In the last issue, I told you about some of the many things for kids to do in Baltimore. And I promised to tell you more about some great day trips you can take from here. Go northwest for 90 minutes, and you're at Gettysburg, which can be seen in less time than it took to see the movie of the same name. A military-crazed kid can buy old bullets, and, of course, this is the home of the world's tackiest souvenir, the General Robert E. Lee refrigerator magnet. You might be able to get enough stuff here to do a really great report (an "A" without too much work! Cool!) but even if you don't, you can stare across the battlefield and wonder whatever possessed Pickett to charge across it.
Want more education? Up the road two hours (or less, depending on what degree of reverence you hold the 55 mph speed limit) is Philadelphia. Liberty Bell, Valley Forge, all that good stuff. (The folks in Philly are bidding for 2001. I'm sure they'd be glad to fill you in. But if you can't wait, it's only two hours away.)
Don't want education in the summer? Two hours or so due east (more on weekends when the traffic is worse) is the Atlantic Ocean. Whether you like the Delaware shore or stay in Maryland, it's pretty much the same: sun, sand, tacky tee-shirt stores, fudge places, boardwalk. Get up early, drive in the AM, nap while sunning, and drive home after dinner. The convention hotel rate for Baltimore will probably be cheaper than staying at the ocean.
Want to swim but don't want to deal with the ocean in-season? Less than an hour away is Adventure World, a theme park/water park. Want something less commercial? Go west three hours to the Maryland mountains. Go tubing in the Youghinhony. Go fishing in a lake or stream. Get great off-season rates at ski areas. Go south for one hour and you're in Washington, D.C. Spend the whole day at the Air and Space Museum. Spend other days poking into other museums. See Congress. See Bill's place (if he's still President by then.) Staying in Baltimore is cheaper than staying in Washington.
Go south for an hour beyond that. There's Richmond (yeah, more Civil War history!), Williamsburg, two more theme parks. (Take your choice of King's Dominion or Busch Gardens.)
So with a week or so and some driving you can have a vacation that has you boogie-boarding in the Atlantic, learning history painlessly, screaming down a great roller-coaster, and seeing some sharks up close and personal. And you can stay in the same place all week long if you want. (Of course we don't have the Falls, and we don't have Four White Guys carved into a mountain, but the present Children's Museum is in a castle-like place called the Cloisters and Washington does have a Castle, if that's what you're looking for.)
And as for the convention, Balticon always has a kids' program with neat stuff to do, and gaming, and computers. If Baltimore wins, there are lots of kids to tell the people running it what kids like. And I will nag them to have baby-sitting!