There is actually a medical term for the fear of ventriloquist dolls: automatonophobia. Some kids get scared of those dummies, even when they aren't particularly creepy. Other kids just seem fascinated by the whole idea of a talking doll. Believe it or not, but there is a museum devoted to the world of ventriloquism. The Vent Haven Museum is located at 33 West Maple Avenue in Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky. Tours are by appointment only, but a tour is really worth the effort.

The Vent Haven Museum is made up of hundreds of "retired" ventriloquist dolls, including some replicas of famous dolls like Charlie McCarthy. The tour can last up to ninety minutes, so that should give some indication as to what to expect. If the Vent Haven Museum was just a collection of wooden and plastic doppelgangers staring at visitors with their dead eyes that would be one thing and kind of interesting in a macabre way. Admittedly, some younger kids will not be impressed since the Vent Haven Museum is not the kind of hands-on museum that all the kids seem to love today. But as the only museum dedicated solely to the genuinely bizarre art of ventriloquism, it is worth a visit to peek into what still remains a rather mysterious sub-genre of the entertainment world.

Parents whose kids do suffer some form of automatonophobia or parents who suffer the disorder themselves, may want to put some serious thought into visiting the Vent Haven Museum. A large part of the appeal for some visitors is the eerie feeling the museum gives off. Yes, truly walking through a museum that is populated with lifelike dummies everywhere you look is like stepping into the Twilight Zone. If one of the dolls happens to move by itself, the best course of action is probably just to ignore it. It almost undoubtedly is simply your imagination at work. Either that or put a direct call in to Mulder and Scully.

Strap the clown shoes on the kids and head to circus central in Sarasota, Florida. A long time ago, the Greatest Show on Earth headed out by rails around the country to show off Jumbo the Elephant, Emmett Kelly the clown and trapeze artists galore. But the circus train always managed to find its way back to the sleepy, little, Florida town that is home to everything circus-related.

The Ringling Museum of the Circus in Sarasota opened 60 years ago and has been thrilling visitors ever since. What began as a simple collection of circus memorabilia has expanded to include such must-see attractions as the "World's Largest Miniature Circus," (not to be confused with the world's smallest big-screen TV), and a real highlight: the world's largest collection of circus posters. A trip to the Ringling Museum of the Circus is a trip to a museum that kids will actually love. The circus really was the Greatest Show on Earth before the arrival of radio, the movies, television and the Internet. Those circus posters are about as low-tech in terms of advertising as it gets, but compared to the incessant pop-up Internet ads and TV commercials, those circus posters are the equivalent of the fine art.

Unless you suffer from coulrophobia, the Ringling Museum of the Circus is an absolute delight. What is coulrophobia? The bane of the Ringling Museum of the Circus and circuses around the world: fear of clowns. But don't despair; the museum is devoted to all things having to do with the circus, and clowns are but one part of this amazing destination site. Traveling to Sarasota is like walking back into time when every kid looked forward to the day the circus came to town. It reminds parents of a certain sense of innocence and nostalgia.

Don't have the dough to travel to England anymore since ... well, you know. Well, America is England's rebellious little kid so it should come as no surprise that anything they can do, we can do better. If not better, at least more commercially. What's that you say? You never knew America had her own Stonehenge? If you travel up to Salem, New Hampshire, you will visit a place that may be more popularly known as Mystery Hill, which is nearly guaranteed to thrill and amaze your children.

The name America's Stonehenge appears to have stuck despite the fact that the rock structures around the thirty acres of Mystery Hill look nothing like the instantly recognizable Stonehenge in England. The creation of America's Stonehenge remains something of a mystery, which is only deepened if the conventional wisdom, that it was built by a 19th century farmer, is true. Any person who constructed this Stonehenge would be almost as amazing as those who built England's version. Another legend says Mystery Hill was the work of an ancient North American civilization.

