My husband and I and our two boys 13 and 9 are planning a trip to the midwest to see some baseball games. Other than the baseball stadiums, what are must sees in the following cities: chicago, minneapolis, st. louis, kansas city, milwaukee and Iowa because we'll be driving through. Thanks so much for any input.

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as well as Boat rides on the Chicago River.

For Cubs and Cards, plan well ahead, many of their games will sell out ahead of time. MLB.com

For Chicago it might help to say whether you will be watching the Cubs on the North Side or White Sox on the south side.

In Chicago there is the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium, along with Nike Town, and riding to the top of the John Hancock building. The Magnificent Mile, Grant Park, Millenium Park, and Lincoln Park are fun places to people watch. Marshall Fields is a beautiful department store in the Loop. A must see before it changes over to Macy's. Between Chicago and Milwaukee there is a wonderful Six Flags in Gurnee, IL and Gurnee Mills, a huge outlet mall that houses a Rainforest Cafe. In Minneapolis, you can do to the Mall of America. St. Louis has the Arch, The Science Center,brewery tours, eat Italian at a true Italian family owned restaurant in "The Hill" area, and a wonderful Zoo. They also have a Six Flags. In Kansas City going to The Country Club Plaza is fun. In addition, the Truman Presidential Library is in Independence (I think)and they have Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun (similar to a Six Flags). Milwaukee also has a great zoo, brewery tours, botanical gardens, and many festivals downtown on Lake Michigan. As for Iowa, Dubuque is a railroad town and has an Aquarium, railroad museum, the 4th Street Elevator, and the Field of Dreams in Dyersville. Galena is a quick 20 minute drive and has museums and shops. Hope this helps. Have a great trip.

Both Milwaukee and KC stadium's are not "in" town, so to speak. So that is a factor in related activities. In our case, we had a drive to get to these in the "burbs". But in Milwaukee the zoo is huge and good, with lots of food choices if you have time. Milwaukee beer tours are interesting as well. The younger ones get "other" free drinks at the end. KC, I had so much fun with the fans near the park we never went anywhere else.

St. Louis arch is very close to the new park, so it is an easy "doable"- but much warning here to go first thing in the morning because that thing gets HOT inside. Boys will love it, as it is NOT as you would imagine it to be.

St.Louis has tremendous tourist packages and literature, google and ask them to send you some. KC, St.Louis and Cleveland are THE baseball towns, IMHO.

Cards tickets are going to be hard to get with the new stadium opening plus their being so good and having such a following. Those and the Cubs might cost you some $$$.

You have to see the Field of Dreams in Iowa. WELL, well worth the ride.

If you are going from Chicago to St.Louis, the Cahokia Mounds are worth the slight detour and if you hit nothing else, I would hit the new Presidential Library in Springfield. Abe Lincoln and his family will greet you. It's super for kids. It's better than Disney.

If you are going to the White Sox, try to hit Monday, Tuesday or Thursday. With winning the World Series the packages have all changed from 9 games to 13 and the "specials" may be all gone- but consider the following:

Monday at home (1/2 price night in the upper decks)
Tuesday (1/2 price with Pepsi product)
Thursday (Dollar Dog Days- $1.00 hot dogs)

Upper Deck is lower than other stadiums regardless of the hype- especially Milwaukee up near the roof and MN. Try 524 section or 544 section at U.S. Cellular, if you want to save some money and have a great time. You do know that they have a venue that borders the field where kids can play with "trainers" during the game. Your 9 year old will qualify for sure- and may get to hit a ball during the 7th inning stretch for a prize. Goggle the White Sox MLB page for info and reservations. White Sox games are far more family oriented than Cubs games are.

Parking is very expensive at both Chicago ball parks, but worse at the Cubs. If you can leave your car at the hotel and take public transportation, you will be better off- especially to Wrigley. If you are going to the Cubs game, Thank God you have boys and won't have to use Women's washrooms. Gapper, sorry. I missed three whole innings the last time I was there. It's also falling apart, so watch your heads for falling concrete and the occasional falling inebriate.

