Nashville, TN: Adventure Science Center

Adventure Science Center in Nashville, Tennessee is one of the best science museums we have visited in a long time and a great way to spend a full afternoon with a wiggly & energetic 3 year old!  We visited partly through a 15 hour drive from our home in St. Louis to Orlando (for a visit to Walt Disney World) as an afternoon pit stop to allow our son to stretch his legs; Adventure Science Center proved to be the perfect way to run out all that 3 year old energy!

Adventure Science Center in Nashville, Tennessee

Adventure Tower was the highlight of the visit for our son and one of the centerpiece exhibits in the museum, though we also really enjoyed Body Quest.  Other permanent exhibits which also looked really awesome, but probably better suited for older kids, included Space Chase and Mission Possible.  These are in addition to temporary exhibits, really packing a lot to see and do in the very centrally located science center (right off the Interstate visible from downtown Nashville).

GO! Just Start Traveling

One of the things I hear most often from colleagues, friends, or family is how envious they all seem to be of my family's travels.  They always state this in a way that makes it sound like they couldn't just do this themselves (they can, and so can everyone else), and they almost always make the excuse that its impossible to travel with kids (which is not only completely false, its actually a great reason why families should travel).

Only 11 months old...but having a blast at Stonehenge in
Wiltshire, England

I believe that travel is a skill, and one that you get better at the more you travel, which is especially true of families with kids.  My wife and I traveled a lot before we had our son and figured we were seasoned enough travelers that adding a baby into the mix wouldn't be too different.  We were of course wrong, and had to learn to travel all over again, but we kept at it and eventually got to the point where travel (even with a baby) is an enjoyable experience.

Things That Annoy Me on Road Trips

We take road trips as a family at least once every month, sometimes more.  I actually prefer the road rip over any other type of travel and usually find it an enjoyable experience.  Of course all of these road trip experiences throughout the Midwest have led to a few things that really annoy me, and I am sure lots of others.  Here are my top annoyances during Midwest road trips:

1.  Speed Limits in Illinois
65 MPH?  Really?  Illinois is the only state I have visited that has an Interstate speed limit of 65, rather than the usual 70, and it drives me nuts (pun intended)!  We drive in Illinois more than any other state, so the drop in 5 mph tends to bother me on a regular basis.  The only reason I can think of why Illinois does this is that their roads are in terrible shape - probably the worst of any state in the Midwest.  And not to keep dragging down on Illinois roads, but those toll roads surrounding Chicago get to me too (I am getting an I-Pass before our next trip).  Most of all though, the 65mph speed limit is the one thing all of Midwest road trip annoyances that I'd like to fix.

I love Chicago...but not driving through Illinois at 65mph