Which isn’t to say that I returned from the weekend without a plethora of images to share. It’s just that they are all in my head, and I’m going to have to do so with words. So please allow me to tell you what I loved best about our trip, in no particular order:

• The snow! Mad River Glen had so much more of it than I would have expected given the dun fields we drove past on the way there.
• The impossibly deep blue winter sky on a cold and sunny morning. I swear if you looked hard enough, you could see from the mountain top into the solar system and beyond, perhaps into Heaven itself.
• The startling ascent of two crows flapping indignantly out of a tree as I scratched past them. They were my only companions as I chopped my way through an icy, bumpy glade on my father’s favorite trail.
• Discovering that there are some smoky, salty ribs to be had right up the road from the house we stay in every summer at the Localfolk Smokehouse. Ribs that can be doused with bottles of vinegary sauce at the table and accompanied by our favorite local microbrew Lawson’s Finest Liquid.
• The boys’ joy at skiing with their grandmother – I didn’t see them for hours after she arrived to meet us at lunch one day.
• Tommy’s eagerness to challenge himself on a steep, icy mogul field. And his desire to do it again after he went down mostly on his backside because, as he said, “I like to fall.”
• The wooden owl that presides wisely over all from inside the lift house at the top of the Birdland Chair.
• Waiting for Matt to catch up to me and trying to warm my fingers. Then forgetting about my fingers as I gazed at the rocky top of Camel’s Hump straight in front of me. The late-afternoon light was falling directly on it so that the triangular summit was aglow against a pale sky.
• Hot chocolate and chili. Do they ever taste so good as when one is cold and ravenous from a winter morning spent skiing?
• Reading Heidi to the boys in the car and imagining us all climbing in the Alps next summer and perhaps even drinking some goat milk (no other book has ever given me a desire to drink goat milk but it is such a magical and delicious cure-all in that story that it makes me want to try some).
• Teddy’s intense pride at riding up to the very top of the mountain on the Single Chair for the first time. Was this the child who once insisted on spending the afternoon in the daycare? Fearless now, he nonchalantly side-stepped off at the top as if he’d done it every day of his life.
• Zipping down the groomers, pretending for just a moment that my legs carried only 16 years instead of 41. And then watching Tommy catch some air and realizing that, yes, indeed, my legs have four times as many years on them as his do. And that this is OK.

Perhaps best of all I loved the fact that the air was so clear and bright that on several of the mornings we could see three different mountain ranges – the nearby spine of the Green Mountains with the snowy White Mountains behind them and in the opposite direction the Adirondacks sloping down to the blue of Lake Champlain. For me, nothing makes the world seem more expansive than seeing it from the top of Mad River Glen on a cold day, just as I’m about to fly down to the bottom. I took that photograph with my heart and will keep it there.

(And of course I knew I needed at least one actual photograph so thank you to Ned Guthrie via Flickr.)

My children are in fact very well trained for this 8-hour drive since we do it three or four times a year. The fact that we all love it in Vermont makes the slog worth it, even for the boys, although of course in the middle of the seemingly interminable New York State Thruway it can be easy to forget that fact. When they were both younger I used to spend several hours carefully choosing new books and activities for them. Every trip was a little bit like Christmas because I’d pack up the car with surprises (keeping a few in front with me to dole out as the day dragged on). The boys would wake so eager to get into the car and find what was in there that often they’d be in place a good 15 minutes before Matt and I were ready to leave.

Things have changed a bit since those earlier days of course: The boys are older and can both read to themselves; Tommy and I both have Kindles and thus carry with us the ability to obtain new reading material without a bookstore; and I gave in to the inevitable use of screens and put apps on both my phone and Matt’s iPad that the boys like to play. But even with these changes, I’d say that the bulk of their time in the car is still spent amusing themselves by doing word puzzles, coloring, playing the license plate game, or listening to music or to me read aloud (we started Heidi on this trip in anticipation of our visit to the Alps in the summer).

