Within an hour or so of where you live...

[KarenB]

Gettysburg NationalBattlefield
Hershey Park
Little League World Series
Amish Country
PA State Capitol Building (beautiful by the way)
Penn's Cave
Pocono Ski Area (stretching it t 2 hours)

 

[antmaril]

Detroit:

Ford Field - Home of Superbowl XL
The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
Detroit Insitute of Arts
University of Michigan
Canada
Toledo Zoo

 

[jonestavern]

We live in Washington, NH

1. The President Franklin Pierce Homestead 1804, Hillsborough, Nh built by his father rags-to-riches Revolutionary War hero, Gov Benjamin Pierce--Ft Pierce, Fl is named for his son Lt col Benjamin K Pierce. special events. Private tours (at no extra charge!), group tours, functions. costumed guides (for the 1820-1828 period, not a common sight)lots of events, most are free-- after go swimming at gorgeous Beard Brook, tour the quintessential NE village, centre village--art galleries, antiques--but small village. Stone arches (no mortar used) named by Civil Engineering Soc as one of the top 10 civil eng sites in the USA. Lovely B&Bs
2. the Fort @ #4, Charlestown, NH--a living history museum, a pallisaded fort--yes, they're cooking, drilling etc Important fort in the French Indian Wars & Rev War--lots of reenactments, special events
3. Mt Sunapee & Pat's Peak (Henniker)--low key, family ski spots--Pat's has the POP deal on Saturdays--3-10 pm, choose any or even all three skiing, tubing or boarding, all equipment, lifts, brief lesson etc all for $29.00
4.Pillsbury State Park, Washington, NH--if you want to really go camping. No tent platforms, outhouses, snack bars etc. climb Mt Lovewell (it's not difficult, but nice) Say 'hi' to, but steer clear of, the moose! Washington is a fisherman's, hunting, snowshoeing, ice fishing, ski mobiling hot spot, but still unspoilt
5. Musterfield Farm--North Sutton, NH. wow! terrifically peaceful drive here, very relaxing & unspoiled
features the Harvey Tavern, barns & outbuildings & fields--the good men used to drill here(or muster) in the days prior to & during the American Revolution & for yrs after. It is such a sylvan, peaceful setting you can really picture it.
House tours (the Harveys were an important NH political clan), go for the special events

Jean

 

[tar heel]

I live in Concord, NC, and within about an hour you can:

Visit Lowe's Motor Speedway and ride around the track
Visit the Dale Earnhardt Memorial in Kannapolis
Visit various racing shops
Shop at a destination mall -- Concord Mills
Ride coasters or play in the waterpark at Paramount's Carowinds
Watch the Carolina Panthers NFL team or Charlotte Bobcats NBA team
Watch minor league baseball or hockey
See concerts at Verizon Pavilion
Visit the natural habitat North Carolina Zoo
Visit the Discovery Place science museum and omnimax theater -- If you go
this spring you'll see the Dead Sea Scrolls
See art at the Mint Museum
Visit where gold was discovered in the US and try your hand at panning.
Look at the defunct Heritage USA
Soon visit the Billy Graham Center
See more bankers than you thought existed -- Bank of America AND
Wachovia are headquartered in Charlotte
Eat the best North Carolina barbecue any where (but not in Concord -- you'll go to Lexington for that)

 

[AnaheimGirl]

I live near Denver, CO:

The mountains! Skiing, tubing, skating, camping, hiking, mountain biking, rafting, etc...
Red Rocks Amphitheater
The Denver Mint
Buffalo Bill's Grave and Museum
Colorado History Museum
Denver Botanic Gardens
Denver Firefighters Museum
Forney Museum of Transportation
Downtown Acquarium
Molly Brown House

A little further away (1.5 to 2.5 hours), but places I enjoy:

Garden of the Gods
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, where you can feed the giraffes!
Pike's Peak
Royal Gorge Bridge
Glenwood Springs (hot springs/pools)

 

[DisneyPhD]

Detroit:

Ford Field - Home of Superbowl XL
The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
Detroit Insitute of Arts
University of Michigan
Canada
Toledo Zoo