If you had to pick just one time of the year that will bring about assertions from your kids of the serious awesomeness of America's Stonehenge, it would be late June. June 21st, in fact, because it's the summer solstice. If you arrive at Mystery Hill that day and prop your kids up on the viewing platform, they will watch as the sun sets perfectly behind an extraordinarily sharp, pointed rock. The centerpiece monument at America's Stonehenge is a slab that has been determined to have been a sacrificial altar. Beneath this table lies a kind of tube that is connected to a cavernous oracle chamber. The amazing thing is that the tube was actually used for speaking through as a pre-electricity public address system.

Whether you call it Mystery Hill or America's Stonehenge, this incredible New Hampshire wonder is a place neither you nor the kids will forget.

Okay, you can't really get your kids a degree in foreign relations by visiting Denali National Park in Alaska and looking at Russia from atop Mt. McKinley, but it is still a worthwhile trip. There is probably no better spot in all of America to give your little Nintendo DS fanatics a taste of what the great American outdoors was like before kids reduced their interest in nature to when it appears on television.

Has your little one ever watched Balto or been thrilled by the fast-paced excitement of the Iditarod? What kid doesn't want to watch big husky dogs pulling a man on a sled behind them? And what about you? Did you ever have one of those Ansel Adams calendars pinned to the wall inside your kitchen? One of Ansel Adams' most famous sets of black and white photographs captured the majestic beauty of the aptly named Wonder Lake. Just the beauty of Wonder Lake will be enough to make your kids appreciate the incredible power of going on a vacation that doesn't feature roller coasters or even museums. No museum on earth can fully capture the sheer, overwhelming awe of the features on display at Denali National Park.

Denali, the most gorgeous of America's National Parks, is ideal for families that enjoy hiking, backpacking, fishing, climbing and all those things that people used to do on vacation before "virtually" enjoying a vacation became the standard. Sure, you could go down to the Country Bear Jamboree at Disney World, but wouldn't you rather show your kids what black bears and grizzlies look like before they are wiped off the face of the earth? In addition to bears, a visit to Denali National Park will probably result in encounters with caribou, moose and possibly even the elusive wolverine. Just remember, however, that wolverines in the wilderness aren't like the semi-domesticated types who play football in Michigan.

Did you know that Hershey Park is one of the oldest amusement parks in America? It originally opened in 1907. Over time Hershey Park grew to look more and more like a traditional amusement park. The amusement park built on the rotten teeth of American children actually has more rides than the Magic Kingdom.

The thing that really separates the amusement park in Hershey, PA is the smell. I'm not sure whether they pump the smell of chocolate in artificially or if just naturally wafts over from the factory, but arriving at Hershey Park has much the same effect as looking for a new house where the owners were smart enough to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies before you arrived.

The truth of the matter is that Hershey Park is not really particularly distinguishable from a Six Flags park or even Disney, but there is one thing that Hershey Park has that those areas don't: proximity to the Hershey World of Chocolate. Once you get your thrill from the rollercoaster and other wild rides, it's time to take a tour of what Homer Simpson would describe as The Land of Chocolate. Don't go mistaking the idea of a regular Taste of Whatever with the tour in Hershey World. Yes, you get to sample chocolate at your leisure (and what child won't go crazy over that?), but the tour is really an interactive experience featuring animatronics and special effects. Do you remember that wild boat ride in the original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"? Well, that's nothing compared to the 3-D show that they put on at Hershey. While you won't actually see any Oompa Loompas, the animated characters flying directly in front of your eyes are a pretty good substitute.

After you See Rock City and give the whole looking at seven states from atop the peak of Lookout Mountain a try, there is only one place left in this Tennessee vacation spot for you to hit. It is time to turn your kids into mole people, lace up their finest hiking boots and trek down into the ground beneath the surface of that majestic plateau of Tennessee limestone. What awaits you and the kids in the coolness that can only be found in the summertime 1,200 feet underground?