But even though I’m an old hand at these car trips, on this one I learned something about what the children actually “need” to be happy in the car – it certainly doesn’t have to be new. The boys were thrilled when they came home from school and found what I had laid out for them. They both eagerly set to work “shopping” from the pile and deciding together what they had room for. By the time they were finished the car organizer looked like this:

So not only did I not have to run out to the store – I didn’t even have to do the packing! I call that a win-win.

It’s funny, but I think that we actually all treasure these drives. I know that I do. It’s time apart from the rest of our lives, time to be together in the purest sense of that word. It’s made even sweeter by the fact that I know that the time is soon coming when each of the boys will want to wear headphones so they can listen to their own music, when they will each have their own devices that I don’t control, when they are texting their friends even as they sit behind me and Matt. I try to remember this when the drive becomes wearying or when I don’t feel like checking every truck to see if it comes from Nebraska. Part of what I treasure about traveling with my kids isn’t just what we do when we get there – it’s the journey itself.

I’ve shared how I keep my kids amused on long car rides, now it’s your turn: What are your road trip tricks?

Please click on the photo to see a full-sized version.

I may have walked the Freedom Trail on several occasions in the past, but it still had surprises in store for me. In the street behind the Old North Church, we discovered the then newly opened Printing Office of Edes & Gill where the boys were fascinated to find one of their own helping to run an 18-century printing press.

Gary Gregory, the adult who runs this operation, offers a chance for visitors to see what life was like inside a pre-Revolutionary print shop – a place that was so important for the success of the American rebellion through the dissemination of both propaganda and genuine news. He is full of information about the history of the era (Edes and Gill were the publishers of influential newspapers that helped determine the course of the war) as well as colonial ear printing techniques. And you can buy some very cool replicas of Paul Revere’s engravings in the gift shop.

And that brings me to the end (for now) of my stories of our Summer 2011 trip to Boston! Hope you’ve enjoyed them.

Do you have any fun weekend plans? We’re going skiing at Mad River Glen. But even as I head north, I’m thinking about the beach – in fact I’m pleased to share travel tips about a beach vacation with a bunch of other fab family travel bloggers at the fun and stylish Beach Tomato site.

It was, as I’m sure you can imagine, something of a long and tiring day, even if we did have a good time. After we toured the USS Constitution, we waited for about a half an hour to catch the ferry that would return us to Boston proper. That’s because just as we headed for the dock a container ship entered Boston Harbor, shutting down all boat traffic. Although it was getting late (it was probably about 5:30 at this point) I wasn’t concerned because I had a plan. For dinner, we would walk ten minutes from the dock to the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in America and the traditional dining spot of JFK. This is a place where the menu says you can order “Ye Olde New England Favorites” like broiled scrod. When we finally landed in Boston, I was musing whether I should order some uber-traditional 1950s libation like a martini with an olive in it as we pushed our way through the crowds on the wharf. Because, oh yes, there were crowds, an ominous fact that didn’t register at first.

Now here’s the key piece of information: Although I had a clear plan, I hadn’t made a reservation because I wasn’t sure when we would be done with our walk and ready for dinner. And surely, it wouldn’t be too busy on a Sunday evening!

I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear that when we arrived at the restaurant (at just after 6) we were informed that it would be a 45-minute wait. Just like that, the martini that was hovering over my head in a thought bubble disappeared with a poof.

No problem, I assured Matt. I know that the best place for pizza in the nearby North End is Regina Pizzeria. We’ll just head over there and order a pie. (Those of you with a practical bent might wonder why we didn’t head for the zillions of restaurants at Faneuil Hall a mere few blocks away in the opposite direction. But we were not going to be just hungry tourists! Not us! I have a reputation as a foodie traveling mom to protect, thank you very little.) Tommy and Teddy looked ravenous but utterly defeated. And Matt, knowing me all to well, followed obediently along. So really it’s their fault. If ever there was a moment for dissention from the ranks it was that one.