Unlike the other towns you mention, except for maybe Minneapolis, there is so much to do in Chicago that I couldn't even begin.

Try www.metromix.com for some ideas for your time frame. With boys that age I would probably hit the Shedd for sure- if I only had one option or a boat cruise down the river or out onto the lake and up to the top of one of the skyscrappers.

In Chicago, here are the must-sees (IMHO):

See the city from the lake. With two boys, SeaDog (speed cruise) is the one you want, if you are taking a cruise. However, if you are going over to Museum Campus (Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium) from Navy Pier or vice versa, there is a harbor taxi that will give you the same results (without the speed, of course) at a fraction of the cost.

The Field Museum will have the King Tut exhibit starting at the end of May 2006. Also, the Field has Sue, the world's most complete T-rex skeleton.

The Shedd Aquarium has the Wild Reef exhibit, with sharks, rays, etc. and the oceanarium as highlights.

The Museum of Science and Industry. Some of the highlights are the Coal Mine and the U505 German Submarine (the only one in the US and a national memorial for those sailors who gave their lives during WWI & WWII)--and for your family, you might want to splurge and go inside the sub for the extra $5pp--have to reserve in advance because it sells out. (I went inside it when I was younger and I still recall the extremely tight quarters. Das Boot!) Also recommend the Omnimax Theatre. Check the MSI out online to see what special exhibit will be occurring when you are here.

Go up in the John Hancock building - but having the boys, they'll probably want to go up in the Sears Tower as well.

Make sure you take the El to the ballgames.

With due respect to others, Wrigley Field is a mecca for fans (of all ages) of baseball stadiums. Totally different atmosphere than the Cell. When you enter the Friendly Confines, you are experiencing almost a century of baseball history. In fact, there are tours of Wrigley Field on certain dates during the season. Check the Chicago Cubs website when it gets closer to see when they will be this year. I strongly urge you to go to one, if you have the opportunity.

Don't know what will occur next season now that the Sox are the defending champs...But let's set the record straight here: in the past (including this past year), tickets for good seats for Cubs games sold out as soon as they went on sale in late Jan.-early Feb., some within minutes. Whereas, you could pick up good seat tickets for Sox games, with exceptions like the crosstown classic, the day of game. (This did change just before playoff time, but you know those fair-weather fans.) I know I'm going to get flamed for saying this but it's the truth: The sole reason why the Cell had all those special promotions was to get fans to come to the ballpark.

I'm just mentioning this fact, Gapper, so you can mark your calendar accordingly. I think it still will be much harder to get good Cubs tickets than Sox.

Minneapolis-Make sure you go to a St. Paul Saints game while you're here (if they're in town). The games are more fun and entertaining than the Twins. They always have crazy promotions and events going on. You can also go to Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, or Como Park zoo in St. Paul. There's a decent amusement park (ValleyFair) in Shakopee, as well as a ton of parks and lakes to explore.

Between Minneapolis and Milwaukee is Wisconsin Dells, which has several waterparks and more touristy things than you can shake a stick at. You can also make a stop in Madison, which is right on the way, and find any number of things to do there.

Milwaukee seems to have a festival of some sort almost every weekend.

If you are going to hit Wisconsin Dells be very aware that it is super crowded and all areas around and at the waterpark/hotels you will need reservations. If you are coming for baseball and traveling for baseball, I doubt if you will be able to do all those Chicago things, unless you are going to be gone for weeks and have at least 3 to 5 days in Chicago.

I totally disagree with Exiled Princess' Chicago baseball picture assessment. And it is /has been the rote one for Chicago people and media who rarely or if ever go to baseball games to see baseball. There are probably 3 times as many fans for the Cubs than for the SOX. And it is all about the park and not about baseball, period. My father is a Cubs fan and between him and cross town classics games, I've probably been to Wrigley more than most Cubs "true blue" fans. MANY of us Sox fans have season or 13 game plans- actually much more than have Cubs fans who have season tickets or plans. I very much take humbrage on this constantly repeated "fair weather fan" refrain.

