Travels with Children

End-o-Line Railroad Park and Museum

440 North Mill Street, Currie, MN.  507-763-3708.  www.endoline.com
Admission charged.  Free parking.  Some areas stroller accessible.  Restrooms available.

We visited the End-o-Line Railroad Park and Museum on a rainy August Sunday.  Looking for something interesting to do on the way back from a wedding, I stumbled upon the museum in a guidebook and we decided to go out of our way to see it.

By the time we arrived, the rain was really pouring down, but that didn’t deter us from running into the gift shop, our raincoats keeping us half-dry, and the staff were cheery in deciding who got to show us around in the downpour.  Our guide took us first to see the caboose, where the kids were allowed to have a good look around, and we learned some things we hadn’t previously known about cabooses and their purpose on the railroad.

From the caboose, we dashed into a large display shed, where there was a narrow gauge engine and many railroad artifacts, including a station agent’s collection of tools through the years, down to the many types of lunchboxes he used.

Then, our guide running ahead and telling us the best places to step, we went into the depot, divided into the men’s and women’s sides, and saw the ticket office, and then to the HO model display of the museum and nearby Currie countryside.  For the kids to see not only real trains, but also models, at one museum was very exciting, and our guide was very obliging in running all of the models that were operational.

Due to the rain, we did not visit the park, which includes a school, church, general store, playground equipment, bike trail, and picnic area.  We’ll save that for another trip.

The End-o-Line Railroad Park and Museum is one of Minnesota’s hidden gems.  If you’re ever in the Marshall or Lake Shetek areas, be sure to stop in and see it!

I liked it there even though it was raining.  I liked the model trains.  I liked it when we got to buy something.  We got to see lots of old trains.

Holmberg Orchard

6 miles west of Vesta on County Road 30, 1 mile north on County Road 8, Vesta, MN.  507-762-3131.  www.holmbergorchard.com
Free admission.  Free parking.  Stroller accessible.  Restroom available.  Concessions available (dates/hours vary).

This ended up being our third annual trip to the Holmberg Orchard, and we weren’t disappointed.  We first went two years ago on a weekday, just for apples, and last year joined an ECFE field trip to the orchard.  This year we stopped because it was on our way to Walnut Grove and I was hoping to buy a few more Honeycrisp apples since we were driving by.

We arrived at the orchard just after it opened at 10 a.m. and were the first car in the parking lot.  The kids played in the boats filled with corn, and then we bought a few squash and found our apples.  The boys noticed the sign for hayrides to the pumpking patch, but I explained that the hayrides (per the sign) didn’t start until 11:00, and it was only 10:20.  The proprietor asked if the kids wanted rides and promptly found someone to take us, so we had a private ride through the orchard to the huge pumpkin patch.  The kids each chose a pumpkin and we headed back and paid for them.  By this time, the kids noticed that they were setting up for pony rides, and the lunch stand opened at 11 a.m., so we stuck around a while longer so we could have lunch and pony rides before leaving.

Bottom line:  the early hayride netted the orchard an additional $31 in sales (pumpkins, lunch, and pony rides) and made the day a lot more fun for the kids.  It’s nice to visit a business that is so accommodating to its customers!

Ingalls Dugout Site

1.5 miles north of Walnut Grove on Redwood County Highway 5, Walnut Grove, MN.  www.walnutgrove.org/dugout.htm
$4 per car.  Free parking;  Stroller-accessible although the path is steep and sandy.  No restrooms.

Our Saturday adventure was on the theme of Laura Ingalls Wilder, so we headed to Walnut Grove, Minnesota.  On the way into Walnut Grove, we stopped at the historic marker along the road, and then turned into the dugout site just south of the marker.

To visit the dugout, you drive onto a farm place and deposit your admission in the self-service box, then wind your way down the road to a large parking area.  When you leave your car, you follow the path through the wildflowers and over the bridge crossing Plum Creek, then up the path to the top of the bank where a sign details the site of the Ingalls’ dugout.  Although the dugout has long since caved in, the depression is evident and one can imagine Laura playing down by the creek or up above on the prairie.  A page from Laura’s book detailing the dugout is displayed to help you see it in your mind.

