Plenty of visitors to Florida never get near an orange tree, or even see one. Don't be like them. Go to Central Florida, where you'll find citrus groves and individual trees to be ubiquitous, even on a small college campus, for instance. (Not just any campus, to be sure, but one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.) This is the Real Florida, after all, of farms, small towns and genuinely friendly people. It's also the center of an area in Polk County alone of some 600 lakes, large and small, which provide countless homeowners and visitors with those precious water views that everyone loves.
And you are still only a few minutes from Orlando if you must experience The Mouse, The Whale or the latest theme park ride.
From Tampa, you can most easily reach Lakeland on I-4 in 90 minutes or so, but if you want a more leisurely drive, take State 60 to Mulberry, where you turn north on State 37. If you don't stop along the way, your time will be just an hour longer, and you can see a lot of verdant farmland, citrus groves and small villages along the way.
Highlights
Lovers of fine arts and beautiful buildings should get a kick out of Lakeland, for it is the home to Central Florida's best art museum and also of the largest one-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.
The former is the Polk Museum of Art, featuring a small gallery of exquisite pre-Columbian artifacts, as well as a cozy outdoor sculpture garden and seven more galleries featuring changing exhibits and a section just for students. Part of their permanent collection (but not always on display) is a fine array of 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints, "31 Aspects of Women." Paintings by artists as disparate as Whistler and Rauschenberg are also part of the permanent collection. Admission is free. Open daily except major holidays, and fully accessible. They're at 800 East Palmetto Street, Lakeland, phone 863/688-7743, Web site www.polkmuseumofart.org.
"Child of the Sun" is what Wright called his grouping of nine structures on the campus of Florida Southern College. Take notice, especially, of the Annie Pfeiffer Chapel (1938-41), the only building on campus with a vertical thrust. Services are held during the school year, and the public is welcome. (The college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.) Also of importance are the Esplanades (1941-58), a long, sheltered walkway, leading from one building to the next, but only 6.5 feet high. (A favorite Wright trick was to make his entrances low-ceilinged, so that when they opened up into a room with more headspace, the effect would be all the more impressive. There are 39 Wright sites open for public tours all over the USA, by the way.) Florida Southern College is located at 111 Lake Hollingsworth Drive, Lakeland, phone 863/680-4110, online www.flsouthern.edu. You can walk in anytime during daylight hours, pick up a free Walking Tour pamphlet, and head out. (Please don't pick the oranges from trees on campus, however.) The Visitor Center is open daily except Mondays and certain academic and other holidays.
If you see black swans gliding along Lake Morton while you're driving around the area, say "Thanks, Ma'am" to Queen Elizabeth II, who gave them to the city some years ago.
While you are admiring Mirror Lake, be sure to visit the Hollis Garden, a formal neo-classical European design garden opened in February 2000. You can then walk along the lake's Promenade and enjoy the nearby park, a good place to stop and have a picnic lunch. What you see across the lake are, on the left, the beautiful Police Headquarters of Lakeland, and on the right, a working Amtrak station. The park was given by the Hollis family (they own Florida's giant Publix supermarket chain), and is open daily except Mondays, from 10 to sunset. Free admission.
Just west of Lake Mirror, the newly renovated downtown Lakeland area begins, running north and south along Massachusetts, Kentucky and Tennessee avenues. Dozens of business have returned to the district, making for a pleasing ambiance and possibilities for shopping, dining or just schmoozing around.
The Sun 'n Fun Air Museum has a fine display of aircraft, including vintage 1930s planes, as well as ultra-lights, homemade efforts, war birds and experimental craft. What you want to see here is the International Sport Aviation Museum, where they have everything from a 1913 Baby Biplane replica to a 1958 Lockheed T Bird. Open daily, admission $8, less for seniors. America's second-largest air show (the biggest is in Oshkosh, Wisconsin) is held here each year (next is April 7 to 13, 2002). Up to 10,000 planes came in and out during the week last year and pilots met with 500 vendors. Located at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, phone 863/644-2431, Web site www.sun-n-fun.org.
Heavily advertised in this area is the Fantasy of Flight, claiming to have the "world's greatest aircraft collection." They have a good display, but there is much that is hokey, like inviting you to peer out into space through a glass bubble (the effect was lost on me). Their much-promoted flight simulators are just video games in a cockpit mockup. There are lots of wonderful vintage aircraft on display, however, dating from the early 1900s to the 1950s, including a Curtiss Pusher and a B-24 Liberator. The charge is high ($24.95), seniors $2 off, children $13.95, plus sales tax. You can find a $3 discount per person (for up to six persons per coupon) in many free visitor publications, however. They are at 1400 Broadway Boulevard S. E. (off I-4, Exit 21), Polk City, phone 863/984-3500, Web site www.fantasyofflight.com. Open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas days, free parking.
Lodgings
At the Lake Parker Inn, you will find nice rooms from $50 per night, sleeping two persons in a Queen sized bed. Bigger rooms go for $75 to $80 in this former Travelodge. If you pick up a coupon from one of the free visitor's handouts available at rest stops and gas stations, you can get rooms as low as $32 a night on weekdays, $42 weekends. There's an outdoor pool and each room has cable TV (with HBO, ESPN and CNN). They're located at 1539 E. Memorial Boulevard (same as US 92 East), Lakeland 33801, phone 863/683-7821, fax 863/683-3320.
