Check out the Old Line State with a Bus Rental in Maryland

Maryland has some great amusement parks that can delight the kids, and everybody else in the family. So plan for a day at an amusement park, such as:

Adventure Park USA in New Market, MD 21774, has the Wildcat, a roller coaster and a handful of children's attractions. You can go on bumper boats, go karts and play on the playground too. Frontier Town and Fort Whaley Campgrounds has a Western theme park, a water park, mini golf facilities and the High Ropes Adventure Park.

Jolly Roger Amusement Park has two locations in Ocean city, one is at the 30th St where you can have carnival rides, attractions, mini golf courses and a water park called Splash Mountain. The other is located at the pier.

Six Flags America is located in Upper Marlboro, MD 20774 and is where you could find such attractions as the Mind Eraser, the Wild One, Roar, the Joker's Jinx and others.

The Water Park at Bohrer Park is a city park that gives you a chance to beat the heat every summer.

Trimper's Rides and Amusements is a historic theme park that has been open for more than 100 years. it has an indoor area for the kids, as well as a Herschell Carousel, bumper cars and a lot of kiddie rides.

More than anything, Maryland is a land for the arts. Its arts and culture attractions mirror the diverse cultures and geography of the state.

Here, you can drop by a museum and admire the many photography, sculptures, paintings or catch great film presentations and musical concerts.

You can enjoy nationally known organizations such as the Baltimore Symphony, or even see the best productions from some of the state's best schools such as the Peabody Institute. and the Baltimore School for the Arts.

These are just some of the best museums in the state, but there are more. Check out the:

• Afro-American Heritage Society & Cultural Center
• American Visionary Art Museum
• Anne Arundel County Free School
• Babe Ruth Birthplace & Orioles Museum
• Baltimore City Fire Museum
• Banneker-Douglass Museum
• Brooke Whiting House of Art (Cumberland, MD 21502)
• Brunswick Railroad Museum
• Calvert Marine Museum
• Carroll County Farm Museum (Westminster, MD 21157)
• Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum (Chesapeake Beach, MD 20732)
• Choptank River Heritage Center & Joppa Wharf Museum (West Denton, MD 21629)
• Dickinson Gorsuch Farm Museum
• East New Market Heritage Center at the Trading Post
• Harriet Tubman Museum
• Heritage Museums & Gardens of Dorchester
• Museum of Frederick County
• Museum of Rural Life
• National Museum of Civil War Medicine
• Paw Paw Museum (Port Deposit, MD 21904)
• Piscataway Indian Museum & Cultural Center (Waldorf, MD 20601)
• Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History & Culture
• Roads and Rails Museum
• South Dorchester Folk Museum
• Sykesville Gate House Museum
• Taneytown History Museum
• Upper Bay Museum

On top of these, each city or town has its own small museums as well.

Visual art. Check out the Baltimore Museum of Art, where you can find works by Andy Warhol and other European and modern art pieces. While the Baltimore Tattoo Museum gives you a better understanding of tattoos, including its history and some ink ideas you might want to try. There is also the Geppi's Entertainment Museum where you have rotating exhibits on different things. The Walters Art Museum, on the other hand, has great exhibits on tys and drawings. You could also appreciate history more at Historic St. Mary's City, a living history museum.

Dance. Check out the performance by some of the state's best dance groups, including the American Dance Institute, Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Baltimore Ballet, Footworks, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Maryland Council for Dance, Metropolitan Ballet Theatre, National Ballet, and Salisbury University Dance Company.

Film Festivals. The Annapolis Film Festival, Balticon Short Film Festival, Baltimore Women's Film Festival, Chesapeake Film Festival, Frederick Film Festival, Heritage Film and Video Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and SilverDocs Documentary Film Festival are just some of the film festivals held in the state.

Music. There are several musical societies in Maryland, including the Baltimore Blues Society, Baltimore Folk Music Society, Chamber Jazz Society of Baltimore, Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute, and Cultural Center, and Potomac River Jazz Club. So is it any wonder that the state also has great music festivals such as Brunswick Music Fest, Craft Beer & Music Festival, Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute Festival Folk Festival, Western Maryland Blues Fest, Jazz Fest, McHenry Highland Festival, Deer Creek Fiddlers Convention, Common Ground on the Hill Festival, and World of Montgomery Festival.

