Today’s image is brought to you by Kodak. This was taken back in the day before we had a digital camera. The Boy was just four years old. He’s heading to middle school in seven short months…sniff…don’t get me STARTED!!

Anyway, can you guess where this was taken? It’s a giant strawberry…which is the hint. This is a timely post relating to this fruity theme!

ANSWER: We had a few people submit answers, but only Helen from 2 Weeks Paid had the right answer! She gave us a friendly tweet on Twitter.

It’s the world’s largest strawberry festival! The annual Florida Strawberry Festival takes place in Plant City (near Tampa) every March. It’s going on now, which is why I’m posting this today. And because I always like a good excuse to pore over old photos and make myself verklempt…sniff…

I don’t mean to send my friends out on bad “Go BIG” assignments. It’s just coincidental that our last two gracious volunteer correspondents got stuck with duds. First, Sandra spent a small fortune on the cheesefest that is Santa’s Enchanted Forest, the world’s largest Christmas theme park. Now, Tom has submitted this report from his visit to the world’s largest candy store. This place, you will note, has been awarded the lowest score in “Go BIG” history. Even though I’m a raging chocoholic, I think even I would have scored it low.

Looks nice enough from the outside...

I appreciate Tom’s relative restraint, and the humor he found in the situation. He presents more humorous slice-of-life tales in his blog, and on his new site, Creature Banter. If you’ve ever laughed at the naïve yet absurd utterances from the children in your life, you’ll appreciate his collection.

His report:

After a post-holiday week-long trip back to my East Coast roots, we were facing a 14-hour drive to our Indiana home. Connecticut to Indiana. Just typing it makes me shutter.

“We” included me, my love Rachel and her 9-year-old daughter, who informed me prior to our excursion that “long car trips aren’t my thing.”

So we were thrilled to hear that our reward for the 300-mile trek through the state of Pennsylvania was a visit to Daffin’s, which calls itself the world’s largest candy store. The store resides in Sharon, PA, a few miles off Interstate 80. The store’s website boasted of Daffin’s Chocolate Kingdom – including chocolate villages and a 400-pound chocolate turtle.  This was not to be missed.

So we were excited to bribe the child with candy, and what would surely be a visit to paradise.

The location was a bit hard to find, as its location was a few miles from the highway, but we were determined to find it, and indulge in some chocolate and candy.

We finally arrived…or did we? Is this the place? Or is this a pharmacy?

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This being the start of the most food-focused week on America’s calendar, I thought it timely to share our experience at the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa, FL. Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours!

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

Date nights are few and far between these days, so when we visited my parents in Tampa this spring,  we were no sooner in their front door before dropping the kids like hot potatoes to be spoiled rotten by Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma makes them mac n’ cheese from scratch…with a cheese sauce started with a roux. It is, as The Boy described it when he was just six, the “pièce de résistance.”

Our date night included The Columbia Restaurant, the world’s largest Spanish restaurant. The Columbia welcomes families, so we could have brought the kids, but The Girl in particular would probably not appreciate the wait for our made-to-order meals.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

The Columbia is actually a chain of seven restaurants throughout Florida, but the original location is in historic Ybor City. Tampa’s “Latin Quarter,” Ybor City is where Cuban immigrants built a home away from home in the early 1900’s. You can make a day of exploration here, visiting the Ybor City Museum State Park, Centro Ybor, and José Martí Park.  Strolling along Seventh Avenue is also a treat, with shops, cigar shops, and even a hookah bar. We took advantage of the time we had sans offspring to take in a few of these sites, capping off our afternoon with an early dinner.

Sometimes Matt is so guarded with his innermost feelings. I smile through the pain of not being able to penetrate his emotional armor.

Okay, what was so cool about it?

Three highlights make dinner at the Columbia a special occasion: the architecture and ambiance; the food; and the flamenco show. Over 100 years old, the Columbia boasts authentic Spanish and Moorish architecture, original art, and decor. There are touches of vibrant tile work, natural stone, stained glass, and stately wrought iron in nearly every room. There’s a lovely mosaic-tiled fountain in the Patio Dining Room.

Paella “a la Valencia” is the most popular dinner dish on the menu here, with about 400 orders served on a typical Saturday evening. The Columbia’s other signature dishes include Snapper “Alicante,” Pompano en Papillot, Filet Mignon “Columbia,” and the original “1905” Salad, which was named “One of America’s Top 10 Best Salads” in 2008. I had the paella, and Matt had the Steak Salteado, made with smoky, succulent chorizo. He always orders the better dish…always. I don’t know how or why. He’s become used to dividing up his meal and handing some over to me, rather than subject his dish to the inevitable attack from my fork and knife.

Matt won't eat anything which swam in a former life. Oh well; more paella for me!

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Source: www.i95highway.com

There are three reasons why we’re driving from New York to Florida next month. The first is to see my family, in particular my new nephew. The second is that airfares are astronomical. (They would have to be in order to get me in a car with The Girl for 24 hours). And third, I’m hankering for a road trip adventure, with the opportunity to let the kids see some fun, maybe even educational stuff during their winter school break. I like to do what I can to keep their brains from turning to mush, since I put in so much time and effort in enriching those little sponges. If they forget to thank me when they’re grown, I do plan to remind them.

