We live in the midwest and want to take our three year old son on vacation, something other than the corn fields we have here. Any suggestions of places that kids have loved? We are driving, but don't mind a 10-12 hour drive. Thanks

Russia!! There are no driving laws, people drive both directions in either lane, drive down the middle, etc.. Most times the cars don't have seat belts. I kept my eyes closed the whole time, ( I was the passenger)

Yea, but I doubt the three year old would be allowed to drive in Russia -- fun as it might be.

I strongly suspect Jammy meant to post this on the "worst drivers" thread.

10-12 hours from where? The midwest is a large place! In general, what about heading west, to the mountains?

hum, being from the midwest myself which last time I checked covers the entire center of the US you could probably drive anywhere except the west coast, Florida, and Alaska in 12 hours.

PS I think Russia would be a bit difficult in 12 hours. LOL \/

At that age, my kids cared most about a hotel with a pool. There are excellent children's museums in many cities.

jammy

Please post back with town or city you are starting from. I am sure many will then be able to offer you some good suggestions.

Sandy

When my kids were young, our most successful vacations involved ocean beaches. As they're a bit of a drive from the midwest, why not consider vacationing along one of the Great Lakes. If you'd like to add a big city into the mix, you might want to consider Chicago. The Lincoln Park Zoo has free admission to the best of my knowledge, although the parking fee is rather steep. A bit farther south is Oak Street Beach, perfect for sand castles and wave running. Navy Pier has an excellent children's museum and a huge ferris wheel. The Shedd Aquarium would be fun for a three year old and would provide an up close introduction to whales, porpoise, and wonderful colorful fish of all shapes and sizes. Although you won't find hotel accommodations along an ocean beach, you could stay along the Magnificent Mile within walking distance of Oak Street Beach. Mass transit is available nearby for your other field trips. Hopefully Fodors' Chicago experts can suggest a hotel with a kid friendly pool along the MM.

when our kids were little, the best vacations were to a beach. its also nice to stay in a condo with a kitchen since taking a little one out to eat 3x per day is a drag. we live in chicago, and really enjoyed door county with our kids. that's about a 4 hour drive, and there are lots of resorts and state parks with beautiful beaches.

forget to mention door county is in wisconsin on the peninsula between green bay and lake michigan.

Hi -- I agree with the beach idea. Alabama and Florida have wonderful beaches, of course. It would be worth the drive.

Makes me wonder if Jammy is a troll since she will not give any further requested information so people can help. The thing about "something other than corn fields" sounds a bit uninformed and stereotypical to me. BTW, there is no such thing as "a corn field". corn is planted only every three years on any given field. the field is usually rotated with Soy Beans and Wheat. Hint... A person who doesn't live in the midwest would not know this.

wemr, your post has really given me a laugh. My parents, both "cityfolks" decided when we three kids were very small that we should grow up on a farm, so they bought a 42 acre one in the country, even though they continued to work in the city. Every year we planted (with a small tractor-pulled planter) corn in a 10 acre field. And late every summer/fall we'd harvest that corn by hand!! When I was about 6 and too small to walk along and pick the corn -- I was actually the one driving the tractor slowly through the rows as the rest of the family picked, shucked, and tossed the corn into the big wagon behind the tractor. We never rotatated the field with another crop. Maybe now I know why we never got "rich" growing corn!

wemr...

May be picking nits here but speaking as a guy with farms in the family, corn is planted for 3 years in a row then rotated to alfalfa (usually) for 3 years. I could give you the science behind this but the masses may be bored.

Oh yea, this appears to be jammy's only post. May not have access to the web during daytime hours.

Have you been to South Dakota? Lots to see and do in the Black Hills. Another option may be Lake of the Ozarks.

Born and raised in Iowa. We tend to call the fields 'corn fields' even though crops are rotated through. Here the rotation is usually between corn and soy beans. No wheat to speak of.

Patrick, that was a great post. I had a good laugh and can relate to it. Was the tractor an Allis-Chelmers?

I was a farm boy who worked about 460 acres at one point as part of a small family. Corn zaps nitrogen out of the soil which a crop like soy beans replaces. Alfalfa, which also replaces nitrogen is rotated only in increasingly isolated areas where there are dairy herds to feed.

Sorry if I bored anyone to death but now you know something about corn! If you went to the Napa Valley you would like to know about vinyards, right?