I was surprised at the chaos that greeted us as we entered the warren of streets that make up Boston’s Little Italy. Every restaurant we passed had a line out the door. It seems that with the demise of the highway that once cut this neighborhood off from the rest of the city (and which now runs underground with a gorgeous park above it) tourists and locals of every stripe had decided to make the North End their destination of choice. And of course, thanks to Internet and travel bloggers (thanks A LOT travel bloggers) all of them knew just where to find the best pizza in Boston. The line at our destination might have been the longest of all.

I was starting to panic a little as my own blood sugar dropped; Tommy looked even worse than I did. Matt realized the delicate and critical nature of the crisis and as we trudged along blindly headed in the general direction of our (restaurantless) hotel he kept his eyes open for a likely spot to dine. As we headed down Salem Street, all of our heads lifted at the scent of perfectly-roasted garlic that seemed especially strong around one storefront with yet another line of people stretching down the block. “Hang on,” he said, entering the door under the illuminated Antico Forno sign. He was back within minutes bearing a pager. “The wait here is only a half hour and I think we can sit down inside,” was his happy report.

We cozied up to the bar as best we could (there wasn’t a lot of space and only two stools were available) and revived the children with chocolate milk and soda and baseball on the television. A glass of wine or two may have also been consumed by the grownups as well, but who’s counting? I watched for 30 minutes, then 45, as the young hostess with an impassable face and gleaming black hair seated table after table while the lights on our pager remained stubbornly off. Finally, seeing two or three tables of people leave, I walked casually up to her and asked when we might expect to be seated. “Oh,” she said vaguely “You’re the second or third people on the list, so I’m sure it won’t be long.” Then I watched as she filled all three tables and then three more without summoning us.

That did it. Grabbing the pager and summoning all my dignity, I swept us out the door, dropping it on her stand without so much as a backward glance, past the long line of people that still stretched up the block, and into the first open door I saw, which happened to be that of a small pizzeria selling slices the size of dinner plates. Since I was basically speaking in gibberish at this point, Matt translated, insisting that, yes, we did want two slices each (this order required four separate pizza boxes, but no mind).

I had so lost my sense of humor that I don’t even have a picture of us eating the huge, greasy (and probably halfway decent but I could barely taste them) slices of pizza near the fountains where two evenings previously the boys had frolicked. Trust me, we all survived.

I’ve shared my food fail – now it’s your turn to ‘fess up: Have you ever run into trouble trying to feed your kids on the road? And how organized are you generally about meal planning? Inquiring minds want to know!

Photo courtesy of Night Owl City via Flickr.

Please click on the photos to see a gallery of full-sized versions.

The main area of the aquarium is taken up with the Giant Ocean Tank, at the bottom of which sits the penguin exhibit. We loved watching these funny birds swim and play and preen, and were also lucky to happen by as they were being fed.

Wandering up the circular walkway that surrounds the huge tank, we marveled at the vast amount of marine life swimming past us. The tank is set up like a Caribbean coral reef and is so big that it was actually constructed before the rest of the aquarium, which was built around it. Teddy was especially enthralled by Myrtle, the giant sea turtle, who was given her breakfast while we watched and then swam up to the edge of the tank as if saying hello.

At the top of the Giant Ocean Tank we visited the Edge of the Sea Touch Tank, where visitors are encouraged to get up close and personal with animals you might find in a tidal pool at the beach.

On the way back down, we visited the sea anemones in the Northern Waters gallery,

spent some time trying out the interactive exhibits about topics like tides and sound waves in the Thinking Gallery,

and then marveled at the lion fish in the Tropical Gallery.

Without question, the highlight of our visit (and the exhibit where we spent the most time) was the Shark & Ray Touch Tank.