Although the museum in Walnut Grove has much more about Laura and her family, there’s just something about being right there by Plum Creek that’s hard to explain.  If you’re going to the museum in Walnut Grove, be sure to make the short drive to the dugout site as well.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

330 8th St., Walnut Grove, MN.  507-528-7280.  www.walnutgrove.org/museum.htm
$5 ages 13 and over; $2 ages 6-12; 5 and under free.  Free parking.  Stroller accessible.  Restrooms available (no changing table but decent sized counter by sink).

I had been to the Wilder Museum when I was a child, and again a few years ago, but I couldn’t remember how it would be for kids as young as mine are.  I shouldn’t have been worried.  Other than the gift shop that inspired a bad case of the “gimmes,” the museum was great for kids.

The depot building has a lot of memorabilia that the kids weren’t really interested in, so we breezed through there pretty quickly and made our way to the little church.  The kids had fun playing “Pastor” in the pulpit and sitting on the kid-sized pews while I worked the pump organ (clearly labeled as “hands-on” and with period music furnished).  Then we went through Grandma’s House, which had many furnishings allowing for a nice little refresher quiz for the kids to see if they could still identify a washboard, flatiron, wood stove, etc. that they had seen on other travels.

The last room of Grandma’s House was completely hands-on and designed just for kids.  They could dress up in costumes, play with pioneer-style games and toys, and use a pioneer “play” kitchen.  There was a smaller pump organ here as well.

Then we went past the old jail cells into the replica of the Ingalls dugout.  Smaller than any of our bedrooms, it’s hard to imagine an entire family living there.  The kids’ favorite was the little red school where they took turns being teacher and teacher’s helper, and finally we went through the replica of the “wonderful” house that Laura and her family had lived in.

We took a walk uptown to see the Oleson Mercantile, which is a nice flower and gift shop (and has a souvenir penny machine, if you’re a collector like we are) and took some time to play in the park with its variety of playground equipment, ranging from a nice little toddler area to a good old-fashioned slippery-slide, before heading back to the car.  As we walked past the museum, the kids asked if we could go back in.  They loved the church and school enough that they wanted to role-play again, and the staff obliged.

Although they’ve only seen the Little House TV show a few times and haven’t read the books yet, the kids seemed to really enjoy learning about Laura and the pioneer times at the Wilder Museum.

Sod House on the Prairie

12598 Magnolia Ave. (just off Hwy 14, one mile east of Sanborn corner), Sanborn, MN.  507-723-5138.  www.sodhouse.org
$4 per person; under 7 free.  Free parking.  Stroller accessible (gravel path).  Restrooms available.

“Mom, we sure are learning a lot about Laura today.”  The Sod House on the Prairie was a natural extension of our trip to Walnut Grove.  We drove up the the farmsite, deposited our admission at the self-serve station by the house, and walked out on the prairie to see the sod houses.

Originally designed as a bed-and-breakfast, the Sod House is now an exhibit only.  On the prairie, the grass so tall I could just see over it, are a “soddy,” or sod house, a dugout, and a log cabin.  The thick walls and doors with “old-days” latches are a novelty for the kids; they also like seeing the old furnishings and notice that there isn’t TV, which makes for an interesting conversation about what pioneers did for entertainment.

The Sod House was a nice stop to let the kids run on the prairie paths and get a new perspective of how things were in another time.

DuPage Children’s Museum

301 N. Washington St., Naperville, IL.  630-637-8000.  www.dupagechildrensmuseum.org
$7.50 ages 1 and up; $6.50 seniors 60 and up.  Free parking.  Stroller accessible.  Restrooms with changing tables available.
Reciprocal admission through ACM (see “Adventures on a Budget” above for more information).

Our trip to the DuPage Children’s Museum was somewhat unplanned.  We wanted to go to the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier, but the Navy Pier parking lots were full and we gave up on finding the alternate parking in downtown Chicago, so we looked at our list of potential Chicago-area places to visit and decided on DuPage Children’s Museum.  It ended up working out well, as the 30-40 minute trip there gave the kids a chance for a little nap in the car.

We had called for directions, so we found the museum without any trouble.  The museum is also right next to a Metra train station, so that would be another transportation option.

Inside, most of the exhibits are on one level.  (We didn’t even realize there was a second exhibit area until we were on our way out at closing time.)  Instead of being separate rooms, they are grouped into “neighborhoods” that flow from one into another.  In some ways, this is nice, because our children could be exploring different things at different times, but on the other hand, it was hard to keep track of everyone!

