Driving to Nauvoo?

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With a car full of kids, you'll need more than a GameBoy to keep them entertained on your pilgrimage to Nauvoo. Here are a few suggestions of places to stop along the way to stretch your legs. They include historic sites, an art museum and a top-notch zoo in America's heartland. We've tried to keep them in close proximity to I-80 across Wyoming and Nebraska and State Highway 2 in southern Iowa. While most of them aren't free, they are relatively easy on the pocketbook.

Wyoming

Fort Bridger: According to historian Stanley B. Kimball , Fort Bridger was the second most important fort on the Mormon Trail (the first being Fort Laramie). It marked the place where the Mormons left the Oregon Trail to follow the year-old track of the Donner-Reed party through the Wasatch Mountains. Fort Bridger had several incarnations. It was established by Jim Bridger as a trading post in 1842 and was later purchased by the Mormons who sold supplies to emigrants following the Oregon Trail west. The Mormons burned and abandoned it as Johnston's Army approached. It then became a post for the U.S. Army but was abandoned in 1890. Today it is a state historic site that's open to the public. Military buildings at the fort are all original. The Log Officers Quarters is the oldest, dating from 1857. There's a scaled down replica of the original fort as well as a section of the cobblestone wall that was built by the Mormons.

Living history demonstrations take place throughout the summer. An archaeological dig of the original trading post is ongoing.

Moonlight tours of the fort will be the second weekend in July. Re-enactors are inside each building, depicting what life was like back then. Call in advance to make reservations.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Admission: $2 per person (18 and older); $1 for Wyoming residents; children admitted free

Directions: Follow I-80 east and take exit 34 into Fort Bridger

Information: 1-307-782-3842; wyoparks.state.wy.us

Nebraska

Scott's Bluff National Monument: The rocky pinnacle known as Scott's Bluff was considered by pioneers as the gateway to the West. It marked the end of the flat landscape of the Mid-West and the beginning of the rugged terrain of the Rockies. Modern-day pioneers can hike to the bluff's summit (1 1/2 miles), drive there (also 1 1/2 miles), or take a free shuttle. Many people ride the shuttle up and hike back down. The road with its three narrow tunnels constructed in the 1930s is not friendly to big RVs.

The visitors center displays copies of its stunning collection of William Henry Jackson paintings. He traveled the Oregon-California Trail in 1866-67 and later painted a series of watercolors based on that experience.