I'll Drink to That

I love it when kids’ meals include a beverage in the price. I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when some restaurants charge almost $3 for a child’s drink, even a reasonably priced kids’ meal quickly starts pushing $10.

Priced at just $5.95, the kids’ meals at Columbia come with a beverage. And not just some kind of soda—kids can also opt for milk and several types of juices.

That’s just one reason why Columbia is a great place to take kids. But it’s also a restaurant where young diners can try lots of different kinds of foods and learn about a piece of Florida’s history.

Though there are now several Columbia locations throughout the Sunshine State, the original restaurant opened in 1905 in Tampa’s Ybor City area. It was started by a Cuban immigrant and soon became a popular spot with the multiethnic workforce at the city’s nearby cigar factories. That original location still draws lots of diners today, who come to soak in its Old World charm and enjoy its much-lauded menu of Spanish cuisine (much of it offered in tapas-sized portions).

A trip to the original Columbia can be combined with other kid-friendly activities, like a ride aboard Tampa’s TECO Line Streetcar System and a visit to the Ybor City Museum State Park, which is housed in a former bakery and details the neighborhood’s history.

 

Or visit the location on Sarasota’s St. Armands Circle, a great spot for people-watching and a post-meal stroll. There are a slew of ice-cream shops and other dessert places on the circle for little ones in search of sweets, along with a handful of retailers (Fresh Produce, Crazy Shirts, Little Bo-tique) that carry kid-sized clothing and other items. Read more about my experience dining at Sarasota’s Columbia location with a kiddo in tow in the Whine and Dine column of the January/February 2014 issue of Mommy Magazine.

 

 

 

Get into the Act

At the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, kids don’t just get to learn about the circus. They can actually pretend they’re in the circus themselves, thanks to all of the interactive exhibits found in the site’s Circus Museum and Tibbals Learning Center.

Ever wondered what it would be like to take to the high wire? Kids (and adults) can make like Nik Wallenda and test their balance on the museum’s tightrope. Just a few inches above the floor, it starts off wider than usual but narrows as it goes along. It’s not that hard at first, but by the end both Lindsay and I were wiggling and wobbling (and gaining a whole new appreciation for Wallenda’s recent Niagara Falls feat).

We had a hard time getting Lindsay off of the bareback “horse,” where she practiced her arabesques and other tricks. She also squeezed into a clown car and admired all the sparkly costumes and ornate circus wagons on display.

The Tibbals Learning Center is home to one of the museum’s coolest exhibits: the Howard Bros. Circus Model. The largest miniature circus on the world, it includes eight tents, 152 wagons, 1,300 circus performers and workers, and more than 800 animals, capturing all of the spectacle that surrounded the arrival of the circus in town.

But it’s not just all clowns and acrobats at the Ringling Museum. The site also includes the over-the-top Cà d’Zan mansion, a 56-room Venetian Gothic estate right on Sarasota Bay. Wannabe princess Lindsay was ready to move right in.

The Museum of Art houses the collection of Old Masters artwork amassed by circus magnate John Ringling and his wife, Mable. It’s impressive but might feel a bit highbrow for most kiddos. (And be warned—all the naked statues and cherubs on view might lead to giggles, uncomfortable questions, or some combination of the two.)

Ticket prices for adults are a bit steep at $25, but kids six to 17 are just $5, and kids under six are free. Want to save some cash? Plan your visit for September 29, when the Ringling Museum will be participating in Smithsonian magazine’s Museum Day Live! program. Register in advance for free admission for two and you can enjoy the site’s cultural riches even if you’re on a budget.

Streetcar Simplicity

My daughter knows what a tweet is. She can navigate an iPad with the best of them. So during a recent visit to Tampa, it was heartening to see that she got just as much of a thrill from an old-fashioned form of transportation as from a spirited session of Angry Birds.

We were cruising around the city on the TECO Line Streetcar System, which travels between Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood and the southern edge of its downtown area. In car-centric Florida, we don’t get many chances to try out different modes of public transportation. So Lindsay excitedly climbed aboard the bright yellow, vintage-looking electric streetcar that pulled up to our stop in Ybor City.

