Tampa Bay Area Travel Guide

October 13, 2012

POSTCARDS FROM FLORIDA

Jim Abbott on Florida Travel: Dali Museum, mullet flavors St. Petersburg

At last, my notoriously poor eyesight has yielded something useful.

April 14, 2012

Joy Wallace Dickinson: Visit to great Ybor City inspires visions of old dark deeds among the 'Goodfellas'

Strolling behind tour leader Scott Deitche through Tampa's Ybor City on a spring evening, I found my feet in the present but my brain back in a dark past — say, Nov. 10, 1936.

9:13 AM EST, February 21, 2012

Orlando's Church Street steam engine arrives at new home

The iconic 100-year-old steam engine that rested alongside Church Street Station for decades has made its way to its new home – the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum.

March 17, 2011

St. Pete Beach resort opens floating water park in Gulf of Mexico

TradeWinds Island Grand Resort opened a water park March 17 that floats 60 feet off the shoreline in the Gulf of Mexico.

September 24, 2010

Tampa's new children's museum blends imagination, education

TAMPA -- Sandwiched between the shoe-boxy Tampa Museum of Art and busy Ashley Drive, the new Glazer Children's Museum is like a three-story, 53,000-square-foot toy chest and playhouse.

September 25, 2010

POSTCARDS FROM FLORIDA

Jim Abbott on Florida Travel: Go back in time at Plant Museum in Tampa

"No gentleman whose clothing or breath is tainted with the fumes of strong drink or tobacco should ever enter the presence of ladies."

July 6, 2010

Florida Shopping Guide: Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg

From the finest in first class designers to historic and cultural centers, the Tampa Bay/St. Pete area offers an immense variety of shopping. Whether you're looking for a great cigar in Ybor City or looking for a relaxing water front stroll, you can find it here.

May 9, 2010

POSTCARDS FROM FLORIDA

Jim Abbott on Florida Travel: Beating the summer heat at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa

It's hot out there, huh?

3:08 PM EST, February 10, 2010

Museum of art lights up downtown Tampa

TAMPA -- The $32.8 million Tampa Museum of Art, which opened to the public Feb. 6, rises on the historic banks of the Hillsborough River across from a Moorish, late-19th century, minaret-topped University of Tampa building that once served as headquarters for officers waiting to be deployed to the Spanish American war in Cuba. Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders passed through here.

October 18, 2009

Postcards from Florida

Jim Abbott on Florida Travel: 'Florida's Greatest Rainy-Day Attraction!' -- St. Pete's Haslam's Book Store, an old-school heaven for readers

There are two ways to buy books:

February 15, 2009

Focus on Florida Beaches and Keys

Escape to Florida's lesser-known islands

Because you get there by causeway, you've got to know that Miami Beach is an island. So are Palm Beach, Key West, Sanibel, Amelia and Marco, to name a few of Florida's popular resorts.

2:21 PM EST, February 20, 2013

Ranked No. 1 nationally in 2008, Florida's Caladesi Beach's beginning to draw raves and tourists

Caladesi beach is a secret getaway in Florida, an undiscovered gem.

January 26, 2009

If you go: Caladesi Island State Park Beach

Ranked No. 1 by Dr. Beach in 2008, it features a tranquil 3 miles of sugary pure white sand.

January 26, 2009

If you go: Clearwater Beach

Rollicking city beach that's a favorite spot for fun-seekers. Everything from trampoline bungee jumping to fishing off Pier 60 to people watching makes it a lot of fun. Watch out for $1.25 per hour parking meters.

January 26, 2009

If you go: Ft. DeSoto Park

Its North Beach was ranked No. 1 beach in America by Dr. Beach in 2005 and in 2008 by readers of the big travel Web site Trip Advisor. Incredibly gorgeous wide, powdery sand, long stretches for walking, no hassles. Perfect.

January 11, 2009

Tampa Hard Rock makes gambling shuffle

Line up for the $5.99 steak-and-egg special and you can inhale the spirit of a bingo hall.

