Treasure Island

My wife, my 9 year old son, 7 year daughter and I have booked a week at Sunset Vistas for the middle of March. We are from Minnesota so we are looking forward to just hanging out at the beach, but are also looking for suggestions of things to do. Any rainy day ideas? Is Busch Gardens worth the trip? Other places in Tampa? Also wondering about fun restaurants with kids%26#39; meals and good beers for dad. Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Treasure Island

I just returned from a few days in Trasure island. For good beer and a kids menu, I recommend Gators.

If you%26#39;re willing to do a drive, you could go down to Venice beach and look for shark%26#39;s teeth for a day. My 7 year old nephew enjoyed it, and was entertained for hours on his own.

We considered Busch Gardens, but decided a day at the beach is alwayws happier than a day at a theme park. We also considered the aquarium in Tampa, but the weather held out for us.

Treasure Island

Gators is a nice place, it%26#39;s on the Treasure Island side of Johns Pass. While there, check out Johns Pass for restaurants, shopping, ice cream etc.

A couple things the kids would enjoy, just to the North in Clearwater Beach:

http://www.captmemo.com/

http://www.seascreamer.com/

http://www.dolphinencounter.org/

http://www.cmaquarium.org/

http://www.johnspass.com/

We are going back to TI for the third time on the 30th of this month--we love it :) We enjoy Caddy%26#39;s, it%26#39;s on Sunset Beach. It is right on the beach and there%26#39;s food and drink. We took lots of day trips last time we were there. One day we checked out the barrier islands of Sarasota; Anna Maria, Longboat Key, Siesta Key. We went to Mote Marine on Longboat Key. They%26#39;ve got rescued baby sea turtles, manatees, all types of aquatic creatures :) Across the parking lot is Pelican Man%26#39;s Bird Sanctuary. We really enjoyed that too! Check out Pass-A-Grille and the Hurricane Restaurant. One day we went to Fort De Soto, and there%26#39;s a boat that takes you out to Egmont Key. The boat ride is cool! If you want, you can snorkel around some ruins, or just hang out and discover the old fort--I think you get 2 hours on the island. While we were on the boat, we learned all about the pilot boats that help navigate the huge ships through the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Quite interesting. The pilots live on Egmont Key. It was great! We liked the Friendly Fisherman at John%26#39;s Pass for breakfast too. I think this time we%26#39;ll check out more of the Clearwater Beach area and some islands up that way. Have fun!!

The Florida Aquarium in Tampa is definitely a rainy day actitity with kids when in TI. Busch Gardens is great, but many of the rides in the amusement park area are full size thrill roller coasters. There are some rides for smaller kids and shows to go to also. This isn%26#39;t on the scale of Disney, but you also will not have the long lines either. The zoo part of Busch Gardens in fabulous, and my kids even prefer it to Animal Kingdom because you can get closer to the animals. You can take a train, skyride, or walk around the park to see them. For an extra charge, you can even go on trucks into the wildlife area and feed the tamer animals , like giraffes. If you go, don%26#39;t miss the hippo show. They only have it once a day, so check for the time when you get in. You can view the hippos while they swim under water. It was amazing. They also have a beautiful area for the Clydesdale horses there. There are times during the day that you can go over to the stables and help wash the horses, again check the schedule when you arrive to find out the times.

We ate most of our meals in at TI, but we did go eat at Sloppy Joe%26#39;s on the beach to watch the sunset. I believe they had a children%26#39;s menu. There also is an Italien restaurant in a small stripmall just before you get to TI. It%26#39;s called Gigi%26#39;s, it%26#39;s a popular family restaurant. The kids loved it because it had a huge fish tank in the center that we sat around. The food was pretty good too.

I can confirm that Sloppy Joe%26#39;s has a children%26#39;s menu - crayons provided to color on it too. Chicken fingers, hotdogs, and the typical stuff...

Sloppy Joes in the Bilmar is a good indoor/outdoor

drinks and kid friendly restauraunt, be prepared

for a wait. Ricky T%26#39;s across the street is good

and there is live entertainment outdoors. I like

Caddy%26#39;s as the above poster. Some nights we

eat in St. Pete Beach area. Did the Tampa aquarium

last year. It was o.k., tons of traffic getting

there and it is in the downtown area. Kids liked

it. You will love this, they have a full bar off

to the side. I didn%26#39;t see it until just before we

left. Florida is so decedent compared to other

places- you can find a drink anywhere! That it a

great thing, after all your on VACATION. John%26#39;s

Pass is real neat too. Have fun.

If you go to the Aquarium, call ahead and make sure it%26#39;s not ';Camp Day.'; Went last year and it was full of extremely loud, running, pushy camp kids....pretty much ruined the visit.