FOLLOW THAT ROOSTER. Celebrate the Lunar New Year with a lion dance and lantern-making at Philly's Independence Seaport Museum (Feb. 5), then check out the Asian art in the Chinese Rotunda at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The Year of the Rooster continues in New York with a New Year flower market ( Feb. 5-6), fireworks ( Feb. 9, the official Lunar New Year) and tours with the Museum of the Chinese in the Americas showing the city preparing for the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade (Feb. 13).
Times and venues vary; about two hours (Philly) and four hours (NYC) from the Beltway. Seaport Museum: 215-925-5439, www.phillyseaport.org. UPenn: 215-898-4000, www.museum.upenn.edu. NYC: 212-619-4785, www.moca-nyc.org, www.explorechinatown.com.
-- Anne McDonough
