Dear Family Travelers:

Ready to time travel?

There's no better way to show the kids that history can be fun-especially as they are getting ready to return to school-than at a living history museum where you have the chance to step back in time, meeting and greeting those who lived then.  

Here are six ideas for a last-gasp summer blast: You'll find more at our Our Very Best Summer Vacation Ideas:

1. IN CALIFORNIA: pan for gold where the discovery of gold ushered in the gold rush or right along San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, board floating historical ships at a National Park.  
2. IN MASSACHUSETTS: PLIMOUTH PLANTATION is the place to see what life was like for the Pilgrims and the Native Americans in 1627, seven years after the arrival of Mayflower. Also discover how the 17th Century Wampanoag would have lived along the coast. Make sure to visit the Mayflower II, the recreation of the Mayflower.
3. IN VIRGINIA: THE HISTORIC TRIANGLE includes Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center as well as Colonial Williamsburg. At Jamestown, board replicas of the ships that sailed from England to Virginia in 1607 and explore the recreation of the colonists' fort and Powhatan village.   At Yorktown Victory Center, visit the re-created Continental Army encampment and the 1780s farm. At Colonial Williamsburg, meet the citizens-African American and White -- of what was the capital of England's oldest and biggest North American colony in the 18th Century before the American revolution. Check out the on line Kids Zone for games and activities to enhance your visit.
4. IN NEW YORK STATE: THE FARMERS MUSEUM in Cooperstown, NY is one of the oldest rural life museums in the country and gives you the chance to experience 19th Century life through recreated historic village, a working farmstead and the historic Empire State Carousel. Here's what I wrote about our visit.
5. IN CONNECTICUT:  MYSTIC SEAPORT is the place to see the last surviving wooden whale ship, see the art of wooden shipbuilding and see what the Mystic River area looked like in 1870 with houses, shops barns and more.
6. IN INDIANA:  CONNER PRAIRIE is the chance not only to visit an 1836 prairie town, but to experience an 1863 Civil War Journey and the raid on Indiana when thousands of Hoosiers joined with Federal forces to push the raiders out of the state. You can step right into the town of Dupont following the raid.

So where do the kids want to time travel first?