Inner Harbor, Washington, DC museums.

 

[Nutsy]

Well there's always Australia Zoo of Steve Irwin fame


Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary


Mt. Coot-tha the highest point in Brisbane where there is a lookout & you can see way out to sea & lots more in all directions.

 

[Kitty 34]

The Great Lakes, some within an hour and half of me!

 

[Grog]

I recommend Space Center Houston at NASA, or Moody Gardens in Galveston.

 

[ontariodisneywoman]

There are so many attractions that are must sees in Ontario.. not limited to Niagara Falls, Elora Gorge Conservation Area, the Town of Rockwood, Wasaga Beach, Sauble Beach, the CN Tower, Skydome, The Theatre District in Toronto, Ontario Place, The Metro Toronto Zoo, Marineland, The African Lion Safari.. I could go on for hours about all the great attractions in my area.

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

The D-Day Museum, Aquarium of the Americas, Audubon Zoo and of course, the French Quarter!

 

[monarchsfan16]

There's so much to do in the White Mountains. We really love the Flume, the Basin, and Lost River. And riding the gondolas at different ski areas in the summer is great too. The views are amazing.
The Lakes Region is good I guess if you like boating. It's an area we don't spend much time in, but it is gorgeous. The best thing to do is ride the M/S Mt. Washington out on Lake Winnepesaukee on a really hot day. It's not nearly as hot when you're in motion on the water.
And how about all that sales tax-free shopping....
The best thing though, is just driving around during foliage season. It's beautiful. Same with driving around in winter (on a day that it's not snowing).

 

[newholiday]

When DS & I have a day trip we're usually found at:

Roger Williams Zoo, RI (1.25hrs away)
Southwicks Zoo (we're heading there today)
Davis Farm (members, went yesterday, usually weekly)
Purgatory
Buffum's
Mystic Aquarium, CT (members, 1.5hrs away)
EcoTarium
Higgins Armory (DS school field trip next wk)
Sturbridge Village (20mins from us but we've only been once or twice)

I dont drive in Boston so I'll let someone else add that

 

[HollyJoy]

Baltimore Aquarium and the National Zoo in D.C.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

In the immediate Richmond area -- the Science Museum of Virginia, the Richmond Braves minor league team, Maymont Park, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Edgar Alan Poe Museum, Lots of Civil War sites of interest, Hollywood Cemetary - really old cemetary with several Presidents and Jefferson Davis buried there. The Richmond Metro Zoo started as a small personal collection of exotic animals and ended up as a public zoo with acres of different animals - you can feed and pet the giraffes and we have watched a tiger cub grow up. All this is behind the owners house way out in southern Chesterfield county suburb of Richmond.

An hour to the east we have Williamsburg with all the colonial attractions plus all the outlet shopping a person can handle

A half an hour after that we have the coastline with Virginia Beach and the Norfolk Bay Area where you can watch the big ships come in.

An hour or so to the west of Richmond we have the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Appalacian Trail, the Shenandoah Valley, Luray Caverns and Charlottesville with Monticello and UVA

An hour and a half north and you hit DC with plenty of shopping, government, museums and monuments to visit.

An hour and a half South and you hit North Carolina

Richmond is a pretty cool place to live if you like taking day trips. The possibilities are endless!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

Gosh....around here....I don't know!!

 

[stevenpensacola]

http://naval.aviation.museum/intro.html

Gulf Islands National Seashore/Fort Pickens

 

[momof3disneyholics]

The beach!!!!

 

[WDWLVR]

We are blessed with so much in the Chicago Area:

Lincoln Park Zoo
Brookfield Zoo
Shedd Aquarium
Field Museum of Natural History
Museum of Science and Industy
Botanical Gardens
Chicago Cubs Baseball
Chicago White Sox Baseball
Not to mention lots and lots of shopping!

 

[Talking Hands]

The Everglades! They are fascinating and absolutely beautiful.
Miccosukee Indian Reservation
Miami's Metro Zoo
Coral Castle
Knaus Berry Farm
Upper Florida Keys
Deering Estate
Viscaya
Bill Baggs State Park and the Lighthouse
Crandon Park
Fairchild Gardens
Matheson Hammock Park
Fruit and Spice Park in the Redland area
Historical Museum in downtown Miami
Planetarium and Science Museum in Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove itself
Cauley Square
Hobie Beach
Miami Seaquarium
University of Miami Carillon
Spanish Monastery
Marlins baseball
Dolphins football
Miami Hurricanes sports (baseball, football, basketball)
FIU Golden Panthers sports
Heat basketball
Panthers hockey
Monkey Jungle
Parrot Jungle

 

[Microcell]

The highway out of town? Hee hee. No really the Kansas City Zoo is nice, Plaza for shoppers- blocks and blocks of upscale shopping all outdoors with pretty fountains. Malls, Lakes all over by me, Um..er.. I notice I am the first KC diser to even try. Points for me on that front. The problem with this town is that we are huge as far as footprint, but we can't seem to get our act together from a tourist standpoint. The mayor is trying to get a downtown arena going if we can lure pro basketball here that would be good. We have a beautiful Union Station that they had such grand plans for, but it has been filled with a half hearted Science City that is not bringing tourists as much as they hoped for so they may have to close that. UGH!

 

[Beth76]

Microcell, I've been to Science City and it's the most fun I've had in KC. My MIL lives near, but we NEVER do anything when we're there. My sister lived there for about a year, and we took the kids to Science City when we visited once. That's the only thing of interest that I've ever done in KC.

In St. Louis, we actually have a TON of stuff and a lot of it is FREE!!! We have the Zoo, Science Center w/Omnimax, Missouri Botanical Garden, Grant's Farm, The Gateway Arch, Brewery Tours, plus a whole lot more. We're also really close (1-2 hours) to a whole bunch of wineries. If only we had a beach.......

 

[Deb & Bill]

American Rose Center
Five Casinos - Harrahs, Hollywood, Horseshoe, Isle of Capri and Boomtown
SciPort