30 feet of bowling pin!

I’m taking a break from the Montréal series this week, because I’ve been dying to post this one!

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

During our April trip to Florida to visit family, my whole clan spent the evening together at Splitsville, a bowling alley in Tampa, FL. Outside the front door stands the world’s largest bowling pin, towering 30-feet over the courtyard of the Channelside entertainment complex.

Let’s just say things went much smoother than they did the day before while on the world’s longest continuous sidewalk.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

Not only can my dad bowl, he takes great photos, too!

I hardly need to justify my need to see a 30-foot bowling pin, do I? Is there a more compelling symbol of retro Americana? Just the site of it evoked childhood memories of loud, fluorescent-lit alleys; worn, ill-fitting shoes; greasy french fries; and filling in score cards with a nubby pencil. Of course, now a computer does the score-keeping for you, requiring none of that pesky arithmetic.

If I did need to justify the Pin Pilgrimage…why are you doubting my choices?!?!…I would just say that going to Splitsville offered the promise of a great evening with my whole family, including my parents, my brother, sister-in-law, and 12-month old niece (sporting her black “Kiss” T-shirt, no less).

Okay, what was so cool about it?

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Who needs a little levity today? Something to brighten their day?  MEEEEEE! And so, I present you with “Where is it? Wednesday.”  Yes, it’s almost Thursday. I should be nestled in bed, reading Real Simple magazine. But Go BIG fans need a hit of something big! And so, better late than never…

Who can tell me where this pink pachyderm is perched?

Thanks to Julie from Road Trips for Families, who submitted this from her home state (hint).

Some updates on our Go BIG travels, news, and links to sites we like!

Anguish. Despair. Sorrow. We MISSED the world’s largest cannoli this weekend! It was made Friday at a bakery only 25 minutes away! They served it up on Saturday, and we read about it in the newspaper on Sunday. Sniff. It was seven feet long, and 123 lbs.

World's Largest Cannoli Photo Credit: TOM BUSHEY/Times Herald-Record

To ease my grief, we’re heading into NYC tomorrow to see the first ever Pop-Tarts store, in Times Square. If anyone’s been, let me know what we shouldn’t miss. We’ll also check out Midtown Comics, which isn’t the world’s largest comic book store, but it’s up there.

We’ve already been to the M&M’s store a few times, so we probably won’t get there this time. I’ve read that the wall of M&M’s in the Times Square store is the world’s largest. (Of course, how many could there really be?) Am trying to get official confirmation of this! Anyone know anyone at Mars candy company?

We were proud to be featured as a guest blogger on Travel Savvy Mom recently. Our “Sidetracked” post covered our day trip to the Thomas Edison Center in Menlo Park, and of course our pilgrimage to the World’s Largest Light Bulb!

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

So much shopping. Just not before 10:00am, when we were there. D%&#$!

While we were in Montréal, we enjoyed utterly perfect weather – warm, sunny, breezy. It framed the city in such a favorable light, it was difficult to imagine the brutal winters which settle early on this island. In 1966, a major initiative began to build an underground network to connect downtown buildings, and allow the city’s weather-beleagured residents to get in out of the cold.

Today, the world’s largest underground pedestrian network, known as RÉSO, is 22 miles of malls and shops, office buildings, 14 hotels, three universities, the World Trade Centre, The Bell Centre hockey stadium, and16 Metro stations.

We found ourselves in and out of the network several times during our trip, although it was never really our true and final destination.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

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Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

Parenthood puts a damper on a few things, one of which is international travel. Now, I know many will disagree with this, and there are several excellent websites dedicated to facilitating the process of crossing time zones with toddlers. I am not a fan of changing poopy diapers in the comfort and convenience of my own home, let alone in a tiny French bistro with a w/c the size of a phone booth.

This year, the Girl is finally old enough to travel beyond our border, and far be it for me to deprive the world of her tempestuous public fits triggered by the denial of ice cream / gelato / crème glacée / helado. We set our sights on Montréal, Canada for our trial run, since Matt had to go on business. We were accompanied by Matt’s cousin Stephanie, who’s our age and a favorite relative. Having three adults against handling two children is a much nicer traveling dynamic.

No sweat.

The very first attraction on our itinerary was the world’s tallest inclined tower, The Montréal Tower and Observatory, the world’s tallest inclined tower.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

From a distance, the tower looked innocuous, even tame. Which is an important consideration when three-fifths of you travel party fall under the category of “chicken.” The tower offers a nearly 360-degree view of the city, accessed by a short, easy ride in a funicular, which travels upwards at a 45 degree angle to an elevation of 574 feet / 175 metres.