Rooms at the attractive but unfortunately-named Hooters Inn (formerly the Lakeland Motor Lodge) go for just $50 to $65 from January through April, with one or two persons in the room. From May through December, the same rooms are just $38 to $45. Management says this is the "only Hooters Inn" in the United States. It got the name because they own the Hooters restaurant next door. Nice outdoor pool, free coffee included in the rates. You'll find them at 3410 US Highway 98 North, Lakeland 33809, phone 941/858-3851, fax 941/859-2966.
At the Scottish Inn (part of a chain), you can get a room for two persons (one Queen sized bed) for $56 from January through mid-April, $49 the rest of the year. You get a ten percent discount if you're a member of AAA, AARP, a business, the military or government, or if you are a senior or trucker. There's a restaurant, outdoor pool and guest laundry facility. Find them at 244 North Florida Avenue, Lakeland 33801, phone 863/687-2530 or 800/251-1962, fax 863/688-1961.
A free "deluxe" continental breakfast is included in the rates at the Royalty Inn, as is access to a big outdoor pool. The rooms are largish and some are non-smoking. Each room features dataport phones, voice-mail and free morning newspaper, as well as cable TV with free HBO and ESPN. There's an International House of Pancakes restaurant on the premises, too. Room rates (for one or two persons) are $65 and $75 for the period from January through March, but go down to $49.95 to $55 the rest of the year. Hotel facilities include a fitness center and guest laundry. Find them at 3425 US Highway 98 North, Lakeland 33809, phone 963/858-4481 or 800/633-4305, e-mail royinn@aol.com, Web site www.lakelandhotel.com.
The regular rack rate at the wonderful Terrace Hotel is a tad high, at $129 per room, but if you ask for the corporate rate, you can get it for as low as $65. You will want to stay here, or at least visit the place and have lunch, as it is a splendid symbol of the 1920s, and is perched right on beautiful Lake Mirror. There are just 73 rooms in the nine-story building, each with desk and dataport phone, voice mail, cable TV, hair dryer, iron/board and in-room coffee. Full service restaurant and bar, covered valet parking. The hotel, which functioned from 1924 to 1973, was reopened in 1998 fully refurbished. On Friday and Saturday nights, members of AAA or AARP can get rooms 50% off the regular rates. Children under 12 stay free, and all local phone calls are free. 329 East Main Street, Lakeland 33801, phone 863/688-0800 or 888/644-8400, fax 863/688-0664, Web site www.terracehotel.com.
Dining Out
Harry's is the place to eat if you want to meet Lakeland folk, many of whom regard this as their home restaurant. Everything is done "family style," which means breakfasts from $3.25 (two eggs with two sausage patties or three strips of bacon, and two pancakes), sandwiches from $2.20 (hamburger), hot plates from $4.95 (three pieces of fried chicken, with choice of potatoes and vegetables, rolls or corn bread). Closed Sundays, but otherwise dinner is served daily except Saturday, breakfast and lunch daily from 6 AM. You'll find them at 1003 East Main Street, phone 863/682-7974.
Fresh food fans will no doubt enjoy Crispers, part of a small (six plus) local chain featuring "fresh salads and such." Garden and Caesar salads run as low as $2.95 (the majority of big ones are around $6, however), sandwiches from $5.45 (chicken, club, roast beef or turkey), the latter served with potato chips and pickles. There's also a classic sandwich from $4.95. The location we like is in downtown Lakeland at 217 N. Kentucky Avenue, phone 863/682-7708.
At Mitchell's Coffeehouse, also right in the new center of Lakeland, they serve sandwiches and salads on weekdays at lunchtime. Soup will run $2.75, salads $3.50 and sandwiches $4.50, the latter being a build-your-own variety from three columns of breads and stuffings (e.g. ham and Swiss cheese on rye). Closed Sundays. They're at 235 N. Kentucky Avenue, phone 863/680-2944.
If you like Mexican food, head for El Olivo, where you can get two tacos, served with rice and beans, for $4.99, made (as is everything on the menu) from scratch on site. Daily lunch specials (e.g. Tuesdays, two enchiladas or two tostadas, served with rice and beans) also cost just $4.99. They're at 316 N. Kentucky Avenue, Lakeland, phone 863/687-2171. There's also a branch in Winter Haven, phone 863/293-5885.
You will enjoy having a meal at the refurbished Terrace Hotel, in the dining room surrounded on three sides by two-story high windows, and decorated with hanging ferns, palm trees and the like. I suggest lunch, as dinner gets pretty pricey, and you can see outside in the daytime. For your noon meal, you can choose from a wide variety of salads or sandwiches (such as the Terrace Club) at $8 (or less, the Caesar Salad being just $7.50). 329 East Main Street, Lakeland, phone 863/688-0800.
Summing Up
For more information on this area, you can contact either of the following:
Lakeland Chamber of Commerce
PO Box 3607
Lakeland FL 33802
Phone 863/688-8551
Fax 863/683-7454
Web site www.lakeland.com
Central Florida Visitors & Convention Bureau
PO Box 8040
Cypress Gardens FL 33884
Toll-free 800/828 POLK (same as 800/828-7655)
Local 863/298-7565
Fax 863/298-7564
Web site www.sunsational.org