Kids Love Indiana: A Parent's Guide to Exploring Fun Places in Indiana With Children...Year Round! [Paperback]

George Zavatsky (Author), Michele Zavatsky (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0966345789 | ISBN-13: 978-0966345780 | Publication Date: March 2002 | Edition: 2nd

This family travel guide explores several hundred kid-tested, inexpensive sites to go to in Indiana. Discover places where you can co-star in a cartoon or climb a giant sand dune. Colorful descriptions, travel details and tons of info not found in any other source. Saves parents time searching for kid-friendly spots for day trip or mini-vacation travel. From the family that "vacations for a living!"

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Who says you have to head far away for vacation fun? There a hundreds of activities going on right in your own backyard for kids of all ages. Whether you're planning a day trip, seasonal festival, weekend get-away or full-week excursion, look to Indiana attractions for great kid-friendly diversions.

But, planning trips can be so frustrating ... especially when your kids seem bored and are begging for new ideas on something fun to do. Sure, you can start by going on the internet and try to plan a short family trip...but, it will take so much TIME! And, how can you decide which places are really "kid-friendly" and a good value?

"Traveling with family & friends shouldn't be so hard. We wanted to make family time easy so, we researched and wrote this book" say Midwest parents/authors George and Michele Zavatsky. After hundreds of hours of researching and updating, the result is their book, KIDS LOVE INDIANA - 3RD Edition. This book is part of series of best-selling regional travel guides for ten states in the Midwest and South.

KIDS LOVE INDIANA has been kid-tested and the descriptions include great hints on what kids like best. This informative guide contains 280 pages packed full of over 500 places and events specifically designed for children between the ages of 2-15.

The updated KIDS LOVE INDIANA guidebook has many enhancements making it more user-friendly. Our vibrant book cover opens to very detailed regional maps & directions and new, longer "kid-tested" reviews. We've added "tried and true" suggested lodging and dining that appeal to kids. Going to an area of the state you're not familiar with? Just go to the "Favorites" listing by region and you can't go wrong.

Let's explore the state.

Kids can howl at the moon (wolf hair vial), co-star in a Garfield cartoon, or climb a giant sand dune! This book tells you how Amish and Pioneer folks lived and even how to pow-wow with American Indians (arrowhead). You'll know where to go to watch a glass flower "blossom" before your eyes or learn the secrets of the lifelike characteristics of Turner dolls.

What do chocolates, milk (hair net), cheese (slicer), RVs (Dalmatian), pianos (hammer heads), and furniture have in common in the book? Why, they're all factory tours you can take (and sample!) with your family in Indiana this year.

Another weekend you'll have all the travel details you need to go behind the scenes of a circus or practice winning shots at various Hall of Fames. Of course, there's plenty of kid-friendly details on nationally known sites like the Indy 500 racetrack, Lincoln museums (see rare glimpses of him without a beard!), and the largest fossil bed in America - the Falls of the Ohio.

If you're hungry, KIDS LOVE INDIANA knows where to be a candy taste-tester, make cheese and pickles and tell you how to eat your way through blueberry, hotdog, popcorn, pumpkin, and watermelon festivals. Unusual theme restaurants include a real firehouse or railroad depot, a visit with "Aunt Bea" at a café in "Mayberry" (sheriff badge or Goober cap), or dining in the same room Lincoln once stopped at.

Just for fun, look for other souvenirs from favorite spots like: an Antara instrument, a flowering pot from our favorite indoor garden, a monkey from a great waterpark, and an airplane from a hidden museum in Muncie.

The book is formatted in 8 geographical zones providing maps, reviews, websites, prices, etc. to save you lots of effort. Web searching? Wasting Time? You won't find all of this information together anywhere else! And, you will probably find there are at least 50-100 things to do within an hour of your home. Best of all, if you have a limited budget, don't worry - our books list lots of places to visit for little or no charge! --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Author

We are two parents (with our kids) who have spent thousands of hours of research and traveled over 250,000 miles visiting over 5000 places as a family. We've done all the scouting, "kid-testing" and reviewing. Our "Kids Love" family travel books help your family spend less time searching and......more time having fun! --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 215 pages
• Publisher: Kids Love Pubns; 2nd edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966345789
• ISBN-13: 978-0966345780
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,877,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #93 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Indiana

More About the Author

Michele Z, the Family Travel Mom "travels for a living." She and her family have been to 5,000 places and 1,000 cities across the eastern half of the United States. They've written 16 books and have appeared on over 500 TV, radio & newspaper interviews. Michele loves to speak to dozens of groups each year where she personally shares stories with over 10,000 moms and dads every spring and summer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing - just a list of attractions, February 28, 2011

By 

MFun - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kids Love Indiana: A Parent's Guide to Exploring Fun Places in Indiana with Children. . . Year Round! (Kids Love Indiana: A Family Travel Guide to Exploring Kid Tested) (Paperback)

I am an Indiana resident and I have a handful of travel guides for the state, all geared toward adult travel. Some of them include some kid-friendly tips and hints, but since our travels include our three children, I picked up this book up hoping for some new ideas. The foreward explains how the author and her family enjoy traveling, and she mentions how the book would not have been possible without the input of her children. Strangely, I found no input from said children anywhere. Unfortunately, the book is simply a listing, by region, of tourist attractions within the state. No real "review" of any sort is given for the attractions, simply an explanation of what it is, with some information about admission rates and hours. Nowhere did I see (and I did page through the whole book nonetheless) anything along the likes of, "our seven-year-old particularly enjoyed ..." or "this attraction probably isn't for children under the age of ....". To be fair, at the beginning of each section, the author does list their "Favorites" but this is comprised of a simple list with the names of four or five attractions, with no note as to what made them favorites. Honestly, this book was less family- and kid-oriented than some of the regular travel guides I already owned. I can get listings of area attractions and lodging via the state tourism office, and for free, thank you. I also found that listings for some places were simply missing - and these aren't necessarily obscure attractions. All in all, I am sorry to say this book was a huge disappointment. Save your money.