Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago

Steve’s take

If Chicago is your starting point, the Museum of Science and Industry is the greatest send-off a road trip can have. A real U-505 submarine you walk through, a coal mine descent, a working model railroad, and the baby chick hatchery where your kids watch chicks break out of eggs. Your family will need to be dragged out. It's on the lakefront in Hyde Park, which means Chicago traffic on both ends, but the museum itself is worth every minute of the merge.