Good list, but hello? Detroit zoo! Don't forget that (5 min from me.)
Belle Isle
Imax in Henry Ford Museum.
Some of the Malls are pretty good. Great Lakes and Sommerset Collection pulls people in from pretty far.
Frankenmuth is a fun area.
Downtown has a few fun new things. Hard Rock and Campus Martius Park (Ice Staking) Detroit Sience Musem and cultural center. (WSU)
Lake Sinclair, Metro Park. Kensingtion Metro Park
Ann Arbor childrens mesuem.
Toledo Cosi
We have some major venue places (Palace of Auburn Hills, Fox Theater, Fisher Theater, even the new Comerica Park and Oprea House.) Medowbrook and all the auto baron Mansions, Ford, Dodge, Fisher,
MSU
There are some fun small water parks (Read Oaks near me to name one.)
Right now the International Auto show is here.

If you go 2 hours we have Cedar Point and Soak City along with a Great Wolf Lodge. A bit father and Six Flags park. Western MI has Michigan Adventure theme park. Battle Creak has Kellolgs plant. London Candada has Story book farms.

None of the Detroit stuff is worth traveling to here though, not bad if you live near it. Northern MI is very nice and Mackinac Island a great get away.

 

[golfgal]

1. See a corn field
2. See a soybean field
3. See a surgar beat field
4. See a corn field
5. See a soybean field

 

[Talking Hands]

Live in Miami-Dade County, FL in So Dade
Villa Viscaya
Everglades
Metrozoo (less than 5 min)
Larry & Penny Thompson Park (Less than 5 min)
FLorida's Upper Keys
Monkey Jungle
Coral Castle
Knaus Berry Farm
U-pic fields
TY Park in Broward
Sawgrass Mills Mall
International Mall
Seaquarium
Barnacle House in Coconut Grove
numerous concert venues and clubs
South Beach
CocoWalk in Coconut Grove
Crandon Park
Bill Baggs State Park
Hobe Beach
Matheson Hammock
Parrot Jungle
Fairchild Tropical Gardens
Fruit and Spice Park in the Redland
Museum of Science and the Planetarium

 

[jimmiej]

1. The Alamo
2. Texas State Capitol.
3. Schlitterbahn, the best waterpark in America (*according to the Travel Channel).
4. The San Antonio Riverwalk.
5. The 2005 NCAA Football AND Baseball National Champion Texas Longhorns.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I live in SE Ohio, where there is:

Walmart
Kmart
Taco Bell
KFC
Wendy's
Ummmm......

Yep. That's all. Don't come here!

 

[ChrisnSteph]

I live in the Temecula, CA. Withing an hour to hour and a half:

Go North - Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm
Go North-East - Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead
Go South-West - San Diego, Legoland, the zoon and Wild Animal Park, and Beaches
North - Los Angeles

Got a 2-3 hours?

Glamis (sand dune capitol of the world!)
Magic Mountain
Santa Monica

 

[wvjovifan]

I live near Harpers Ferry, WV....within 1 hr you can visit:

Harpers Ferry Natl Historical Park
Charles Town Races and Slots
Antietam National Battlefield
C & O Canal Natl Historical Park
Summit Point Raceway

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I live in Spring, Texas, which is a suburb north of Houston.

My five things would be:

1) Old Town Spring - a small city of individually owned homes (think 1920's) that are now shops, along with several restaurants. It's very quaint and the shopping is great!

2) Splashtown Water Park

3) Galveston, Texas

4) NASA's Space Center Houston

5) Houston's awesome Museum District and Zoo

 

[orvilleair]

Dayton Ohio
1. Recently changed it's name, but used to be known as the US Air Force Museum and a must for aviation buffs.
2. Yellow Springs. Nice town with some of the best paved biking trails in Ohio (Rails to Trails).
3. Paramount Kings Island.
4. Fraze Pavillion. Great place to see an outdoor concert in the summer in an intimate setting.
5. Carillion Park - Old buildings preserved and nice place to have a picnic.