Perspective is a funny thing. Standing at the base of the tower, watching the funicular cabin pacing up, up, up at a quick clip, we three chickens began to have our doubts.  It went…gulp…high.  This is what we saw:

Okay, what was so cool about it?

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Some updates on our Go BIG travels, news, and links to sites we like!

We just got back from Montréal! I didn’t realize that I had the power to control the weather, but whaddya know, I do. It was perfect – sunny, warm but not humid, and breezy. The locals we met raved about how lucky we were. Over four days, we visited three sites which will be featured in future posts:

The World’s Tallest Inclined Tower, the Montréal Tower in Olympic Park. You ascend to the top in a funicular, at a 45-degree angle. Over 570 feet of “dear God, please don’t let today be the day those steel cables snap.”

The World’s Largest Underground Pedestrian Network. Nearly 85% of the city’s downtown is connected underground by“RÉSO,” over 20 miles of tunnels connecting malls, office and apartment buildings, hotels, museums, universities, metro and train stations, the convention center, and more. Over half million people per day use the network during the winter, which is quite a civilized way to stick it to Mother Nature.

The Montréal Botanical Garden, the world’s second-largest botanic garden, was a trip highlight, even for the kids. They loved acting like explorers along the pathways in the Alpine and Chinese gardens; riding the red tram around the perimeter, and blowing off steam in the playground outside the Insectarium.

Usually coming home from vacation is a BIG letdown. I, however, now get to enjoy the World’s Largest Pile of Laundry.

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On Friday, we were oh-so-thrilled to be the featured guest blogger on Nerd’s Eye View, one of our favorite offbeat, sincere, amazingly written sites!!

GBOGH is now listed among an illustrious group of favorite blogs on Larry Cultrera’s Diner Hotline Weblog! Love retro diners? Check out this site!

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I attended the BlogHer conference on August 6th, one of the oldest and largest annual events for professional bloggers, particularly women. I participated in a few seminars on creative writing and social media, networked with other bloggers, and visited the exhibit hall, where 100 companies vied for the attention of powerful, influential women bloggers like…the ones standing next to me.

Through a sea of some 2,500 attendees, I was fortunate to meet several great travel and lifestyle bloggers. It was reassuring to meet others who are equally enthusiastic about sharing their own unique point of view. I invite you to visit their sites and see what I mean: 

Anne from Hip Travel Mama

Glennia from The Silent “I”

Holly from The Culture Mom

Julie from Coffee with Julie…

Julie from Road Trips for Families

Lexy from KissMyCountry.com

Lisa from Frisco Mama

A fun little game this week, to distract you from the wait for a longer post. It’s…“Where is it?” Wednesday!

Left or Right?

Do you know where this literal fork in the road is located? Be the first to identify its location, and win a “Go BIG” note pad and pen!

Two hints:

Across the street is an oil tank painted to resemble a giant Prozac pill

Chelsea may have encountered this fork. Naturally, she chose to go left!

If you come to a fork in the road, take it. - Yogi Berra

It hit me like a thunderbolt today. Why not feature a guest post once a month? That’s certainly doable, provided I can find people willing to submit reviews (ahem…Tina). It gives me the opportunity to provide you with sites I can’t get to easily. Still biding my time until they put the finishing touches on the Transporter teleportation machine. Can I get a witness, fellow Trekkies?

Remember when satellite dishes were this big?

So it began last month in the southeast, at the world’s largest Rubik’s Cube in Knoxville, TN. This month, I’m thrilled to present our first foray into the midwest, provided by one of the region’s most prolific and well-known family travel bloggers, Jody Halsted. Jody is the founder of Family Rambling. Her family recently visited Lucas, Kansas, where they saw the world’s largest Souvenir Travel Plate. And then she tweeted me to offer to write a guest post. I nearly fell off my chair, thinking “who, me?” while concurrently typing “thank you!”

Here’s what I love about the subject of this post. Lucas is a town with a population of just 400, yet it has a website and a Facebook page! Also, it’s really close to Lebanon, KS, which is the geographical center of the contiguous United States. Look at a map and see what I mean. Nifty.

I also think this souvenir plate, made from repurposed satellite dishes, is an über-cool example of recycling. I’m not exactly Mrs. Green, but I do shut the lights off when leaving a room — regardless of whether others are still there. This tends to bother Matt when he’s watching his DVR’d episodes of The Closer.

