Voting for the Best Museums and Art Destinations

US Today is asking the public to vote for the Readers' Choice 10 Best across a series of travel-related categories. I'm never shy about sharing my opinion and I have strong ones when it comes to travel. So I thought I'd share my thoughts with not only US Today, but with you, my readers. The categories currently open for voting fall under the headings of Alaska, Art, and Museums. Voting is open until February 9 (Museums) and February 16 (Alaska and Art). You can vote once per day. 

I've been to Alaska, of course, but I haven't been to enough places on the lists to have an informed vote. So I'm not going to be discussing those here. It's a totally different story when it comes to Art and Museums. Art + Museums + Travel? That pretty much defines who I am! I don't know that I'm an expert, but I'm pretty close. 

I'm going to start with museums. I love museums and I have visited a lot of them. I know what separates the best museums from the rest. There are 10 categories up for voting; for each, I thought about what museum I would name as the winner before I looked at the nominees. In every case, my winner was among the top 20. Incidentally, the images below are not links - they're screenshots of my votes. To vote, go to Museums.

Best Children's Museum

No question, it's the Strong National Museum of Play. It is my all-time favorite museum. And unlike many other children's museums, it's a teenager and adult museum as well. No other museum comes close in this category. 

Best Free Museum

There are some really strong museums in this category, but there's no question to me that the best free museum in the US is the National Museum of American History. I've been there 4 times, but not since I've been blogging. I'm overdue to visit!

Best History Museum

The National Museum of American History isn't a nominee in this category, but a lot of really strong museums are. I really agonized over this one. If I were choosing the one I enjoyed the most, it would be Mill City Museum, but for overall best, I'm going with the Legacy Museum. It is incredibly powerful and important. 

Best Maritime Museum

The National Museum of the Great Lakes exceeded my expectations in every way. I'm not usually all that interested in maritime museums because they all start to feel the same to me, but this one was totally unique. I loved all the hands-on elements.  

Best Music Museum

I've written a whole post about my favorite music museums! There are so many great ones, but the National Museum of African American Music is my top choice. 

Best Open Air Museum

It's been 25 years since I've been there, but Colonial Williamsburg gets my vote for the Best Open Air Museum. It's enormous and immersive and a really cool place to visit. 

Best Pop Culture Museum

I wanted to vote for The Strong again because it is my favorite museum and packed with tons of pop culture in the form of toys and games, but I decided instead to vote for the Museum of Pop Culture since it covers a broader swath of pop culture. 

Best Science Museum

I'm going to have to go with the Exploratorium for Best Science Museum. It was the first museum I loved as a child. It was a magical place and I have so many fond memories of visiting there. It's in a new location now, covering nine acres, with three times the exhibit space than when I was a kid. I have been twice since I started blogging, but not since I started blogging about travel destinations, so sadly I don't have a link to a visit. 

There are two categories remaining: Best Planetarium and Best Small Town Museum. I don't feel like I've been to enough of the nominees in either category to vote. 

Time to move on to the Art categories. I voted in four of the six categories. I skipped Best Art District and Best Immersive Art Experience, again because I wasn't familiar with enough of the nominees. As for the rest, let's take a look. 

Best Art Museum

I've been to a lot of art museums, but one that stands out to me above the rest is the Joslyn. This is probably a controversial opinion, because it isn't the largest art museum nor the one with the most significant holdings. It stands out because it is free, in an unexpected location (Omaha), in a stunning building with beautiful grounds, and offers great hands-on activities for kids.  

Best City for Street Art

I love how many cities are embracing street art. It's becoming more and more common, which is fantastic. I voted for Denver as the best city for Street Art. 

Best Sculpture Park

I highly recommend a visit to Grounds for Sculpture. It's the best sculpture park I've visited. 

Best Small Town Arts Scene

Healdsburg is an art-lover's paradise. There are so many galleries surrounding the town square. It's an adorable town. Not to mention, it's home to the largest moss wall in the US!

I can't wait to see which museums and art destinations get the top spots!