Best attractions in you area that are NOT theme parks?

[geffric]

Originally posted by 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!

I used to live in KC..actually Overland Park.. what about the Royals and the Chiefs..BBQ places..

 

[geffric]

Originally posted by 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!

Plus, lots of boating, hiking, biking trails, the whole beautiful lake front, Buckingham Fountain and Grant Park, Ghiradellis, PIZZA, ESPN Zone, Medieval Times, Navy Pier and all the GREAT DISers that live here..

 

[MosMom]

Here in Indianapolis we have...

The Children's Museum - http://childrensmuseum.org

The Indianapolis Zoo - http://indianapoliszoo.com

You can always take a lap around the Indy Speedway too!

 

[powellrj]

Originally posted by MosMom
Here in Indianapolis we have...

The Children's Museum - http://childrensmuseum.org

The Indianapolis Zoo - http://indianapoliszoo.com

You can always take a lap around the Indy Speedway too!

We are north of you and have a childrens museum and zoo ( both smaller than the Indy ones), Horse Racing Track, State Park, James Dean Museum.

 

[poohbear1029]

I'm originally from the Berkshires (western mass). There is so much to do there.

Williamstown Theatre Festival
Shakespeare & Co.
Tanglewood (contemp. artists and summer home of Boston Pops!)
Jacobs' Pillow (dance)
Norman Rockwell Museum
Arrow Head (help me, home of guy who wrote Moby DIck)
Mt. Greylock, October Mountain...tons of other mountains, trails, etc.
Stockbridge...such a cool town!
Northampton...another cool town (not technically the Berkshires)
Amazing fall foliage.

You can always catch some familiary celeb attending or performing in the many local summerstock theatres, including those listed above.

Edited to add:

The Mount (home of Edith Warton)
tons of other lovely old homes to tour!

 

[Boots]

The Great Smoky Mountains! I can see mountains from my yard. In my immediate area though white water rafting is what attracts a lot of people! I have never been but my two children and their spouses have.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Our beautiful Chicago Lakefront.....

 

[poohbear1029]

Dan, thanks for sharing....the only part of Chicago I have ever seen is the inside of O'Hare as I sprint from one gate to the next!!!

 

[Keli]

My favorite thing in our area is the Mammouth Cave National Park. They are about 10 miles from my house (well, the entrances to the caves are that far away, it's a vast cave system and it extends to just a couple of miles from our house) The caves are really neat, I've taken just about every tour the park has offered and I still like going to see them again.

 

[Shellie722]

In Louisville I would recomend River Front Park, The Belle of Louisville Steamboat, The Museum of Natural Science and History, and my favorite (about 45 minutes away) is Mammoth Cave National Park.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

Great Lakes
Detroit Zoo
Toledo Zoo
University of Michigan Museum of Natural History
Ann Arbor Hands on Museum
University of Michigan athletics
Nichols Arboretum
Matthei Bottanical Gardens
Detroit Institute of the Arts
Detroit Lions
Detroit Red Wings
And we've got 3 minor league baseball teams within 2 hours drive - the Lansing Lugnuts, the Toledo Mud Hens, and the Detroit Tigers

 

[Alice28]

A West Coaster checking in here! What to do if you visit Portland, Oregon...here we go:

**About 80 minutes to the West is the glorious Pacific Ocean and lots of beaches!
**About 80 minutes to the East is the beautiful Cascade Mountains- skiing, camping, boating, fishing, hiking
**Multnomah Falls- one of the highest waterfalls in the USA
**The Columbia River Gorge- breathtaking and a top ten MUST SEE according to the Travel Channel- you can boat, hike, take a river cruise
**There are also river cruises, fishing, boating, tours on the Willamette River- the river that runs north/south here in Oregon and cuts right through Portland
**The Oregon Zoo and Children's Museum
**OMSI- a science museum
**The Rose Garden- absolutely AWESOME this time of year- going next weekend
**Our downtown is very clean and tourist friendly- great shopping, restaurants, community events
**Tour the Oregon Museum (a hop skip from my house) learn just how Lewis and Clark and the rest that followed made it on the Oregon Trail.
**See a Portland Trailblazers game

We really don't have amusement parks per se here; there is a small one called Oaks Park and I think there is one up near Seattle...Oh! Seattle is about a 2 1/2 hour drive or so from here. Lots to see and do up there!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Ditto what Alice28 said. The Pacific Northwest is beautiful...you have to see it to believe it !!!

 

[Gupsmom]

We have some fantastic State parks w/i a short drive from our house. My favorite is Stonybrook State Park. Every Labor Day weekend, there is a huge hot air balloon launch. You can spend the morning walking/wading through the water in a gorgeous park and then spend the evening watching close to 100 hot air balloons take off and fill the sky.

There's a small park near us, Stiglmeier Park, where you can hike around and feed chickadees right out of your hand.

We also live about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls.

Like I said, we are very lucky to have so many simple pleasures so close to us (incl. a small wooded area in our backyard to toad hunt and just hike through). My DH and I aren't very good campers, but these provide great day trips with the kids. It's great to balance off Disney with experiences like this.

Jess

 

[jx3smom]

I live within walking distance to the boardwalk and beach. I live a block from the bay. Atlantic City and the casinos are 8 miles away (I never go) and Lucy the Elephant is on the way to AC. and Wildwood is 20 miles away with Cape May being only 25 miles away. It is a great Victorian city with great restaurants. There is a great park and zoo down the road (Cape May County Park) that does not charge admission but it is nice to give a donation. It is beautiful.

 

[Sirius]

The Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg, Ripley's Aquarium (really cool), Towns of Jonesborough and Rugby, Ochoee River (whitewater), Outlets of Pigeon Forge...

 

[Jeafl]

My fellow Chicagoans have already listed pretty much everything, but I did want to add Arlington Park Race Track. I'm not much of a gambler, but I love to go watch those gorgeous horses run!

Dan, those are some of the best pics I've seen of Chicago! I just spent most of this weekend there at my sister's Lakeshore Dr. condo, and with the weather being so rainy, the views were less than spectacular this time.

 

[Jolie C]

Originally posted by SyracuseWolvrine
Great Lakes
Detroit Zoo
Toledo Zoo
University of Michigan Museum of Natural History
Ann Arbor Hands on Museum
University of Michigan athletics
Nichols Arboretum
Matthei Bottanical Gardens
Detroit Institute of the Arts
Detroit Lions
Detroit Red Wings
And we've got 3 minor league baseball teams within 2 hours drive - the Lansing Lugnuts, the Toledo Mud Hens, and the Detroit Tigers

You are making me homesick! I would list stuff from NJ, but others have already hit the highlights, I think.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Gosh, I'll take Manhattan...the place to be for any of the performing arts, power shopping, restaurants and museums. You also have the Long Island Beaches ...from Brooklyn to South Hampton, the Jersey Beaches...Sandy Hook to Seaside Heights. Theme parks...Six Flags/Great Adventure and Mountain Creek aka Action Park. The Liberty Science Center, The Statue of Liberty, skiing, hiking, biking, one of the few non-West coast venues for professional Beach Volleyball, the USOpen (Tennis), NYC Marathon, wineries, apple orchards, jersey tomatos. The best part about living where I do is you can do almost anything here. It may be seasonal, it may not be the biggest or the best but its all right here within 2 hours of driving time.

Well okay...no desert vistas.

Too bad I'm moving to Georgia.