I really liked the special baby and toddler areas so that the little ones had some age-appropriate things to do.  The building workshop was a hit with my four-year-old, and the six- and three-year-olds liked the music area (which is in its own room to help contain the noise of the bells and drums).  The water/bubble area succeeded in getting everyone wet despite the plastic smocks, but that comes with the territory.

This is a bright and cheery children’s museum, with large windows that let in sunlight.  It is also well-staffed so that you see museum workers out on the exhibit floor.  (This is not true at every children’s museum.)  I did think it was loud in there in a white-noise kind of way; I’m not sure if was the ventilation system or the ball-blast exhibit, but there was a general loudness (beyond children’s voices) there.

There’s a huge purple chair available for kids to take a rest or climb on, and it’s the perfect place to take a souvenir photo.  Benches for parents or grandparents to rest on are also plentiful throughout the museum.

We hadn’t arrived at the museum until mid-afternoon, so our visit was cut short by the closing of the museum.  We would have liked to explore even more.

I really liked the choo-choo train outside by the door.

I liked the balls when they sent them different places.

Duluth Children’s Museum

506 W. Michigan St., Duluth, MN.  218-733-7543.  www.duluthchildrensmuseum.org
$10 adults, $5.50 ages 3-13, 2 and under free; admission also includes Duluth Art Institute, Lake Superior Railroad Museum, Veteran’s Memorial, and the St. Louis County Historical Society exhibits in the same building.  Parking adjacent (fee?).  Stroller accessible.  Restrooms available.
Reciprocal admission through ACM and ASTM (see “Adventures on a Budget” for more information).

The Duluth Children’s Museum is part of the Depot, a complex that includes a train museum, veteran’s memorial, art museum, and county historical exhibits, so when we made our plans, I expected we’d be there most of the day.  We arrived just as the museum opened on a crisp January morning and paid our admission, then visited the train museum first.  Then we made our way across the hallway to the children’s museum.

As children’s museums go, this one is small, but it does have some of the traveling exhibits I’ve seen at other museums.  On the lower level, there were two exhibit areas, and upstairs another exhibit area and a hallway displaying children’s toys through the years.  Connecting the two is a treehouse staircase.  As an adult, the treehouse isn’t spectacular, but my parents had taken us to the museum when I was a young child, and I fondly remembered the treehouse.  It’s just a lot bigger when you’re small than when you’re grown!  An elevator is also available for moving strollers up and down.

Although the museum is small, it had enough to keep the kids busy for a while, but because of their different interests and the fun of playing in the treehouse, it was hard to keep track of them.  Eventually my husband went downstairs and I stayed up so we could successfully keep an eye on all of our children.

The museum is located in downtown Duluth, and we didn’t find any eating establishments nearby (within a quick walking distance) so I was glad we saw what we wanted before lunch, when we made the short drive to the Canal Park area to eat.  I believe there were vending machines with snacks in the building, so you could probably tide the kids over if you needed to, but but there is no on-site cafe.

Combined with the train museum, this was a nice stop for us although the children’s museum itself isn’t as spectacular as some others.  A note about membership, however–their membership rates that include reciprocities with ACM and/or ASTM are some of the best bargains in the country.

[slideshow id=2017612633068185600&w=250&h=250]

Deardorff Orchards

8350 Parley Lake Rd., Waconia, MN.  www.deardorfforchards.com
Free.  Free parking (along gravel road).  Stroller accessible.  Restrooms (porta-potties) available.  Some foods available in apple store.

Fall in Minnesota wouldn’t be complete without a trip to an orchard to find some home-grown Honeycrisp apples.  Our orchard of choice this year was Deardorff Orchards, between Waconia and Victoria, Minnesota.  We arrived on a crisp September morning and parked along the road, then walked onto the farm site that is home to the orchard.  We played on the hay pile and saw a few farm animals, then boarded a flatbed, tractor-pulled wagon to pick our own apples.