The velvety rays here will swim right under your hands, although the sharks are more elusive. Apparently they don’t like loud noise and since the children, to say nothing of the grownups, were utterly unable to keep their voices at a reasonable pitch in the excitement of trying to touch sharks, the room is full of a perpetual din. But patience paid off, and both Matt and Tommy had one of the Bonnethead sharks swim under their hands.

Throughout the aquarium, panels explain the importance of the animals to the Earth’s ecosystem, and I was grateful for (if also sobered by) this information. The kids would occasionally stop to read, but the incredible closeness of all the animals meant that their aquarium experience was more visceral than studied – they just wanted to see and feel. And I think this was just fine. I mean, if you’ve touched a shark, you understand that it means you no harm and also that it actually exists out there swimming quietly in the clear water. What better educational tool can there be than to look straight into the face of nature and to touch it with your own hands?

Please click on the photos to see a click-through gallery of full-sized versions.

There is much to learn here. We spent a good ten minutes outside the front door listening to a park ranger tell the story of December 16, 1773, when more than 5000 colonists packed the building (then the largest in Boston) to debate the tea tax. At the end of this meeting, Sam Adams gave the signal that led the Sons of Liberty to dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The building was considered such a hot spot for colonial rebellion that when the British occupied the city they used the interior as a jumping ground for horses, leaving it in such a state that it required nearly a decade of work to rehabilitate after the war. The building also survived the Great Boston Fire of 1872 and a threat of demolition four years later.

Inside, we were invited to view sculptures of famous (and not-so-famous) members of the congregation as well as artifacts they used in their daily lives and professions. Of interest also was an exhibit called Voices of Protest, which chronicles the story of this building as a place where people could freely speak their minds; it’s been hosting radical speakers without ceasing since the eighteenth century.

Sometimes simple works when it comes to engaging kids with history. Teddy was given a scavenger hunt at the door and was immediately engaged in filling it out. It was perfect for a child his age, with six questions on it about items that could easily be found throughout the meeting house. We had to locate a statue of the slave poet Phillis Wheatley, a teapot, a figure of a boy who was a cobbler (“Draw a picture of what he made for a living. Hint: You are wearing two of these right now!),

the sounding board over the pulpit,

a box pew, and, trickiest of all, a bust of a “famous member of Old South’s congregation” that required looking out the window and across the street.

Teddy was so proud when he had found everything and carefully filled in his answers. He marched them up to the window where he was rewarded with a teapot stamp and a pencil.

On the way out, we saw a restored Paul Revere bell in the basement; one of only 50 in existence, it has since been placed in the steeple and is expected to ring in 2012.

The Freedom Trail offers much to look at and many things to learn; I appreciated this museum that encouraged us to slow down a little and look around one building that has played such an important role in American history.

The Freedom Trail in Boston is different from just about any other historic attraction you’ll visit with your kids, offering as it does a chance to physically locate numerous important historical events in the context of a modern city landscape. I’ve probably walked the trail a half dozen times during my life and it never ceases to amaze me how easily one moves from Paul Revere’s grave to the spot where the Sons of Liberty met before the Boston Tea Party to the site of the Boston Massacre to the bell tower where lights so famously warned of the British coming in 1775.

What is the Freedom Trail?

Running for two and a half miles from the Boston Common in front of the Massachusetts State House through downtown Boston across the Charles River to Charlestown and the site of the Bunker Hill Monument, the Freedom Trail links sixteen different historic sites and also numerous monuments, historic markers, and public art. Perhaps the best aspect of the trail is its Yellow Brick Road quality – it is actually physically marked in the sidewalks and streets of Boston using red bricks and paint, making it fun to follow for even younger kids.

It is possible to walk the entire Freedom Trail with kids during the course of a single day (we did in the summer 2011 when our boys were six and nine) although if you do so, it’s important to remember that you may not want to go inside all of the available historic sites. It would also be easy to cover the trail on multiple days if you’ve got a longer stay in Boston planned or if you want to be more thorough.