You should also watch an opera production from the Annapolis Opera Company, Baltimore Opera Theatre and Baltimore Rock Opera Society. Or catch some great chamber music as these great orchestras perform:

• Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
• Baltimore Chamber Orchestra
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
• Chamber Orchestra of Southern Maryland
• Columbia Orchestra
• Frederick Symphony Orchestra
• Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras
• Maryland Symphony Orchestra
• Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra
• Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra

Theater. Baltimore is home to great community theaters such as the Everyman Theatre, Black Cherry Puppet Theater, the Theatre Project and the Fell's Point Corner Theatre. You can find theater performances here that range from great puppet shows to Shakespearean productions.

Be sure to go to Center Stage and Olney Theater, two of the state's foremost theaters. In Annapolis, you have Colonial Players, the Annapolis Shakespeare Company, and the Summer Garden Theatre to choose from. These are just the tip of the iceberg, so be sure to get on a bus rental in Maryland and explore that state's other theater groups!

Art festivals. Maryland is home to several great art festivals. For example, Annapolis has its Arts and Music Festival at Quiet Waters Park; Arts, Crafts, & Wine Festival; and First Sunday Arts Festival, while Baltimore hosts Artscape; Inner Harbor Art Festival; Open Studio Tour; and Sowebo Arts and Music Festival.

You can also go to Bethesda's Fine Arts Festival, Catonsville's Arts and Crafts Festival, Columbia's Festival of the Arts, Easton's Plein Air Competition and Arts Festival, Frederick's Festival of the Arts, Havre de Grace's Decoy and Wildlife Art Festival, Laurel Arts Festival, McHenry's Garrett Lakes Arts Festival, and the Downtown Silver Spring Fine Arts Festival.

Fallfest of Fine Arts and Craft Show, Labor Day Weekend Art & Craft Festival, and Nautical & Wildlife Arts Festival and Craft Show, all happen in Ocean City.

Maryland has some of the best seafood restaurants in the country. Check out Faidley Seafood and Cantler's Riverside Inn for some of the freshest seafood fare there is.

The Bartlett Pear Inn (Easton, MD 21601) is one of the best restaurants in the country, but it is getting stiff competition from other great restaurants in the area such as:

• Volt, which, under the direction of Bryan Voltaggio, is housed in a 19th century mansion and has the best service and great prix fixe dinner options.
• Woodberry Kitchen (Baltimore, MD 21211), which supports local farmers by using only locally sourced ingredients.
• The Charleston's, whose food has been praised by the New York Times.
• LJ's & The Kat Lounge (Hagerstown, MD 21740), which is a fine dining joint that serves the best new American fare and an extensive wine list.
• The Prime Rib, which serves the best steaks.

Other places worth trying out when you are hungry include:

• 8407 Kitchen Bar
• Black Market (Garrett Park, MD 20896)
• Black's Bar & Kitchen (Bethesda, MD 20814)
• Cava Mezze
• Ruan Thai
• Sichuan Jin River
• Vin 909 Winecafe

Shopping. Maryland has great shopping malls that give you the chance to buy everything you need all in one place. Check out the Mall in Columbia, which gives you more than 200 specialty stores and services. The mall is anchored by Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom, Sears, L.L. Bean, JCPenney, and Hecht's. Then there's the Towson Town Center and Owings Mills, as well as Savage Mill and Arundel Mills. Need more? Then go to The Avenue of White Marsh, Westfield Shoppingtown, Montgomery Mall, White Flint, and the Prime Outlets.

Adkins Farm Market has fresh flowers, vegetables, plants and produce. While you can find great antiques at Ballindullagh Barn Antiques, Antique Row, Beaver Creek Antiques Market, Emmitsburg Antique Mall, Emporium Antiques, Fireside Antiques, Kensington Antique Row, and Olsen's Antiques & Furniture, Inc.

Further, check out the unique items at Creations in Wood, McFadden Art Glass, Simon Pearce Glassblowing and other local businesses in the state.

Golfers would love Maryland with its variety of golf courses scattered all over the state.

Some of the best include:

• Bay Hills Golf Club
• Beechtree Golf Club
• Bulle Rock Golf Course (Havre de Grace, MD 21078)
• Burning Tree Club
• Congressional Country Club
• Country Club at Woodmore
• Diamond Ridge Golf Course
• Falls Road Golf Course
• GlenRiddle Golf Club
• Greystone Golf Club
• Hobbits Glen Golf Course
• Hyatt Chesapeake Bay Golf
• Lake Presidential Golf Course
• Links at Lighthouse Sound
• Lodestone Golf Course
• Musket Ridge Golf Club
• Oakmont Green Golf Club
• Ocean Pines Golf & Country Club
• Pine Ridge Golf Course
• Redgate Municipal Golf Course
• Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort
• Rocky Point Golf Course
• U.S. Naval Academy Golf Club
• Walden Golf Club
• Waverly Woods Golf Club
• Whiskey Creek Golf Club
• Worthington Manor Golf Club

Sports. Other sports fans would love Maryland's sports teams. The state has two National Football League teams: the Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Redskins.