Now, back to Jody in Kansas…

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

We found the World’s Largest Souvenir Travel Plate on the outskirts of Lucas, Kansas.  My family was on a whirlwind tour of North Central Kansas, which is not complete without a stop in Lucas, home of the Grassroots Art Center.  On this trip was myself, my husband, Doug, my daughters Brenna, age 5 and Caelan, age 3, and my mother, Chris.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

We stopped in Lucas because of the Grassroots Art Center and the Garden of Eden, both of which have to be seen to be described; words just can’t do justice to them.  We were told by so many people the town was not to be missed.

Okay, what was so cool about it?

Lucas is one of those original towns that is just quirky enough to be cool.  This plate was a city-wide effort.  It is constructed from two satellite dishes, the largest 14’. It just really gives you a feel of what you will encounter in Lucas – from pop tab motorcycles to limestone houses.

How it rated on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = snoozefest, 10 = add to your bucket list): ★★★★★★★★★★

The plate itself isn’t terribly exciting; alone I give it a 3. But if you add it with the town of Lucas I would up that to a 7 or 8. Interesting just doesn’t come close to describing what you will see.

A little background info about the place:

Lucas, Kansas was voted one of the “8 Wonders of Kansas Art,” and is known for being a center of grassroots art. The plate is painted to completely represent Lucas, including wheat, the local meat market, and the art that has made it famous.

Our midwest correspondent!

The dish itself is 14’ in diameter, formed from a large fiberglass satellite dish with another, smaller dish mounted inside as the center medallion. Funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the plate was installed and painted by Erika Nelson in 2006, alongside state highway K-18. Here’s more detail about the artwork on the plate.

Hey you! Go BIG:

World Largest Souvenir Travel Plate

More about Lucas, Kansas

So, we don’t always go to see the world’s largest stuff (you knew this was coming, right?). There are many huge, gigantic, sizeable, immense, jumbo, mammoth, BIG attractions out there to love, even if they fall short of the title. That’s why we’ve created a “Biggish” category where we can share information about intriguing BIG sites which are still worth a visit.

For example…

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

China? Korea? Nepal? Nope. Upstate New York

Hey, we don’t limit ourselves to just the quirky, “ball of twine”- caliber attractions either! Occasionally, we have the need for some highbrow culture and enrichment. We just do it on a BIG scale.

So on a sunny but crisp fall afternoon, I took The Boy for an outing to the tranquil Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, NY, home of the largest Buddha statue in the western hemisphere. My son only had a half-day of school, and would rather have been parked in front of the Wii all afternoon. Unfortunately, he was cursed with a mother who can find a “teachable moment” at Jiffy Lube. And so, off to learn and explore…

He was eight years old at the time, and mature for his age, so I knew he would behave properly. The Girl was at daycare, and I know now that she probably would not have done well there.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

It’s true what they say about not appreciating what’s in your own backyard.  I knew that the Buddha was located in our neighboring county, but it was years before I made the (literally) 20-minute trip go see it.   It takes me longer to drive to B.J.’s to get The Girl’s Pull-Ups.

Time was of the essence, because the grounds are only open to the public April through December, and it was already November.

One of Buddha’s disciples, looking for a handout

Okay, what was so cool about it?

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NOTE: We don’t limit our Go BIG adventures to just the world’s “largest.” We also have room in our hearts for the world’s longest and tallest! Cause they’re big too, in their own special, linear way.

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

My parents and brother’s family lives in the Tampa Bay area, so we visit regularly. Generally, there is an understood Florida embargo in place for us between the months of April and October, when the average temperature there hovers around 170 degrees. At least, that’s what it feels like to us.  We are heat wimps. We wilt and grow increasingly cranky with the humidity levels.

Drama Girl, still not over “The Sunscreen Incident.”

However, our February ‘10 trip was cancelled due to a huge snowstorm in NY, so we rescheduled for late April to coincide with a school holiday.  So the four of us, along with my parents, decided to take a stroll along Bayshore Boulevard, the world’s longest continuous sidewalk, on a hot, sunny day.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

This wasn’t my first time on Bayshore, but it was for the kids.  I lived in Tampa during my high school years, and have been back many times.  I’ve driven along the boulevard many more times than I’ve actually walked it, however, so it was time to experience it on foot.

We almost didn’t get there, actually.  The Girl, who I had slathered liberally with sunscreen prior to leaving the house, had accidentally rubbed some into her eye.  A 30-minute drive filled with wailing and crying set our nerves on end, even before we stepped out into the unforgiving heat. But it was also exactly the excuse we needed to cut short our “Walk on the Surface on the Sun.”

Okay, what was so cool about it?

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