New England is lovely in the Spring. Why not take the whole family on a trip to Manchester, New Hampshire, home of the newly expanded Currier Museum of Art? Just three miles up the road from Four Points By Sheraton Manchester, the museum celebrated a grand reopening on March 30, with art-making activities, choral concerts, storytellers, a Latin rock band, tours of the adjacent Zimmerman House (pictured) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; and a full week of free-admission.

Some highlights of the museum's expansion include the addition of 33,000 square-feet, bringing the structure to a whopping 90,000 square-foot total; five new galleries, so the museum can display more of their recently acquired Marisol Escobar, James Rosenquist, Maxfield Parrish, and Hendrick Goltzius masterpieces; an entrance sculpture by Mark di Suvero made of red, painted steel; a colorful wall drawing by Sol LeWitt, designed just before the artist's death in 2007; a new auditorium; and a Winter Garden cafe. I love museum cafes so much that I often head there first, best not to look at art on an empty stomach. The museum holds special events, tours, and classes all the time, but the best day to visit is the first Thursday of the month, when the Currier is open late (until 8pm), and live music, lectures, and films help bring the art alive.