The state has also produced some of the best athletes in the world, including Babe Ruth, Wes Unseld, Michael Phelps, Jimmie Foxx, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Johnny Unitas, Ray Lewis, Jim Parker, and Cal Ripken, Jr.

Catch the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, or watch a jousting match, which is the state's official sport. Lacrosse, on the other hand, is the official team sport and walking is the official state exercise!

You could watch your favorite sports at these premiere venues:

• APG Federal Credit Union Arena
• Arthur W. Perdue Stadium
• Camden Yards Sports Complex
• Coppin Center
• Greenway Avenue Stadium
• Halsey Field House
• Harford Sports Complex
• Hughes Stadium
• Hytche Athletic Center
• Knott Arena
• Maryland SoccerPlex
• McMullen Hockey Arena
• Regency Furniture Stadium
• Retriever Activities Center
• Roland E. Powell Convention Center
• SECU Arena
• Shirley Povich Field
• Talmadge L. Hill Field House
• The Baseball Factory Field at UMBC
• The Gardens Ice House
• Wesley Brown Field House
• Wicomico Youth and Civic Center
• Wisp Ski Resort

Maryland has a rich history. From the Civil War, to African American heritage and history, there are sites you could see.

Check out these venues:

• Antietam National Battlefield (Washington County, MD 21782), where more than 23,000 soldiers were killed in 12 hours of battle in 1862.
• Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, where the poem, Star-Spangled Banner was written.
• Maryland State House, which is also the oldest state capitol that is in continuous use. The state house has been open since the 1770s.
• Washington Monument State Park, which pays tribute to the first monument in the country dedicated to George Washington.
• Baltimore's Inner Harbor, which is where you could find a concentration of the city's most famed tourist attractions.
• Harbor Tunnel, which is a tunnel that handles more than 23 million vehicles yearly.
• Washington Monument in Baltimore, which was designed by Robert Mills, the same person who designed the one in Washington, DC.

Furthermore, each of the state's many cities also has sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places. So be sure to get a bus rental in Maryland and visit them. For instance, in Annapolis you have:

• Brice House
• Chase-Lloyd House
• Colonial Annapolis Historic District
• Hammond-Harwood House
• Maryland Statehouse
• Peggy Stewart House
• Thomas Point Shoal Light Station
• United States Naval Academy
• Whitehall
• William Paca House

Then, in Baltimore, there are:

• Baltimore and Ohio Transportation Museum and Mount Clare Station
• Carrollton Viaduct
• College of Medicine of Maryland
• Elmer V. McCollum House
• First Unitarian Church
• H. L. Mencken House
• Henry August Rowland House
• Homewood
• Ira Remsen House
• Minor Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Mount Clare
• Mount Royal Station and Trainshed
• Mount Vernon Place Historic District
• Nuclear Ship Savannah
• Peale's Baltimore Museum
• Phoenix Shot Tower
• Edgar Allan Poe House
• St. Mary's Seminary Chapel
• Star-Spangled Banner Flag House
• USS Torsk Submarine
• William Henry Welch House

Other cities and localities have their own historic sites.

Maryland has 40 state parks, a handful of state forests, and a national park. Be sure to go to Fort Washington National Park, where you could enjoy great views of the Potomac River, as well as a pick of the best picnic sites here.

Among the state parks, be sure to go to:

• Assateague State Park
• Deep Creek Lake, which is where people usually go to for some boating fun. This is also a great winter getaway.
• Elk Neck State Park, which is a great spot to fish.
• Gambrill State Park, which is where you could fish and relax at the same time.
• Greenbrier State Park, which features a great playground and a kid-friendly coastline. Picnic areas are available too.
• Point Lookout
• Pokomoke River State Park, which is a great place for rafting, canoeing or kayaking. Fishing is a great activity to do here too.
• Rocky Gap, which is a great fishing spot that has a beautiful lake view as well. You can also camp and swim here.
• Sandy Point State Park, which features a toddlers beach that is great for your kids to swim in.
• Tuckahoe State Park

At the state's many forests, you can go hunting, fishing or hiking. You can also swim and have a picnic at some of them. These state forests include:

• Cedarville State Forest
• Doncaster State Forest
• Elk Neck State Forest
• Mount Nebo State Forest and Game Preserve
• Potomac State Forest
• Savage River State Forest
• Seth State Forest
• Swallow Falls State Forest
• Wicomico State Forest