Sites your kids won’t want to miss

The Granary Burying Ground. Located close to the beginning of the trail, just up the street from the Boston Common, this graveyard is the final resting place of Paul Revere, Ben Franklin’s parents, the victims of the Boston Massacre (who were buried in Sam Adams’ family tomb), and John Hancock.

The Old South Meeting House. Where the public meeting that led to the Boston Tea Party took place, this former Puritan meeting house also houses a bell made by Paul Revere and a really interesting exhibit about free speech and public discourse in American life.

Site of the Boston Massacre. A dramatic way to engage your children with the history of the trail is to tell the story of the Boston Massacre, when British soldiers opened fire on ordinary citizens who, angry about the Stamp Act, were pelting them with snowballs and rocks. Five men died; the site is marked in the ground with a circle of stones.

Paul Revere House. The oldest building in Boston is this tiny wooden house, which was occupied by the Revere family in the late eighteenth century. Kids will be amazed to see how small the house is; knowledgeable guides inside can tell you about what life was like when its most famous occupant lived there.

The USS Constitution. Not to be missed is the oldest commissioned warship in the world, which is also called Old Ironsides. It’s worth waiting in line for a tour, which is led by an active-duty sailor and will take you below decks and give you a fascinating view of what it was like to live and fight on this 214-year-old ship. In fact, you might consider visiting the Constitution separately from the rest of the trail. It was the last site we saw and I found myself wishing that we had left it for a different day so that in addition to touring the ship we had time and energy to visit the adjoining museum. Note that to enter the Constitution, adults must have ID and will have your bags inspected.

Making the most of your time along the Freedom Trail

If you don’t know Boston at all you might want to check out a map of the trail before you visit to familiarize yourself with the sites along it. And if your children haven’t yet studied the American Revolution in school, you might want to share with them with at least a few of the basic facts and important figures like Paul Revere. Sharing the story of his ride, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party before you walk the trail will help engage children and give you a chance to turn your walk into something of a scavenger hunt as you seek out the sites of these famous tales. Got toddlers? Consider breaking the trail up into smaller chunks so that you aren’t wrestling with them in numerous museums.

You can also encourage older kids by picking up or downloading the two Junior Ranger handbooks for the trail published by the National Parks Service (there is so much material to cover that they offer a separate books for the Boston and Charlestown portions of the trail). Note that the downtown National Parks Service Visitor Center is situated in the middle of the trail, so you might want to stop by there before you actually begin your walk (they can give you a free map to guide you as well). The Park Service also offers a free walking tour on a first-come, first-served basis.

As far as knowing what you are looking at, the sites along the Freedom Trail all include signs explaining their significance, and the buildings you can enter all offer either paper or human guides (or both). I think that a self-guided tour works best with kids, since it gives you the flexibility to explore the areas you all find the most interesting and to stop whenever you want to. Since the trail is marked in the sidewalk, it’s virtually impossible to get lost. Most of the sites are free, although there is a small fee for some of them.

Check ahead also for the hours of the sites you want to visit, which vary at different times of the year (the Freedom Trail Foundation offers links with information for each individual site). For example, the State House is not open for tours on Saturday or Sunday. The Constitution is only open between Tuesday and Sunday from November 1 until March 31. And of course, be prepared for crowds and lines at some of the more popular sites if you visit during summer months or school holidays.

Since the trail meanders through downtown Boston, you’re never far from food while you’re on it. Faneuil Hall Market, which comes about halfway through the trail’s monuments if not its distance, is a tourist hub with numerous restaurants offering everything from enchiladas to sushi (you will in fact find one of only three U.S. outposts of my favorite British chain Wagamama). To keep in the historic New England spirit, I recommend Durgin Park, which is one of the oldest continuously operating restaurants in the United States. Although it is now corporately owned, you’ll still find the tiled floors, mouthy waitresses, and thick clam chowder that have been served there for generations. A bit further along the trail marches directly through Boston’s Italian neighborhood called the North End, where in addition to excellent pizza, you’ll find the best cannolis around at Mike’s Pastry. And you could easily pack a picnic, which you could enjoy in the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway or the lovely courtyard that fronts the Old North Church.

