ESCAPE KEYS

Baltimore, Md.

GETTING THERE: The American Visionary Art Museum is at 800 Key Hwy. in Baltimore. By car, take Interstate 95 north to downtown Baltimore, then take Exit 55, Key Highway. The museum is about a mile on the left, at the foot of Federal Hill Park. Amtrak runs multiple trains daily, some as low as $13 one way.

BEING THERE: Admission to the museum is $11 for adults, $7 for children, students and seniors. It's open every day but Monday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The current exhibit, "Race, Class, Gender Do Not Equal Character," will hang until September. Special upcoming events include the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race in Baltimore Harbor on May 6 and the summer series of outdoor movies on Federal Hill. Info: 410-244-1900, http://www.avam.org/ .

EATING THERE: The museum boasts an excellent third-floor restaurant space, with patio seating and fab views across the harbor (at least until the new Ritz-Carlton condos are finished across the street). But the longtime tenant, Joy America Café, closed shop last month. The restaurant is expected to reopen by summer under new management. In the meantime, the museum is within walking distance of the cluster of restaurants around Cross Street Market at the corner of Cross and Light streets, including several nosh-stops within the market itself (try the grilled sandwiches at Big Jim's Deli ) and the festive Blue Agave taqueria (1032 Light St.).

OTHER UNUSUAL B'MORE MUSEUMS: The Baltimore Museum of Industry (1415 Key Hwy., 410-727-4808, http://www.thebmi.org/ ) houses a restored tugboat, a preserved pharmacy and other artifacts that portray a bustling port city through the decades. Come inside an old pumping station to learn a bit about Baltimore's municipal plumbing at the waterfront Public Works Museum (751 Eastern Ave., 410-396-5565, http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/government/dpw/museum ). Brush up on your oral history at the National Museum of Dentistry (31 S. Greene St., 410-706-0600, http://www.dentalmuseum.umaryland.edu/ ); see, of course, a section of George Washington's dentures and don't miss "Saliva: A Remarkable Fluid." Perhaps the strangest of Charm City museums is the freak show collection at the American Dime Museum (1808 Maryland Ave., 410-230-0263). After a long run, the popular rowhouse museum recently scrapped its regular opening hours for lack of funding, but it remains open for group and individual tours by arrangement.

INFO: Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association , 877-225-8466, http://www.baltimore.org/ .