lake compounce: Going to be in the hartford CT area next month. Looking for some fun stuff to do with the family. We usually go to lake compounce in that area. I would mind traveling a little to find something cool we did the mystic thing, not into musuems. Kids are 15 and 9. Thanks.|||Not exactly museums, but in Hartford are the houses where Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain lived. They are adjacent to each other. It could be a good way to introduce your children to a couple of classic American writers. The Atheneum is a good museum, too. Not too far away, Down I91 and then east along !95 in Essex there is a Steam Train and Boat Trip. A little further east is New London. You can tour a Nuclear Sub among other things. A bit further east is a restaurant where they serve the best lobster, according to Gourmet Magazine . And me.|||How far are you willing to travel? New York City is 2 hours and 10 minutes away Boston is 1 hour and 51 minutes away. Providence is 1 hour and 41 minutes away. There is a Six Flags amusement park 30 minutes away from Hartford. There is also an aquarium in Hartford. You can always go to the Bronx zoo in new york if you're willing to travel|||Check out Dinosaur State Park. It has cool exhibits in addition to real fossil footprints of dinosaurs. The park is located one mile east of Exit 23 (West Street, Rocky Hill) on Interstate Highway 91, a few miles south of Hartford, Connecticut. dinosaurstatepark.com