"I want an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle (BB gun) with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time."

Just about everybody recognizes that Christmas wish made by Ralphie Parker in A Christmas Story. The BB gun has been a traditional Christmas gift since at least Ralphie's time, and for those who are interested in a little bit of history to go along with owning a Daisy Air Rifle, why not take some time to visit the Daisy Airgun Museum in Rogers, Arkansas.

Red Ryder and Buzz Barton should bring back solid memories to some parents who grew up with their own rifles. While you can't actually find that really cool model that Ralphie would have sold his soul to own in A Christmas Story (because it never actually existed), you can see every other model that Daisy ever made. But the really impressive part of the Daisy Airgun Museum is that it goes well beyond just being a commercial showcase for the company's products.

This museum is also a history of the airgun itself. One of the most fascinating parts of the history of airguns is one that is incredibly important for kids to learn. An airgun is a gun; it's not a toy. It can do harm if handled improperly. When you take the kids to this museum, they will learn that even a powerful man like Napoleon Bonaparte recognized the dangers of putting an airgun into the wrong hands. He actually ordered anyone found with the precursor to Ralphie's 200-shot model air rifle to be put to death.

Another really cool bit of trivia that kids will love is that an astronaut used a customized air rifle to project himself through space. The Daisy Airgun Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

What kid doesn't love comic books, cartoons and comic strips? For this reason alone, a visit to the amazing Barker Character Comic and Cartoon Art Museum in Cheshire, Connecticut, is one that comes with a solid guarantee to entertain everyone. If it has something to do with comic books, animated movies and TV shows or newspaper strips, it is almost assured to be found inside this museum. This fascinating trip through the history of animated art, founded by Herb and Gloria Barker, continues to grow at an almost alarming rate. At last count, the collection of collectibles at the Barker Museum was well over 80,000 pieces.

Sure, a 1930s vintage, Popeye, burlap bag that was once used to haul popcorn to a cinema of bygone days probably won't appeal to a lot of kids by itself, but it is the entirety of the collection that will make an impression. Sheer wonder is instilled by the recognition that all these classic cartoon and comic-strip characters have made their way into the cultural orbit of America from a tin pail featuring the likeness of Herman Munster to a 1930s blackboard featuring the likenesses of Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Pluto.

The Barker Museum is not just a chance for kids to browse through the history of pop culture; it also presents an opportunity for the shock of recognition of characters that adults have long forgotten. The underlying beauty of the museum is the revelation that things that are wildly important to kids eventually get tossed into the trash bin of memory. Only by being reminded through discovery do some of the characters that meant so much to you when you were a kid begin to resurrect themselves in your consciousness. The museum offers a perfect opportunity to remind kids today how they should take care to preserve their own memories while they have them, because so many of the items that are valued today will be relegated to the dustbin when they become adults.

The La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles may not seem like the first spot in that dazzling town to settled in for a few hours of serious vacation time with the kids, but if you start with this crowd pleaser you will get the kids fired up enough to visit some places you want before ending up at Disneyland when the kids get bored on day three.

You may have heard many pop culture references to the La Brea Tar Pits in movies and TV shows, but do you know exactly what the attraction of big pits of tar really is? The location of the pits is the first thing that will strike the kids with amazement. These homes to ancient animal fossils are not located off in the distant hills of Southern California but rather smack dab in the heart of L.A. But it is those creatures that were found within the tar that will astonish and amaze the kids.

Just about every skeleton that is displayed at the La Brea Tar Pits is an authentic fossil from thousands and even millions of years ago. The one thing you won't find at the pits that many people probably think is the centerpiece is dinosaur fossils. The animals that got sucked into the pits were either mammals or birds. So while your little ones won't get the pleasure of enjoying an actual stegosaurus, there are plenty of wolves, eagles, sloths, mammoths and even a saber-tooth tiger or two.

If you kids have enjoyed the Ice Age series of movies, they will enjoy the La Brea Tar Pits. This endlessly fascinating little glimpse into ancient history surrounded by the concrete jungle of Los Angeles is like stepping back in time to the real Ice Age and bringing those creatures from the animated movies to life. And the work of the tar is not yet done. Even today, smaller critters continue to find their way into the pits and never come out. Just make sure your little ones are not put on display for future visitors.

Doubtlessly, you and the kids have enjoyed the Nicolas Cage movie, "National Treasure," by now. Rare, indeed, is the occasion when you can actually take the kids to see a vital plot component of a major motion picture: the Declaration of Independence. When you visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and stand in hushed awe amidst the towering echo chamber of the rotunda where the most important of American historical documents is kept, you will never accept that stealing such it could be so incredibly easy.

Every American, regardless of whether they are 3 or 93, needs to visit the rotunda inside the National Archives at least once in their lives. Placed beneath the domed architecture inside this eerily silent room is the foundational document upon which this great experiment in self-rule was based. If you have not been to Washington, D.C., or it has been so long you have forgotten the tremendous sense of pride at witnessing the actual signature of John Hancock on the Declaration of Independence or looking at the original Constitution of the United States, you can bet there has never been a more perfect opportunity.

American optimism can be traced back to the documents on display inside the National Archives. We the People are finding ourselves holding this truth to be self-evident. Take the kids to see all the amazing documents that have meant so much to this country and watch the illumination in their eyes.

If your kids are fascinated by UFOs, aliens, ghosts or any of the other myriad mysteries of the world, then you would be doing them a disservice by not running them by the Hornet Ghost Light if you ever get the chance. The Hornet Ghost Light is located around the town of Neosho, Missouri and the mystery that surrounds the ghostly illumination dates back to at least the 1860s.

The Hornet Ghost Light can be located along an eerie little back road known as the Devil's Promenade. The most common description of the strange light hanging in the sky is that it looks like a floating lantern. Of course, since the Hornet Ghost Light dates back to pioneer days, what other object would it look like? Your kids may describe it as a flying Bulbasaur. Some younger kids may be a little frightened, but the Hornet Ghost Light is probably a quite natural phenomenon, probably mine gas. Of course, don't try telling the people of Neosho that.

Some visitors to the Hornet Ghost Light have reported trying to follow the glowing orb down the Devil's Promenade only to find out that the closer they seem to get, the farther away the light became. There have been a few devoted party poopers who want you think that the light has attacked them, but so far no authenticity is attached to these reports, so don't let that make you too terrified to take your kids.

America today is dominated like never before by the idea of the unexplained, and entire generations are being raised watching "Ghost Hunters" and other shows on the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel about strange and supernatural events. The Hornet Ghost Light presents the opportunity to test the mettle of your kids. Oh sure, every kid enjoys seeing the unexplained on TV, especially if Leonard Nimoy is the narrator, but how will they react to actually seeing a strange glowing light in the sky? The Hornet Ghost Light is your answer.

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.