Ruby Falls! Yeah, sure, you've heard of Niagara Falls and all the other spectacular falls that America has to offer, but they are all aboveground. As amazing as the sight of a raging river falling over a cliff in the great outdoors may seem, that's nothing compared to the 145-foot drop of Ruby Falls, which takes place entirely beneath the ground. There is simply no other waterfall in the United States that compares to Ruby Falls.

How many times have you heard that what's important is the journey rather than the destination? Well, you can have it both ways at Ruby Falls. The destination is, of course, that amazing waterfall, but along the way you will be treated to all the memorable sights that make up a spectacular cavern. In addition to the expected stalagmites and stalactites (your kids can probably tell you which one is which if you are confused), there are also unusual rock formations with memorable names. Although you will probably see any number of these amazing rock formations, it is almost guaranteed that your kids will remember one rock formation in particular twenty years after the visit to Ruby Falls. It is called Steak and Eggs. Keep an eye out for it!

Ruby Falls, Lookout Mountain and Rock City make up a fascinating trip for kids and adults alike, and anyone living in proximity should make a trip to all three.

See Rock City.

There is nobody from the immediate north, south, east or west of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee who has not passed a veritable multitude of barns with the words "See Rock City" painted on them. Rock City is just one of the many fantastic sites to see in the Lookout Mountain area near Chattanooga. And Rock City is definitely a hot vacation spot for travelers with kids.

Kids in particular will go crazy at Rock City. Why? Because, well, it truly is a rock city. Rock City is a long, winding path of rock formations, which the guys in charge have doctored and dolled up to present a kind of story. In fact, if you pay close attention while you meander along these truly extraordinary rock formations, you can kind of create a little plot line for you and the children. Kids really love to turn a vacation into an adventure, and in too many cases that means pretending to be spies while chasing each other through the corridors of the hotel. Instead, the kids can squeeze through the narrow passage of Rock City known as Fat Man's Squeeze and pretend they are trying to escape from pirates. Or they can pretend they are helping some gnomes escape through the tunnel at Goblin's Underpass. And do not forget the myriad thrills as they cling to life on the magnificently frightening Swing-A-Long bridge. Of course, if you or the kids have a phobia about heights or swinging rope bridges, you bypass this particular thrill, fold up your umbrella and seek comfort beneath Shelter Rock. The more adventuresome members of your party can create a back story to the crossing of the bridge.

No one who sees Rock City forgets its undeniably magical appeal. If you take your kids to see this natural and even mystical wonder, you can bet that in another twenty years or so they will be eager to re-experience the pleasure through their own children's eyes.

Lookout Mountain is a place that any kid would love because, after all, where the heck are you going to see seven states while standing in one spot? Oh sure, there is that one little tiny spot out west where you straddle four states at once, but only one or two people can do that at any one time, and that's only four states. At Lookout Mountain, seven states can be glimpsed by dozens or even hundreds of people at once.

Lookout Mountain is located in Tennessee, and in all honesty, Lookout Mountain is a molehill, but in the grand scheme of things, especially in the flatter portions of Dixie, Lookout Mountain is a majestic plateau that rises into the warm southern sky near Chattanooga. It is also quite near the northwestern tip of Georgia and the northeastern quadrant of Alabama. Well, let's see, that's three states. But Lookout Mountain presents itself as a spot from which you can peer off into the distance and set your gaze upon seven states. What are the other four states?

The promotional material for Lookout Mountain suggests that in addition to Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, on really clear days you can see in the distance land belonging to the citizens of Kentucky, Virginia and both South Carolina and North Carolina. If you want to be completely and brutally honest with your kids, you'll have to tell them on top of the mountain that they are not necessarily seeing those states. If you want to make their trek up the mountain one they will remember for a lifetime, go ahead and let them think they saw the land of George Washington and Daniel Boone. Who is going to know the difference by the time your kids reach adulthood, right?

What really makes Lookout Mountain a destination spot that kids will enjoy is that there is more to it than the mountain itself. But you'll have to come back later to see Rock City ...