The days between Christmas and New Year's can often be tricky if you're on vacation and have had enough of shopping, overeating, and duking it out with family. So what's fun for Junior and Grandma that stimulates more than the taste buds or the pocketbook? A lot of people flock to the area's major museums, but venturing slightly off the beaten path can yield some unexpected rewards.
Trainscape: Installation Art for Model Railroads Take a captivating journey on a model railroad through alternate realities as big as the imagination. Created by 14 New England artists, these installations (right) traverse fully imagined conceptual worlds that should have you thinking as well as seeing. Exhibit is up through Jan. 13. Tue-Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $6-$9. DeCordova Museum, 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lexington. 781-259-8355. decordova.org
Looking at Animals: Photographs by Henry Horenstein Horenstein's powerful close-up photographs ("Sea Nettles," lower right) are artful yet intimately personal, imbuing animals with surprising emotional depth - partly because we take care to observe the details. While you're there, check out the other special exhibit, "Nests and Eggs," which showcases the stunning diversity and ingenuity of birds. Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. $6-$9. Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge. 617-495-3045. hmnh.harvard.edu
A Gathering Place for Freedom For 200 years, the African Meeting House has stood as a beacon of remembrance and hope, and the Museum of African American History within its walls helps preserve a vital part of our country's history and its key players, like Robert Gould Shaw (above). Don't miss the last chance to see this bicentennial exhibition honoring the free and self-emancipated black community of 19th century Boston that helped lead the movement to end slavery in the United States. The exhibit is up through Dec. 31. Mon-Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. Museum of African American History, 46 Joy St., Boston. 617-725-0022. afroammuseum.org
Charles River Museum of Industry American's first factory, the 1814 Boston Manufacturing Co., plunged the country into the Industrial Age. The building on the Charles River now houses a nifty museum where visitors can explore the inventions that powered America into the modern era - steam engines, generators, timepieces, machine tools, bicycles, automobiles, and hundreds of other gizmos. It's a contraption-lover's delight - and a fitting tribute to Yankee ingenuity. Thu-Sat 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $5, $3, children under 6 free. 154 Moody St., Waltham. 781-893-5410. crmi.org
