My husband and I stayed at the bread and breakfast. Everything about it was spectacular. The…read morebreakfast was much more than we anticipated, and there was more than enough for the two of us. I would highly recommend staying at the bed and breakfast, or just visiting to see the museum. Everyone there was so nice and friendly. They even recommended a good restaurant in Polo that was also really good. Kim Rice - Rockford, IL

My sister had her wedding here and it was the COOLEST venue!! I could have stayed there all night…read moreand still found new things! The attention to detail was incredible!

Excellent place to visit with or without kids. I really enjoyed traveling through the entire…read moremuseum. Downstairs they have a temporary exhibit highlighting fossils they are finding in the Green River Shale in Utah. From the large bones to the tiny buds of plants. The dinosaur exhibit on the first floor will particularly appeal to kids and vertebrate fossil fans. While I was drawn to the very nice collection of Mazon Creek concretions and my first in person view of a Tully Monster (which is the Illinois State Fossil). 2nd floor is more geology focused than paleontology and the 3rd floor is Biological. I spent some time looking at the different birds they had on display as well as the live reptiles in the education room. Plus a little fox at floor level where young children could Ben down and look eye to eye was a nice touch. We will definitely return. Rockford is close.

We came on a "Donation Day." However, this is for Illinois residents only. Otherwise, it's $10 for…read morechildren 4-12 and $12 13 and up. This museum is too small for that cost. We were in and out within the hour. Veteran/educator discounts ONLY if you buy a membership. Half the 3rd floor was temporarily closed. I think you may have more visitors for what little you have if your pricing for kids was more reasonable. Or if you opened donation day to those outside Illinois. Especially for a museum one is in and out within an hour. Maybe you should offer a pass, tying in with the Children's museum and perhaps the Art museum since they are all located nearby. Such a great opportunity to introduce young children to Natural History and Art if one was offered. Otherwise, $32 for the 3 of us will not have us return anytime soon.

I stopped in due to the beauty of the outside of the building. Built in 1860, it is being renovated…read moreas a general store and HQ for the Lincoln Highway. The docent was super friendly.

If you're a fan of PBS, you've most likely seen Rick Sebak's quirky documentary "A Ride Along the…read moreLincoln Highway" about America's first coast-to-coast highway. While it's lesser known than the more popular Route 66, the Lincoln Highway really is a great drive and just as important historically as it's better known counterpart....and this is the place to learn all about it. While the actual "museum" only takes up about a quarter of the building, the proprietor Lyn is such an amazing person that she easily fills the entire space with her knowledge, funny stories, and giving heart. My wife and I felt like welcomed guests in someone's home, not like museum patrons. If you're ever in town, we highly recommend stopping in!

I cannot recommend this place highly enough!! Absolutely killer on every level!! This is fun for…read moreadults to come to too! Obviously you need to be an inquisitive person and still enjoy learning new things.... But if you have some kids to bring it's literally like Disneyland but where they learn how everything works in the universe...... You really need to come here multiple times to take everything in..... If you care about your kids, and want them to be smart, this place is mandatory!

We came here on a Sunday with my kids (5 and 3). It being March, the outside was open so we were…read moreglad to explore outside for a bit but it closed at 4 pm. I felt this time that the place was kept tidier. I saw employees moving from area to area and trying to keep things in place, which seems like a pretty tough task with the amount of stuff in each area. My kids had a lot of fun in the upstairs area. There's lots to do & for $12 each, it can easily keep young kids entertained.

Fantastic! But I must qualify rating…read more Let me begin by saying I enjoyed my visit to the museum. They have a wonderful collection of several different types of trains (steam, electric, diesel) and an excellent collection of streetcars. You can ride a train and a street car; they have one of each running on different tracks. AND the prices of their food at the Central Diner won't break the bank. I thought the museum was very alive, in the sense that there seems to be a huge staff working on and operating the trains. It felt like a less hectic train yard. Would I recommend visiting the museum ... I hesitate. If you truly enjoy trains, it's an easy yes. If you don't, well, I hesitate to recommend it, even though I really would like you to go visit it. I have only visited a couple railway museums: B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore and the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay. I had a wonderful time at both of these museums, and it is difficult for me to quite put my finger on why I had less fun at the Illinois Railway Museum. I think one of the reasons is that you are always at ground level looking up. You don't get to get in or even have the opportunity for an elevated view of any of the trains, nor do you get to go in the cab of any of them. Because of that, I think I felt less connected to the trains, as so much of them was unseen. The streetcars are low enough that it isn't such a problem. But it would have been wonderful to have a few street cars available to go through.

The trolley conductor Steven was amazing ! So knowledgeable and helpful .. he made the very long…read moretrip a perfect day for all of us . Thank you ! Best place ever . Go there now.

Tinker Swiss Cottage is a hidden Gem in the middle of Rockford. The house is filled with Victorian…read moreera furnishings, artwork, clothing and everyday items that one wouldn't normally see in one place. There is a long rich history of the house and the architecture is beautiful. In order to enter the museum you need to have a guided tour. The guides are knowledgeable and will go into great detail regarding the history of the house and the family. Well worth the price of admission. Also, depending on what time of year you go depends on how the house is decorated. They will change the furnishings and the interior based on holidays as was the custom in the Victorian era. They also hold various workshops, lectures and events throughout the year. You need to check their schedule to see what might pique your interest. One of the events they do that we enjoyed was the Ghost Tour. The house is allegedly haunted and they will take people through at night and tell stories of things that have happened in the house. We had a lot of fun with it. If ghosts aren't your thing, try holiday teas, Murder Mysteries, lectures and much more. There's something for everyone. Definitely worth the visit.

