• Minnesota boasts the Twin Cities, with museums, restaurants and theater, the massive Mall of America, and ski areas scattered throughout the state. The regional Guthrie theater, in Minneapolis, offers world class culture, and contemporary art galleries show emerging artists. Go hiking in John A. Latsch State Park, in southeastern MN, where migratory birds can be seen at different times of the year.
  
  

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

• Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on Lake Winnebago, is next to the southeastern tip of Minnesota. The lake is used for boating, fishing and water-skiing in warm weather, and ice fishing in winter. The Mascoutin Valley State Park Trail, a 31-mile recreation trail from Fond du Lac to Berlin, welcomes bicyclists, hikers and runners, as is part of a snowmobile trail system in winter. The family friendly Little Farmer has hayrides, you-pick apples and pumpkins in fall, and a corn maze.
  
  

Ackley Heritage Center

• Go back in time to Ackley Heritage Center, south of Minnesota in northwest Iowa. Eat at an old fashioned soda shop and ice cream parlor and learn about early life on the prairie at the museum. Photographs at The Heritage Center depict lives of the early settlers. See a country school and a prairie garden, still in use. You can also tour a settler house and barn. The family friendly center sells old fashioned toys and souvenirs.
  
  

Adams Fairview Bonanza Farm

• If you have never heard of bonanza farming, head to Adams Fairview Bonanza Farm, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bonanza farms, large scale prairie farms, were started in the 1800s. This farm has a bed and breakfast in its craftsman bungalow. The quiet country roads lend themselves to biking and you can hike, bird watch, and pet the horses on the farm. Nearby casinos and outlet malls and antique shops offers indoor pursuits.