When we visited Deardorff two years ago, I had three children, ages 4, 2, and 1, and I was nervous enough about the flatbed ride that we didn’t go to the pick-your-own area.  With the kids a little older, though, and the staff being willing to help me lift the stroller onto the cart (and me locking the wheels), I gave it a try, being sure we were sitting in the middle of the trailer.  The tractor deposited us in the orchard after describing where we could find various varieties of apples.  We picked some apples and then returned to the farm, where we walked through the store.  There, in refrigerators, were additional pre-picked apples, as well as pumpkins, jams and jellies, doughnuts, and other goods.  We paid for our apples and made our way back to the car.  Deardorff also has special activities, including cider and hotdogs, at certain times, and they have wagons for pulling apples or kids, and the site is picturesque enough that it served as our Christmas card picture a few years ago.  So, take the kids and your camera to Deardorff Orchards when you want some good, homegrown Minnesota apples!

Como Zoo

1225 Estabrook Drive (in Como Park), St. Paul, MN. 651-487-8200. www.comozooconservatory.org/
Free (but donation of $2 adult/$1 child suggested). Free parking. Stroller accessible. Restrooms available, family restroom in main building. Cafe on-site, concessions available.

We’ve been to a few zoos in the past few years, and we’ve noticed that there are two types: big ones, where you walk for miles to see animals in their “natural” habitats, and smaller zoos where the animals each have their own little area. St. Paul’s Como Zoo is of the latter type, making it fun for kids without being exhausting for stroller pushers.

One of the nice things about Como Zoo is that you can see all of the typical “zoo” animals–lions and tigers and (polar) bears, plus zebras and giraffes. We’ve been to zoos where we walked and walked looking for the lions, only to learn that they didn’t have any. Something else nice is that if you get lost, or if your kids want to dart from one exhibit area to another, it’s all in close proximity, so you really can let the kids lead you if that’s what you choose to do. All of the buildings are stroller-accessible, but a few have stairs on one side and a ramp on the other, so you can’t just file in one door and out the other.

Favorites of the kids this time around were the polar bear and the lions (since we’d recently watched the Lion King). Inside the new visitor center is a “tropical encounters” exhibit where we could see tropical plants and birds.

The zoo is open year-round, and we have learned that it’s a lot quieter there on a chilly November day than on a warm August day. Parking was difficult to find; both of the zoo lots and the nearby park lots were full so we ended up parking along the street and walking quite a way.

Also accessible through the visitor center is the Marjorie McNeely conservatory, which we did not visit this time.

We did take a ride on the historic Cafesjian’s Carousel, however, and it was a real treat! A restored antique carousel, all of the horses are hand-carved. My older three rode on horses, and I sat in a chariot with my toddler. It was one of the fastest and longest carousel rides I’ve been on.

Also, be aware that there is an amusement park called Como Town adjacent to and visible from the zoo, so if you’re not interested in spending extra money on fair-type rides, you can prepare your “no” answers ahead of time.

Como Zoo is one of those classic zoos that is a delight to visit with young children.

I really liked looking at the lion and I liked going on the carousel, too.

Chicago History Museum

1601 N. Clark St. (S end of Lincoln Park), Chicago, IL. 312-642-4600. www.chicagohs.org
$14 adults, 12 and under free. Free on Mondays. Nearby parking availble (fee). Stroller accessible. Restrooms available. Cafe on-site.

We got to the Chicago History Museum after spending the morning in Lincoln Park, and we were hungry, so our first stop was at the small Wolfgang Puck’s cafe onsite. Unfortunately, the prices were high and the kids choices limited (especially when considering a peanut allergy) so our lunch was light. When we headed into the museum, however, we found the fun.

Galleries about the Great Chicago Fire, Chicago’s music, a streetcar and train engine, and volunteers showing the city’s bridges were interesting, and we learned a lot about Chicago’s history. We saved the best for last, however. The Sensing Chicago exhibit area was a lot of fun! We were able to smell traditional Chicago items, experience a Cubs game, and listen to some Chicago jazz, but being made into a giant hotdog, complete with “condiments,” was a highlight. The kids especially liked making me into a hotdog! We ended our museum trip by creating and sending an electronic postcard from each of the kids, which will be a nice memory of our trip.

The Chicago History Museum was interesting for both the adults and kids in our family, and I’m glad we made the trek through Lincoln Park to see it.

I liked the train car and I really liked it when they had My Chicago and I also liked being a hotdog, but not when they put on the hard toppings.