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WEB ONLY: More Ideas about Where to Stay, Eat and Go

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About to take a college-town tour? At epodunk.com, you can access hotel, museum, and small business information, plus see how your touring choices stack up against their own lists of the best college towns.

Burlington, Vermont

WHERE TO BLOW YOUR ALLOWANCE Church Street has its share of mall standards, like Learning Express. Way more Burlington is the Peace & Justice Center (21 Church St.; 802/863-2345; www.pjcvt.org/store.htm) with nonviolent toys and children's books touting tolerance. If you have snowboarders in the family, make a pilgrimage to the Burton Flagship Store (80 Industrial Pkwy., 802/660-3200; www.burton.com), the board-maker's world headquarters, to shop their latest models and peruse the designs dating back to 1977 in the "board library".
SNOW DAY At Mt. Philo State Park (802/425-2390; www.vtstateparks.com/htm/philo.cfm), in nearby Charlotte, an easy 1.5-mile hike, pays off big with superb lake and mountain views. When snow closes the summit road, it has the best sledding around. For more winter fun, Stowe Mountain Resort (800/253-4754; www.stowe.com), one of the Northeast's premier ski mountains, is about 45 minutes away from Burlington.

Madison, Wisconsin

OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING The centrally located Canterbury Inn (315 W. Gorham; 800/838-3850; www.madisoncanterbury.com; doubles from $210) is a B&B that's refreshingly free of doilies and teddy bears. Another plus: it's above Avol's Books (608/255-4730), the town's best used bookstore with a cozy children's nook.
MEAL PLAN At Ella's Deli & Ice Cream Parlor (2902 E. Washington Ave.; 608/241-5291; www.ellasdeliandicecreamparlor.com; lunch for four $30), families share overstuffed Reubens, fried pickles, and hot-fudge sundaes made with grilled pound cake while an old-fashioned train chugs on a track near the ceiling, and a 1929 carousel spins in the parking lot.
FIELD TRIP Forty-five minutes northwest on Interstate 94, the unapologetically tacky Wisconsin Dells is where Midwesterners go in February for a quick hit of the tropics. The nicest of the water-park resorts—especially for families with young children—is Wilderness Resort (511 E. Adams St.; 800/867-9453; www.wildernessresort.com; rooms with two queen beds and a full sofa sleeper from $99, including admission for four to the waterpark). The hitch: You have to stay to play. Kalahari (1305 Kalahari Dr.; 877/525-2427; www.kalahariresort.com; doubles from $129) sells day passes and offers a surfing ride and water roller coaster for kids who pass the 42-inch-tall height restriction. There's also a wave pool for little ones to paddle in while parents try to tune out the yelling and splashing with fish bowl-sized margaritas. On your way back to town, get in the Madison groove by tuning in to WSUM and eating yet another bag of cheese curds.

Austin, Texas

MEAL PLAN The back deck of Chuy's Hula Hut (3825 Lake Austin Blvd.; 512/476-4852; www.hulahut.com; lunch for four $30), which specializes in Mexico-meets-Maui dishes like mango poblano quesadillas, juts out into Lake Austin, where an enormous plaster fish leaps out of the water and water skiers zip past. Statuary also has pride of place at Taco Express (2529 S. Lamar; 512/444-0261; lunch for four $20), a no-frills taqueria where a giant likeness of the owner, arms spread like a gastronomic goddess, rises from the building. On Sundays, a gospel band livens up the breakfast crowd.
WHERE TO BLOW YOUR ALLOWANCE On your way to or from the airport stop at Callahan's General Store (501 Bastrop Hwy.; 512/385-3452; www.callahangeneralstore.com), where ranchers come to buy feed and medicine for livestock and you can pick up kids' cowboy boots and coo over the chicks and baby bunnies for sale.
MORE FUN FOR FREE You won't be surprised to learn that the State Capitol (1100 Congress Ave.; 512/305-8400; www.texascapitolvisitorscenter.com; free) is taller than the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Scramble to the fourth floor of the rotunda and look down to the terrazzo floor, inlaid with the seal of the six sovereign nations that have ruled over Lone Star land, then buy a plush armadillo ir roadrunner in the gift store. And don't miss seeing Austin's 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats—call the Bat Hotline, 512/416-5700, category 3636.

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