Best Hall of Fame Museums in America: From Football to Pinball

Hall of Fame museums make great vacation destinations. Both educational and fun, halls of fame combine the best of popular sport and culture with learning opportunities for the whole family. No matter what your interest, chances are you can find a hall of fame museum to match it. About the only hall of fame you can't find is a hall of fame of hall of fame museums. Let's fix that right now with a quick list of some of the best hall of fame museums in America.

The "Hall of Fame" of Hall of Fame Museums

A list of some of the best hall of fame vacation destinations.

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Location: Canton, Ohio

Admission Price: $10-16

It might still look like an orange juicer, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a terrific museum for football fans of any age. Last year nearly 200,000 people visited the museum, which has undergone several renovations and expansions in its 45-year history to make it the premiere gridiron museum in the country.

To visit this Hall of Fame's Website for times and additional information, click HERE.

Pinball Hall of Fame

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Price: Free (but bring quarters for the games!)

Okay, so it's located in a strip mall near a movie theater, but where else would you expect the Pinball Hall of Fame? With 4500 square feet of vintage pinball machines ranging from the 1950s to the 1990s, this is the place to be for pinball wizards. All profits go to charity, and unlike the local arcade, every machine in the place works 100%. For sheer fun factor, this hall of fame makes the list.

To visit the Pinball Hall of Fame website, click HERE.

International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

Admission Price: $5 - 7.50

If you like bowling, then this is the place for you. Not only can you learn a lot about the history of bowling but you can actually bowl on the museum's lanes. How's that for cool? If that's not enough, the building also houses the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Museum.

To visit the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame website, click HERE.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Admission Price: $11- $20

There's something a bit odd about having a rock and roll museum and hall of fame. Rock music, once the ultimate form of youthful rebellion, is now old enough to have a museum. That aside, this has got to be one of the coolest museums in the world, housed in one of the coolest museum buildings in the world. Still, the very fact that the rock museum has senior rates... well, we won't go there. But you should if you love rock and roll.

To visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum website, click HERE.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum

Location: Cooperstown, New York

Admission Price: $5 - 29

The national shrine for the national pastime, the baseball Hall of Fame is everything you'd expect from a museum that opened its doors nearly 70 years ago. Almost as steeped in tradition as the game itself, the museum houses some of the greatest treasures in baseball history.

To visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum website, click HERE.

The Automotive Hall of Fame

Location: Dearborn, Michigan

Admission Price: $3 - $6

Honoring the innovators of automobiles and the automobile industry, this hall of fame includes individuals whose names can be found on every highway. From Walter P. Chrysler to David Buick to other automotive innovators like Albert Champion of Champion Spark Plugs fame, this museum and hall of fame is a must see for every car enthusiast.

To visit the Automotive Hall of Fame website, click HERE.

The Basketball Hall of Fame

Location: Springfield, Massachusetts

Admission Price: $11.99 - $16.99

This state-of-the-art interactive museum has a built in McDonalds if you get hungry. It has other restaurants too if you don't want to be supersized.

To check out the Basketball Hall of Fame, click HERE.

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame

Location: Seattle, Washington

Admission Price: $12 - $15

Boldly going where no museum has gone before, (if you don't count the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico), the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame honors prominent science fiction filmmakers, writers, artists and publishers. Memorabilia includes Captain Kirk's chair from the original Star Trek television series to Sean Young's outfit from Bladerunner and much much more.

To visit the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, click HERE.

From sports to the final frontier, halls of fame provide a fun vacation experience for the whole family, and best of all, you might even learn something along the way.