If you walk the length of the trail from the Common to the USS Constitution and find yourself tired and unwilling to walk back across the river to downtown, I recommend catching the boat shuttle that runs from the Charlestown Navy Yard to the Long Wharf near Faneuil Hall. The boat ride makes for a relaxing end to the day, and you’ll get some great photo ops of the Boston skyline.

Of course, what makes the Freedom Trail one of the more family-friendly attractions you’ll find in any American city is the fact that you can pick it up anywhere along its length, spend as much or as little time as you want, and still come away having learned some valuable lessons about the history of Boston and the Revolutionary War.

Thanks to the hotels great location, in the space of a mere 24 hours, the two of them covered a lot of territory. They explored some outdoor art and a giant slide;

met the Ballooniac at FAO Schwarz;

fed a pretzel to pigeons by the Plaza;

visited the animals at the Central Park Zoo;

ate brioche and mini pastries at the nearby Le Pain Quotidien (one of my favorite chain restaurants in the world);

visited a Gaugin at the Museum of Modern Art;

and enjoyed lunch at the Omni’s Fireside Restaurant. All by foot!

I’ve written before about how Omni Hotels help to make kids feel welcome and comfortable. The Berkshire is no exception. Teddy loved his goodie bag, which was filled with fun toys that he could use while on the trip including a small Frisbee, a hacky sack, and a magnifying glass – perfect for the park. He wasn’t hungry for the milk and cookies that were sent up as an afternoon snack but was so happy to put them in a special place where he could find them right when he woke up in the morning! And at the end of a busy day, he loved the comfort of his double bed.

Me? I was thrilled by how quiet our room was. We were at the back of the hotel, and there was virtually no street noise, not a small miracle in Manhattan. The recently-renovated room was reasonably sized and nicely appointed, with plenty of plugs for my myriad devices and ample lamps (a pet peeve of mine is when a hotel room doesn’t provide adequate and flexible lighting). It also had a positively luxurious bathroom with oodles of counter space.

I’m guessing that the Omni Berkshire Place plays home to more business travelers than families, but I wouldn’t overlook this hotel if you’re planning a Manhattan trip with your kids. The location is great – it’s an easy walk to Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and the Theatre District. There’s lots of great shopping in the area (including FAO Schwarz, the American Girl Place, and Dylan’s Candy Bar). And hopping in a cab or on the subway to get to the Empire State Building or lower Manhattan couldn’t be easier.

And should you feel like hanging out at the hotel on Saturday, you can visit the Kids Korner for some crafting fun accompanied by a good dose of gummy bears. You’ll find the room presided over by this nice young man:

His name is Mark and this now weekly tradition started during the evacuations brought on by Hurricane Irene. The hotel was full, not only with out-of-town guests but with local families escaping the zone around the East River. Mark thought fast, ran to the drug store across the street, and created an impromptu fun fest for the children that included follow-the-leader and lots of glitter and glue. “We had such a positive response,” he said, “That it became a regular feature.”

To me this exemplifies what I like about Omni Hotels – the way they think about the comfort of their guests and also the ease with which they blend elegance and family-friendly touches. Whether it’s a bowl of apples in the lobby that provide endless healthy snacks, the warm throws at the end of each bed that make for perfect bedtime snuggling, or the handmade individual pizzas on the kids menu, you’ll find that you and your kids feel completely at home.

Full disclosure: Omni Hotels covered the cost of our room as part of my participation in the Family Travel Conference, which I attended free of charge. In fact, I was wined and dined by the conference’s many wonderful sponsors, enjoying in particular a delicious lunch at Virgil’s Real Barbecue right around the corner from Times Square courtesy of Atlantis Resorts. I left not only with a host of ideas but with a New York Pass that’s good for a year. I can’t wait to get back with both boys and do a bit more exploring.