 

[delilah]

We live 15 miles south of Indianapolis; traveling an hour or so you can see:

Colts game
Indianapolis Indians game
Indianapolis zoo
Imax
Indianapolis Children's museum
Nashville, IN
Brown County State Park
Columbus IN--interesting, historic architecture
Cincinnati zoo
Cincinnati museum center
Newport aquarium, in northern KY just across the Ohio river

A little bit longer trip will get you to Chicago, with all that wonderful city has to offfer, or to Columbus, Ohio, which has Ohio State University and the Buckeyes (need I say more).


Oh, I almost forgot--in Bloomington, you can watch the Buckeyes play IU. Or in Lafayette, they play Purdue.

 

[slo]

I live in NW Indiana and my 5 things are:

1.) The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago

2.) The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

3.) Six Flags Great America (only in the summer)

4.) Walking around downtown Chicago

5.) Navy Pier in Chicago

 

[antmaril]

Good list, but hello? Detroit zoo! Don't forget that (5 min from me.)
Belle Isle
Imax in Henry Ford Museum.
Some of the Malls are pretty good. Great Lakes and Sommerset Collection pulls people in from pretty far.
Frankenmuth is a fun area.
Downtown has a few fun new things. Hard Rock and Campus Martius Park (Ice Staking) Detroit Sience Musem and cultural center. (WSU)
Lake Sinclair, Metro Park. Kensingtion Metro Park
Ann Arbor childrens mesuem.
Toledo Cosi
We have some major venue places (Palace of Auburn Hills, Fox Theater, Fisher Theater, even the new Comerica Park and Oprea House.) Medowbrook and all the auto baron Mansions, Ford, Dodge, Fisher,
MSU
There are some fun small water parks (Read Oaks near me to name one.)
Right now the International Auto show is here.

If you go 2 hours we have Cedar Point and Soak City along with a Great Wolf Lodge. A bit father and Six Flags park. Western MI has Michigan Adventure theme park. Battle Creak has Kellolgs plant. London Candada has Story book farms.

None of the Detroit stuff is worth traveling to here though, not bad if you live near it. Northern MI is very nice and Mackinac Island a great get away.

You went into much more detail than I had time for. You have a very nice list of places to visit near the Detroit area. The OP asked for five things, so I was keeping it short. The Detroit Zoo is nice. Of course, we've visited many times over the years. I only mentioned the Toledo Zoo because I understand it is really quite nice and may be well worth the one hour drive from Detroit.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Just northwest of Lexington, KY:

-KY Horse Park-home of the 2010 World Equestrian Games-also has a nice drive thru light display around Christmas.
-Keeneland-one of America's premier race tracks.
-Take a tour of the Toyota automobile plant.
-Rupp Arena and the University of KY Wildcats-the museum is downtown.
-The Explorium-a children's museum.
-Shaker Village-a working Shaker village on the KY river about 35 miles from home.

Others:Red River Gorge-great hiking and camping.
Ft Harrod-1st settlement in KY.
Frankfort-state capitol.
John Michael Montgomery's hometown grill about 30 minutes away.

Most Louisville and Cincinnati attractions are close to or shortly more than an hour away. Both cities have zoos, Six Flags in L-ville, Kings Island north of Cincy. Lake Cumberland is an hour and a half away-one of the cleanest resort areas I have ever seen.

We have our share of Wal marts too.

 

[KelNottAt]

Eldersburg, MD
1. Baltimore Inner Harbor
2. Annapolis & the Naval Academy
3. Washington, DC
4. Gettysburg National Battlefied
5. All the beauty and glory of the world's largest estuary: Chesapeake Bay

 

[Alice's Mom]

Well I live right outside Los Angeles and all my sites depend on traffic.

Without traffic:

*Disneyland!!!
*101 N to Santa Barbara - my favorite city (thats more like an 1 1/2 hours)
*A drive through Laurel Canyon gets you to the Grove at the Farmers Market
*Universal Studios
*Knotts Berry Farm
*Hollywood, Malibu, Santa Monica
*The Getty Center
*Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills
*The Beaches and Mountains
*Ronald Reagan Library is in my home town

With Traffic:

*half way to all the places listed above