We don't fill the park for all kinds of other reasons. One of which is that we all have a lot of kids and WORK in the daytime. It may change, exiledprincess. We are suddenly amused at all the true blue Cubs fans' kids not only by me but from places like Elmhurst- all of a sudden wearing Sox gear. My son has a BIL who is absolutely flummoxed that his kids have turned on him.

Yes, those promotions were to fill the park and because it is such a family friendly park with KIDS' activities- I doubly hope that they continue the promotions.

Wrigley may be a icon, but the only time I've ever seen women squatting in public in the USA was there and once in France. That's the truth. It's the neighborhood that makes Wrigley, the park is a dump and the area takes hours to exit after the game.

Gapper, this has been a difficult response to compose. Not because of what I'm going to say but because I could say so much more, but will not.

With all due respect, I disagree with the previous poster in their assessment of Wrigley Field. What I would recommend is to do a little research here and at other sites to see what others' experiences have been.

And, despite what other posters might assume about me, I do happen to attend several games each baseball season. I do also happen to work in a large company where other workers there (also locals) also attend baseball games. Some people go often. Some go as an annual tradition. The large majority of the time, they go to Cubs games--even though we have season Sox tickets available as well. Those same people take their families, friends, co-workers and clientele to the games. (One of these workers who now lives on the South Side went to over 15 Cubs home games last year--on a personal basis.) And they go to Wrigley Field and Cubs games because it's FUN to go.

Gapper, since you had already indicated that you are going to both parks, my advice to you was about purchasing Cubs tickets as soon as they go on sale-- because certain dates sell out really fast for good seats. I still stand behind that advice.

Have fun in Chicago!

gapper, I'm not going to get involved in this mix, lol. I will only say that we took our sons to Wrigley and I nearly had to sell a kidney to get the tickets on Ebay. Go, have a good time. Chicago is a great city with lots to do.

Exactly, and some of us like our kidneys fine where they are, thank you!

Just wanted to thank everyone for the great info here. This is a trip my 9 year old son and I want to take this spring. We will definitely USE this info! Thanks for taking your time to help the board.

And if you want to see a World Series Championship Flag in the outfield, you will only see that on the South Side of town.

My family did a long baseball road trip last summer...What I haven't seen mentioned is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. A real must-see. The gift shop sells really cool T-shirts and replica jerseys from teams like the Black Yankees, the Monarchs, Grays, Clowns, etc. The museum itself, fascinating. And in Iowa, the Field of Dreams is worth a stop. It was kind of dumb, but it was worth a stop. Don't forget minor league teams. We had a great time at a Cedar Rapids Kernels game; they're the Angels single-A farm team. We drove from Kansas City to Dyserville, then to Cedar Rapids for a Maid Rite, the ball game, and spent the night at a perfectly acceptable Marriott before heading West.

I am from Wisconsin. I suggest the following which kind of just messes perfrct with the places you mention. "Coulee Country" of Minnesota and Wisconsin. I cut and paste:
La Crosse is in the center of what is referred to as The Coulee Region. A coulee is a deep ravine or gorge. The coulees in this region are notable -- deeper and larger than those in surrounding areas because the glaciers that covered the continent during the height of this last ice age passed by the area. Glaciers flatten out the landscape; they scrape off the tops of hills and fill in ravines with debris. The Coulee Region surrounding La Crosse escaped this glacial scouring. Geologists also refer to these areas skipped by glacial scouring as "driftless." In other words, a place where there is no drift. Drift is the debris left behind by a glacier. Southeastern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin are a driftless region. What does this mean in practical terms for those of us who can't look at a rock and start outlining where it's been or what it's been doing for the past three million years. The bluffs are higher (over six hundred feet above the river), the ravines are deeper, steeper and more rugged. The visual impact of the landscape is stronger. There are harsher and more jagged lines, deeper cuts and more violent breaks. The glaciers didn't grind off the rough edges. This is one of the most visually beautiful sections of the entire Mississippi River valley. It's easy to see why this region is a premier location for tourism.