Click on the image to see a full-sized version.

What a difference 8 years make! The photo on the left is from our 2003 stay in Boston; on the right see our 2011 recreation of that special moment. Next week I’ll share our story of walking the Freedom Trail (this photo comes right in the middle), including a separate post about visiting the Old South Meeting House, which was one of our favorite places along the path. I’ll finish up our Boston trip by writing about the New England Aquarium.

For Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

I have always liked history, and as fortune would have it, I married a man who shares that interest. Maybe it’s because I enjoy stories, but to me there’s something so amazing in the idea that at every point in recorded time ordinary people have been going about their day-to-day business with the same kinds of concerns that we have today. And I’m fairly ecumenical in my tastes – want to share the history of the ball bearing? The pencil? Cheese? I’m all eyes and ears.

But just because I’m a sucker for pretty much any kind of diorama, interactive display, or museum panel doesn’t mean I assume my children will enjoy them equally. I’m lucky that both of my boys like history too, but I know that making sure they continue to do so is part of my job as a traveling mom. If we keep having fun at museums and historic sites, they’ll keep wanting to visit them.

So what are my top tips for making historical attractions interesting for children?

1. Read, read, and read some more. Before we even leave home I make sure that we’ve read up on the place we’re visiting and understand its historical significance. When my children were younger, this might have meant me reading books to them or finding art or history books with lots of pictures that I could share and discuss. Now that they are independent readers, I visit the library and find age-appropriate books for them and then just leave these lying around to be discovered. Series I love include the “Horrible Histories” and “You Wouldn’t Want to Be a…” both of which take a humorous and engaging approach to teaching about history.

2. Take a tour. A good guide can do a lot to breathe life into a historic site or museum and many now offer tours especially aimed at families. The best thing about tours and kids is that sometimes they can be a great way to combine historic information with exercise, as when we rode through Central London with a guide via Fat Tire Bike tours. There’s no better way to keep children interested than to keep them moving!

3. Make connections. Visiting an old school house? Talk about the similarities and differences between it and your child’s classroom. At Hagley last spring, we played “I Spy” in the kitchen of a historic house – I asked the boys to find the antique equivalents of things that we have at home. At the Globe Theatre in London, we talked about how different seeing a play there would be from going to the movies. Another tack is to connect what you’re looking at to things your children have learned at school or to other places you’ve visited.

4. Encourage questions. This may seem obvious, but I can’t tell you how often I’ve been in a museum or at a historic site and overheard families where kids ask questions only to have the adults simply respond “I don’t know.” When your child asks what an item is or how it was used, find someone who can give you the answer, even if it takes a little doing. Most museums now have docents or interpreters throughout who will be more than happy to help you get the information you need. We’ve done this so often that my children will often seek out docents themselves to ask questions.

5. Dress up. This last tip won’t work for every child or in every situation, but one of the most successful experiences we had in historic immersion was at Colonial Williamsburg where we rented a costume for Teddy. He absolutely loved wearing the blouse, rucksack, and hat (we purchased the latter and he very carefully chose a cockade with which to decorate it) and I think it made the entire experience more vivid for him. It helped that the interpreters there continually addressed him in character – expecting him to bow in return and doff his hat – and that he was invited to participate in both seed planting and a muster as if he were an 18^th-century child. I think the takeaway here is that meaningful interactivity and immersion – whether it involves dressing up or not – is the way to go.

Thus far we’ve managed to have very positive experiences at a whole host of different historic sites from the Tower of London to Versailles to the small museum in Milton, Wisconsin. I’ll be honest and confess that I do worry about a bit about what will happen when my children get older and reach that eye-rolling stage when everything is boring. But until then I’m going to enjoy every historical moment.

These are my top tips for engaging kids with history on the road. Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite suggestions?