February 8, 2004

Thanks to cigars, Ybor City smokin'

The best places to start your touring of Tampa's unique National Historic District known as Ybor City are the Chamber of Commerce and the Ybor City State Museum, housed in the former cottages of cigar workers and a former bakery at Ninth and Palm avenues.

March 16, 2008

Cabbage Key: An isolated travel getaway

The boat pushed away from the dock, eased past the pelican perched on a piling, and looped out into Pine Island Sound. What is it about being on water that makes you feel you're in Florida? Useppa Island swam up on our right, buff with houses reminiscent of Seaside, while we swerved left toward Cabbage Key. The Lady Chadwick from Captiva was dropping off passengers, so we sidled next to one of the outer docks. A great lawn rose up to an umbrellaed patio full of families eating lunch. There was something about the scene — the manicured grounds, the running children, the low-slung building behind — that made me think of a country club.

October 19, 2003

As it turns 75 years old, Don CeSar resort is in the pink again as luxury getaway

Twenty-five years ago, the Don CeSar Beach Club and Resort felt like a cross between the mansion in Sunset Boulevard and the Vermont ski lodge from White Christmas.

August 17, 2003

For families, Tampa Bay area is a winner

Families seeking a weekend trip somewhere in Florida other than Orlando should consider the Tampa Bay area, which has quite a few enticements for kindergarteners through teenagers, as well as moms and dads.

July 13, 2003

Find sun, sand and romance in Seaside

Before high-rise condos and expensive hotels dominated Florida's shorelines, vacationing couples stayed in modest cottages where they could relax on the front porch and enjoy ocean breezes.

March 16, 2003

Busch Gardens shows its animal instincts

Teenagers are charging through the park, rushing from one high-speed thrill ride to the next. Suddenly one girl stops in her tracks. Several Asian elephants are grazing in front of her.

January 19, 2003

Safety Harbor: A Tampa Bay spa that is all about you

At the award-winning Safety Harbor Resort and Spa, the message is: relax, feel good. We'll show you how.

Tarpon Springs: Gulf Coast town with Greek flavor

Most of Florida is marked by land so flat it would make a pancake seem hilly.

Crystal River: Getting up close with the manatees

They are suspended like spacecraft in the clear water, their deliberate movement made buoyant despite their mass. They look a bit like Wilfred Brimley smiling at you.

A bonnie place to lie your head in Dunedin

Whenever I'm touring the Tampa Bay area I seldom miss the opportunity to spend some time strolling and snacking in the bonnie old town proudly bearing the ancient Gaelic name for Edinburgh -- Dunedin (pronounced duh-NEE-dun). It honors its name, and heritage, each spring with Highland Games, which come complete with kilted dancers, bagpipers and, of course, log-tossers. This season it's scheduled for April l.

Manasota guests wear clothes these days

For a trip back to a time before super-deluxe resort hotels and towering condominiums captured Florida's prime waterfront real estate, head for the Gulf Coast's Manasota Key, a 15-mile-long island near Englewood, south of Venice.

St. Petersburg: Craftsman style lives in 1912 Dickens house

In the past decade there's been a remarkable resurgence in the old historic district of St. Petersburg, where historic and sometimes not so historic homes have been transformed into bed-and-sbreakfast retreats. Included in the inviting inventory are the Historic Vinoy House, Mansion House, Bay Gables, the Bayboro House and Dickens House, the most recent conversion, all conveniently located close to all the excitement generated of late in downtown St. Pete.

Azalea House charms visitors to Dade City

The next time you're roaring up Interstate 75 north of Tampa, take a few giant steps backward in time and detour to Dade City. The town was named (as was Dade County) for an Army officer, Maj. Francis Langhorne Dade, a Virginian who was in command of the 110-man detachment ambushed by Seminole Indians three days after Christmas 1835, while en route from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to relieve Fort King (Ocala).