Our final destination in Salem was a place called A. C. Gilbert's Discovery Village.  All I can say is "wow."  This was a pretty incredible place to take the kids.  Given what I read on the website, I had low expectations.  Admission is only $4 and by the description, it seemed like the "exhibits" would be cobbled together in a makeshift fashion.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  There are 2 beautifully painted houses that have the bulk of the exhibits including a bubble room, Earth studies, Physics experiments, astronaut training, a puzzle area, optical illusions, etc.  The third equally beautiful house is a toy museum.  There are Erector sets (A. C. Gilbert's contribution to the world) for the kids to play with and glass cases filled with the "best toys of all time" for the grown-ups to look at and reminisce about.  These things alone would earn the $4 and your enjoyment, but the outdoor play area just puts it way over the top.  There is a wooden play structure that goes on and on.  There are places to play life-size checkers, make music with huge wooden xylophones and metallophones, talk across the park through a series of pipes, boulder across a rock wall and swing on swings.  But best of all, you can work your way up, up, up through the wooden maze to what seemed like 3 stories high... and then take one of the 3 slides back down to the ground.  These are seriously fun (and fast) slides.  About the only improvement I could think to make would be to enhance the food services.  I saw signs that suggested food could be gotten, but it didn't inspire confidence and the menu selection was quite small.  But I highly recommend checking it out... and it would make a great place to have a kids' birthday party at.