Hit the library before you hit the road, and pick up some classics by Mark Twain on your way to tour his magnificent home in Hartford, Connecticut. Spend your time on the road reading aloud from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . Then get a taste of the elaborate textures and patterns that were the standards of the Gilded Age with a tour of Twain's Victorian mansion, built in 1890. Admission to the Mark Twain House is $13 for adults and $8 for children.