Florida Aquarium in Tampa Bay, Florida

“This is our stop,” I said to my daughter as the streetcar came to a stop. I held her hand as she hopped onto the sidewalk. The streetcar drove away and we followed the family who had also gotten off at this stop. Soon we all realized we had gotten off one stop too early as we watched the streetcar stop right in front of the Florida Aquarium.

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Tampa Bay History Center

“What a beautiful area,” I thought as I stood on the riverwalk in downtown Tampa Bay, Florida. This was my second day in the Tampa Bay area having spent the previous day visiting the Madira Bickel Mound State Archaeological Site and South Florida Museum in nearby Bradenton. The riverwalk looked newly constructed as did the Tampa Bay History Center. My (almost) four year old daughter played on a large alligator model while I took in the views of along the riverwalk.

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South Florida Museum in Bradenton, Florida

As I stepped into the South Florida Museum with my three year old daughter we were immediately confronted with a giant skeleton. The skeleton was of a giant tiger that once called Florida home over 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age. Beyond this skeleton was another room with an even larger skeleton. This skeleton was of one of the giant elephants called mastodons that shared the Florida landscape with the giant tiger.

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Madira Bickel Mound near Tampa Bay, Florida

I was heading south of Tampa on Highway 19 to visit the South Florida Musuem in Bradenton when I saw brown signs stating “Madira Bickel Mound State Archaeological Site.” I remembered reading something about this site and so I asked my almost-four year old daughter, “You wanna go to a park?” She responded, “Yeah!” so we decided to give it a look.

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