I visited Tinker Cottage today because I am writing a paper on it for a school assignment and I…read morehonestly loved learning everything about this family who lived here. The lady who gave the tour was super kind and made the experience very try fun. This is definitely a must see if you visit Rockford. The library was so beautiful inside and I loved learning about the secret sparkly mirrors that were used back in the day.

Great tour, highly recommended and will love to come back for the full 4-hours hour. I love the…read moreguide tour lady!!! Come and enjoy!!

My friend and I had an errand out in this area and decided to see what else there was to see while…read morewe were here. This museum (the home of the Hegeler and Carus families, who were involved in a local zinc company and also a publishing house, Open Court Press) is a national historic landmark and is unique because it was owned by the same family the whole time, & they never made any fundamental updates to the house so it's largely as it was when designed by WW Boyington (who also designed Chicago's Water Tower and the old Joliet prison) in the 1870s. Several rooms have been restored, but you can see in areas where it hasn't where time is taking its toll (for example, the main hall was painted with egg tempera paint, and that organic element [the egg] is now degrading after 150 years). Still, the parquet floors are amazing, and details like pocket doors, carved wooden decorations and historical elements like the speaker tube system in the walls for speaking through the house are unusual! The house also contains the only German-style turnhalle (gymnasium) in a historic home in the US. Other interesting details include an ornate butsudan (buddhist cabinet shrine) due to Hegeler's interest in Eastern religions. We just took the general tour ($15), but you can do half house (upper or lower half for $50 each) or whole house tours ($100). The longest one is apparently 3.5 hours with two breaks and children are discouraged since it is long. You must register for the tours as they max out at 6 people. Despite it saying "masks are required" and our temperatures taken at the door, our guide was initially trying to take his mask off to talk and the other couple on the tour followed suit. When my friend and I left ours on, they all put them back on at some point. The rooms do have 6 foot markers on the floors, but since some of the rooms aren't big, if you had a full tour group this would be an issue. There is an elevator so the Mansion is handicap accessible. Overall, this seems to be one of the bigger attractions in LaSalle, so take a tour if you're in town.

The museum is awesome!! So much to see and learn. The wildlife is incredible to see. We saw a very…read moremajestic bald eagle up close. We experienced the steam engines running and visited with the curator for a bit to learn even more. The movies were very well done. The fact that your tickets are good for two days allows you to take your time. Worth every penny and your time!!! A must see!!

We visited here over Labor Day weekend. Our Reciprocal zoo…read moremembership got us half off admission. Also tickets good for 2 consecutive days. We worked our way backward from neighboring freshwater building with paw patrol special exhibit since our kids needed to get wiggles out. We got to play at opening on Friday morning when it was quiet. Then, we made our way to the maker room where there were hands on water table and toddler area. Afterward we colored sheets at the kids activity table to project their dinosaurs on the screen in diorama. Gift shop at west entrance of freshwater aquarium is smaller so we headed back to 1st building with larger gift shop. It is located just few steps upstairs from entrance which was annoying with stroller wagon needing to go half floor up. I thought the saltwater aquarium on east entrance is a lot better with sting rays and more interesting fishes. Overall we finished in just 3 hours so no need to return the next day. Only complaint is that their restaurant onsite took 30 minutes to get food ready. Overall it was nice experience but we thought paw patrol exhibit could have been a little bigger:

Wheels O' Time is a wonderful place! I first visited in June 2012 on a personal visit while on…read morebusiness in Peoria. The displays offer so much for all tastes. One can experience classic cars, toys, trains, tools & gadgets and so much more! This site appeals to all ages. In fact -I enjoyed my visit so much that I took my fellow co-workers on a tour this past April. Bobbie Rice was instrumental in organizing our excursion and made it a real treat. When visiting the Peoria area, be sure and give this museum a shot. You'll be gald that you visited!

Review Visit: June 1st, 2013…read more You'll have a wheely good time here. There really is a museum for everything and anything. This one happens to be dedicated to all things on wheels. Or things that have wheels. Or wheel-shaped things. Okay, I don't think it's the last one but I do think this place is dedicated to items sitting on top of wheels. I'm not really sure how I found out about this place. It may have been from someone at work that brought it up during one of our many talks about traveling. Doing what I do best, I contacted someone to go with me and that person just happened to be my dad. We hopped in my car and made the semi-short drive to check the place out. When we approached the museum, the first thing we noticed was the train situated next to the building. You knew from looking at it that you were in for a treat. We made our way in and got to checking out the museum. The first thing we saw were antique cars. I recognized a few but a lot of them were unique to their time period. I'm not super attached to antique cars but I always think they are cool to look at in museums and such. They had maybe 15 or so at the time of my visit. We moved on to the other part of the museum and it had an eclectic collection of odds and ends. There was a firetruck that we got to take photos with. There was a Rube Goldberg-esque display as seen below. They had a mini train model set up in a glass case. Lastly, I remember there being a giant pendulum-style clock near the firetruck. It's rather hard to write this post as the place seemed to be dedicated to things on wheels but also other random odds and ends. It's best to check out their website below or visit the museum to see what I mean. It's a neat place to spend and afternoon if you have the time.

Amazing people with great service. Super friendly definitely recommend stopping here. They…read morerecommended things to do places to go

The best surprise of my visit to Pontiac. This museum has such an amazing and eclectic collection…read moreof items to delight everyone. From the outside it seems like any regular historical building -- but the quantity and quality of the displays within create a fun spot to enjoy an afternoon with plenty of learning opportunities. I'm not sure you'll find any larger collection of Route 66 themed items than on the lower floor here. Being immersed in these objects really gave me a feel of the history of Route 66. Attached to this are several other museums covering everything from murals to the Titanic to the Civil War to the 1940's and more. Truly a must visit set of museums that's worth a special trip.