We were the first passengers to board, so we had our pick of the car’s polished wood seats. Soon we began to make our way to the Channel District. My husband and I were happy to let someone else do the driving; Lindsay enjoyed watching the driver as he maneuvered the streetcar down the tracks, tooting its horn now and then to alert cars and pedestrians to its movements.

Thanks to this throwback to the early twentieth century, we were able to cover a lot of ground during our day in Tampa, without having to traverse unfamiliar city streets or search for parking spaces. And Lindsay got a taste of what life was like before everyone just punched coordinates into their own GPS devices.

Want to read more about our day riding the TECO Line Streetcar System? Check out my story in the July/August 2012 issue of RSW Living (free registration required).  

Forging a Pint-Sized Patriot

“Mom, did George Washington really live here?” my daughter, Lindsay, asked me as we stood outside the picturesque stone house set amidst a cluster of towering trees. While many spots along the Eastern Seaboard love to lay claim to the fact that the first prez spent a night under their roofs, this place provided more than just overnight accommodations for Washington. The general lived here for several months during the Continental Army’s 1777-1778 winter encampment at Valley Forge during the American Revolution.

We saw where Washington held strategy sessions and where he laid his head after a long day of commanding the troops. Much of the house is original, so as we went up and down the stairs we were using the same banister George himself had used, which I thought was pretty cool.

What Lindsay was most intrigued by was the contrast between Washington’s somewhat swanky sleeping quarters (a cushy bed, a pretty rug underfoot) and the huts made from logs and mud that the soldiers shared along Valley Forge’s lines of defense. As she peered into a few replica huts, she noticed the dirt floors, very uncomfortable-looking bunk beds, and the darkness that resulted from a lack of windows.

These were a few stops we made as we took the self-guided driving tour of Valley Forge National Historical Park in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. A ranger-led walking tour was also available, but that might have been pushing it with a five-year-old. But Lindsay did thoroughly enjoy the Once Upon a Nation storytelling benches at a couple of spots along the driving tour, where we learned about the first official celebration of George Washington’s birthday and the German word for “stupidhead” (told to us during the tale of how Prussian army officer Baron von Steuben helped train the Continental Army).  

I’m a self-proclaimed history nerd, so I’m glad to see that my daughter is developing an appreciation for our country’s past. And Valley Forge was a great place to nurture that appreciation, with its historic buildings, impressive statues and monuments, pretty scenery, and ample leg-stretching opportunities. Plus, if offers some interesting perspective on the perks of being in power. 

Pier-ing into the Past

It felt a little as if I were walking the plank, as we ventured out onto the Anna Maria City Pier. The structure became more rickety the farther out we went. And with no railings in sight and at just about a foot or two above the turquoise waters of Tampa Bay, it felt like someone could have tumbled off at any time. Luckily, I kept my footing, and I’m blessed with a kiddo who stayed a safe distance from the edge.
 

The pier dates from 1911 and originally welcomed visitors to Anna Maria Island who arrived by steamship. It was co-commissioned by Charles Roser, who’s credited by some for having developed the recipe or baking process for the Fig Newton cookie.

Today, you won’t see any paddlewheelers pulling up to the pier. Instead, it’s a prime spot for sightseeing and fishing. Those who make it to the end of the 776-foot-long protrusion are rewarded with sweeping views of Tampa Bay and of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge arching over the water. The white dome of Tropicana Field can be spotted in the distance, along with downtown St. Petersburg.

If staring at the vista works up an appetite, the City Pier Restaurant occupies prime real estate at the end of the pier. Not surprisingly, its menu features plenty of seafood dishes, from chowder and fish sandwiches to fried shrimp and blackened grouper.

If you’ve got a runaway toddler or a let-me-just-see-if-I-can-touch-the-water type of kid, the Anna Maria City Pier might lead to more anxiety than relaxation. But if you’ve got a safety-conscious kiddo, or one on which you can keep a firm grip, a stroll on the pier helps bring a little of the area’s past alive. And in looking at the view, it’s easy to understand why folks hopped aboard those steamships en route to the island.