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It's time to think about packing up the car and piling in with the family for the Summer vacation. Car trips can be a great thing (or a bit of a drag) depending on how many times you hear "Are we there yet?" from the back seat. It might be a lot more exciting, for you at least, to plan to include a stop at a tourist site or museum that includes basketry as part of its presentation. There are usually plenty of things to keep the rest of the clan interested, like nature hikes, animals or rock collections (or even a huge stuffed bear) so don't worry that you will let them down by squeezing baskets into your plans.

If you are traveling in New England there are several places you might want to work into your itinerary. While the rest of the crew is hiking up Mt. Kearsarge you and maybe the littlest ones in the group can visit Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum Education and Cultural Center in Warner, New Hampshire. The museum uses the words of noted Indians and extensive displays of artifacts to help you understand the history of native peoples of the woodlands, plains and Southwest. Trained guides are there to lead you on tours through displays of baskets and beadwork, fishing equipment and canoes, weaving and quillwork. The Dreamcatcher Museum Shop boasts a large collection of books on Native American topics. You can walk through Medicine Woods and read about and see the plants, shrubs and trees that the Indians used. This two acre forested area will introduce you to plants like Linden trees and jewelweed, with interesting names that were used by Native Americans as medicine, food and dyes. In addition to the daily tours of the collection, the Museum provides opportunities for learning aspects of Native American history and culture through lectures, hands-on activities and teacher workshops throughout the year.

If touring Maine is in your Summer plans, you might like to include a day trip to the Abbe Museum in the Acadia National Park. The museum is in Bar Harbor, on beautiful Mount Desert Island, Maine. It is open seven days a week from May until October. Their collections are all from the Northeast. The centerpiece of these collections is an extensive basketry collection. If you plan your trip right you might be able to sign up to take one of several basketry workshops. If your vacation is planned for July, don't miss the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance Annual Sale. It is a collaboration of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, Abbe Museum and College of the Atlantic. It will be held at College of the Atlantic,  Rte. 3, Bar Harbor. The event features Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot basketmakers demonstrating and selling their basketry.

Another New England destination is Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. While you're on the Island, make a stop at the exhibit of Nantucket Lightship baskets at The Nantucket Historical Association's Whaling Museum. If you would like to know more about this style of basket before you go read Nantucket Lightship Baskets. While you are in Nantucket, stop in at The Golden Basket to check out Glenaan Elliot Robbins' precious metal basketry jewelry collection. While you're in a shopping mode stop at Four Winds Craft Guild to select a beautiful antique Nantucket Lightship basket. The Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum at 49 Union Street has scheduled an opening July 1. Call for details 228-1177. Auctions are held on the island featuring nautical items including Nantucket Lightship baskets.

Nantucket Lightship Baskets are also featured in the folk art collection of Heritage Plantation in Sandwich, MA. This museum features beautifully landscaped grounds as well as an Art Museum which features a working 1912 carousel and three galleries showcasing a wide variety of American art. A reproduction of a Shaker round stone barn houses an extensive collection of antique automobiles. A military museum, a changing exhibit about keeping time and a garden shop are all available to round out a visit. Sandwich, MA is also home to Paul Madden's Antique Scrimshaw Gallery. They feature an inventory of antique Nantucket Lightship Baskets and other scrimshaw objects.

Western Massachusetts is home to Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield. Basketmaking is demonstrated by interpreters in a workshop filled with period basketmaking tools and molds. The museum has an extensive collection of Shaker baskets distributed throughout the village in appropriate settings. The round stone barn is a marvel of efficiency and is a must see. Specialized collections are accessible to qualified researchers. The library, with an extensive collection of primary and secondary materials on the Shakers, historic photographs, commercial graphics and ephemera, is open by appointment. If you are able to stay for longer than a day, BerkshireWeb can help you find a place to stay a place to eat and other attractions to visit.

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is home of the exhibit Living in Balance:The Universe of the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo and Apache. The culture and cultural perspectives of four Native American peoples of the Southwest are the focus of this exhibition. Specifically, it examines the sacred and cultural connection that the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo and Apache have with their environment. It features an Apache tipi, a Navajo hooghan framework, an illuminated walk-in sky theater, an Anasazi Bifurcated Basket (ca. 1050-1300 A.D.) and more than 300 objects from the Museum's extensive archaeological and ethnographic Southwest collections.

If California is on the itinerary, plan a stop at the Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Museum in Tahoe City. The Edmund S. Barnett wing of the Gatekeepers' Cabin Museum, houses the Marion Steinbach Indian Basket Collection. The collection includes over 800 rare and diverse baskets, dolls and artifacts, each of which is carefully described and documented. There are representative works of over 50 tribes, including Washoe and Paiutes, as well as other tribal weavers from the Great Plains to Alaska. Baskets of several tribes of the Klamath Lake and River region are well represented.  The Museum's changing gallery features extraordinary baskets of the great Washoe artists Lena Frank Dick and Tillie Frank James, on loan from the State of California.

The Clarke Memorial Museum is located at 240 E Street in Eureka California. The museum is housed in the old Bank of Eureka building which was opened in 1912. The artistry of the basketmaker is seen in everything from the cooking basket to the ceremonial hats. Currently on display are baskets from all over North America, including Cherokee, Apache, Salish and Mono. Comparison of these baskets with those of Northern California show the shared concepts and variety of designs used by North American Native weavers. Basketmakers in Northern California are known throughout the world for the fineness of their weave and beautiful designs. The Clarke has one of the largest and finest collections of this type of basketry.

For another California destination try The San Diego Museum of Man. Beginning in the 1920s the Museum began to acquire a collection of Native American basketry. The basketry collections of the Museum are a fine cross section of specimens of Indian baskets. Plan your trip just right and you can see their annual Indian Fair that features native basketmakers. The younger members of the family might get a kick out of the Children's Discovery Center.

For those of you planning to tour Oklahoma this Summer try the Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee. The museum tells the story of the Cherokees, Chicksaws, Choctaws, Creeks and Seminoles through artifacts, exhibits, events and a research library. The museum gift shop offers handmade Native American traditional arts including basketry.

If your road trip takes you as far as Alaska, The University of Alaska Museum could be your next stop. The museum is the state's primary repository of natural and cultural history. As a university museum, its particular emphasis is on collections that support research and instruction. The Native people of the Interior are the Athabaskans, who have survived as a recognizable group in Alaska for more than 10,000 years are featured prominently. Although animals were the primary source of food, clothes and tools, the Athabaskans also used forest products to make many of their household utensils. Of particular importance was the paper birch tree. The Museum has an outstanding collection of traditional and contemporary birch bark baskets on exhibit. The Southwest gallery shows a splendid collection of some of the world's finest basketry, which flourished among the Aleuts until about 1919. Despite a decline in the number of Aleut basket makers over the last 40 years, there is now a growing interest in reviving this craft.

Well, certainly there are many other places where you can mix a love of baskets with a family vacation, but the places I've mentioned should get you started. As in planning any trip be certain of the details by calling ahead. If you make it to one of these locations or any of the large number of other locations featuring basketry, be sure to write me to let me know all about your trip.

Next time in Part II, I will give you some ideas about workshops, craft schools and folk art centers that can make your vacation a learning experience as well as time off from your regular routine. Join me then. Till then, Woven Wooden Wishes!

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