Here’s where you come in. I’m looking for recommendations on where to stop during our road trip. Particularly, I’m looking for “world’s largest” roadside attractions or other sites. For example, I’m considering the world’s largest model railroad museum in Flemington, NJ.

We’re also looking for great family-friendly places to eat, like diners, where we have half a chance of finding vegetables on the menu.

Our route for most of the trip will be I-95, with some time on I-295 around the capital and I-75 in Florida. We’re willing to veer off course up to 30 miles for a really great stop.

What’s in it for you? Well, our gratitude and a big fat online shout-out, for one. Also, everyone who provides a recommendation in the comments section below will be entered in our latest giveaway contest!

We’re offering a set of the first three books in the Wright on Time series by Lisa Cottrell-Bentley. This series of children’s chapter books are about an RV-living family who travels the USA. Each book is set in a different state with a different fun and educational theme! In addition to authoring the series, Lisa is a prolific blogger, whose sites include Do Life Right. She’s also a homeschooling mom to two daughters, who recently traveled cross-country by train and visited the world’s largest ball of twine…how COOL is that?!

The prize set includes Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming!

We’re not a homeschooling family, but the reason Lisa’s books resonate with me is that travel is one of the richest educational experiences we can offer our children. There are exciting lessons to be learned at sites like the world’s largest rotating globe, or the world’s largest light bulb at the Edison Center. There are so many opportunities to extend classroom learning when you travel, even to seemingly quirky attractions.

Never fear, there’s a second way to enter the contest. Just sign up to receive our e-mail notifications when new posts go live. All new e-mail addresses we receive from today through next Wednesday (11/24) will also be entered into the drawing. Sign up in the box in the upper right column.

Winner will be notified next Wednesday (11/24), and will be asked to provide a mailing address.  The prize will be mailed directly to them from the author, so the winner must reside in the U.S.

Thanks for your recommendations! Let’s hit the road!

Lisa in front of the world's largest ball of twine. I'm so stinkin' jealous!

And a chocolate winner!!

Thanks to everyone who entered our first “Go BIG” contest / giveaway! In honor of Halloween, we’re giving away a supply of the new Butterfinger Snackerz. All I can say is… it’s a good thing Nestlé didn’t send them to me to mail to the winner. She would have received a nice bag of empty wrappers.

Our winner was chosen randomly from the list of our new e-mail subscribers since last Tuesday. And by “randomly,” I mean I showed the list to The Girl, who can’t read yet, and said, “pick one.” Her little pointer finger went to Cindy B.  Congrats, Cindy!

A couple of world records were broken in the past three days; all food-related. Matt, who can’t function in the morning until his coffee IV drip is flowing, is especially fond of this one:

The World’s Largest Cup of Coffee, created by GourmetGiftBaskets.com. This cup holds 2,010 gallons, or enough for 32,160 normal cups. About a week’s supply for Matt.

They set this record on Friday, then set a new record for the World’s Largest Cup of Iced Coffee on Saturday!

I like this one, too. A Mexico City borough made the World’s Biggest Enchilada yesterday! It’s 230-feet long, and almost 1 1/2-tons! Qué rico! Actually looks pretty tasty, too.

The North American Midway is the world's largest traveling amusement park

There is a treadmill in our house. It does—occasionally—get used for something other than a laundry rack. So finding Matt running on it last week was not as much shocking as it was…suspect. In hindsight, I realized he was preparing for the Craz-E burger, the culinary creation born at The Big E, or the Eastern States Exposition. It’s the state fair of Massachusetts and several other New England states, and it’s where you’ll find the world’s largest traveling amusement park, the North American Midway.

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

The four of us went to The Big E this past weekend, and brought along our appetites. After a few days cooped up inside with incessant rain, the sun shone on a clear, cool autumn day, and we happily hit the road.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

With a name like the “Big” E, we had to go. We wouldn’t be living up to the Blogocratic Oath (no such thing) if we missed it.

I learned about the Craz-E burger while doing my research, and that pretty much sealed the deal. Matt has never met a burger he didn’t like. The more beef, the better. He’s been known to eat the triple patty Baconator at Wendy’s, but has stopped short at the quadruple BK Stacker at Burger King. He prefers food which could seal his arteries in under ten minutes.

Yes, his life insurance policy is up-to-date.

I've read an unsubstantiated claim that this is the world's largest corn dog!

So when I reported that the Craz-E burger is a bacon cheeseburger sandwiched between two halves of a glazed doughnut, he got a glint in his eye I haven’t seen since our first date. “Lustful” is an apt description.

Okay, what was so cool about it?

The Big E lives up to its name. It’s massive, and we walked miles that day. There’s a lot to do and see, and I’m sure we missed most of it. Of course we hit the expanse of midway rides. We also saw out first horse show, and visited some of the 4H pavilions. The Girl made friends with Doug the Llama.

We caught a hysterical show by Hilby, the Skinny German Juggle Boy. We’ve also—purely by chance–seen him at the Woodloch Resort and the Dutchess County Fair this year. So now we’re juggler groupies, I guess.

And of course, there’s the fair food, which never disappoints. Matt’s 1,500-calorie Craz-E burger held him over most of the afternoon, until it was time for the other specialty, the Big E Cream Puff, and its cousin, the E-Clair. We also made room for hot dogs, pierogi, samosas, and overpriced ($5.00!) milk shakes.

You’re dying to find out how the Craz-E burger tasted, aren’t you?

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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!