Tag Archives: The Columbia Restaurant

2023 Road Trip-Part 20

7 Feb

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 20 – August 3

: After breakfast this morning, I got my things together and met Billy, who was already waiting for me in the lobby of the motel.  I had wanted to visit a couple of museums in St. Petersburg today, but Billy told me he needed to be home by the early afternoon, so, we would have to save those museum visits for another trip.  I asked him if he had had his breakfast and was ready to start today’s activities, and he said, “Yes, let’s get going.”  We headed east on SR-688, across the Howard Frankland Bridge (SR-60), to pick up I-4 (east) for 25 miles to visit the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum in Plant City, FL.  This museum is housed in the original 1909 Union Station Depot building and displays antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia.  Museum visitors can view passing trains up-close from the museum’s Viewing Platform located adjacent to the museum.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now we continued east 25 miles on I-4 to visit the Fantasy of Flight Museum located in Polk City, FL.  This amazing aviation museum has 50+ beautifully restored civilian and WWII military aircraft that all fly.  The owner of this museum, Kermit Weeks, has restored most of these aircraft over the years and flys one of them every day that the museum is open.  After landing, he will sit on the wing and tell his visitors the complete history of that particular aircraft.  Some of his tour guides are dressed in vintage costumes as ‘Rosie the Riveter’ and ‘Gracy the Wing Walker.’  Best looking tour guides I’ve seen at any museum.

     Photo Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/fantasy+of+flight+museum/  

Continuing east another 30 miles on I-4 we wanted to visit the Warbird Air Museum located in Kissimmee, FL. but when we arrived at the address, adjacent to the Kissimmee Municipal Airport, we discovered the museum had been closed and all the aircraft moved to somewhere in South Carolina.  That was quite a surprise!  So, since it was almost noon, and we were in Kissimmee, I asked Billy if he would like to have lunch at the Columbia Spanish Restaurant.  DiVoran and I had enjoyed lunch at the Columbia Restaurant (located at the St. Petersburg Pier) back while we were on vacation there, and really liked their food.  I had their Pork Chops with black beans & rice and plantains, and Billy had Ropa Viejas with Spanish rice and plantains.  It was excellent!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

After that delicious dining experience, we took our ‘Take Out Bags full of leftovers and continued north on I-4 thru downtown Orlando traffic (not bad at this time of day) for about an hour to deliver Billy home in Orange City.  Lisa was glad to see us and told us about her trip back from Atlanta.  After a bathroom break, I headed east on SR-46 the last 55 miles of my 2023 Road Trip to my home in Titusville, FL.  The first thing DiVoran said was, “Where did you get that beautiful red van?”  I hadn’t told her about my troubles, because I was afraid she would worry about me.  After helping me unload the van, she cooked me the first home-cooked meal I’d had in almost three weeks.  Yummm!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Of course, I had to tell her the whole van breakdown story, and when I was through, she said, “You know I have always wanted a red car, but I never expected to get one this way.”  We laughed about that, and I told her I thought I had earned the ‘Old Things R New’ (our blog website) ‘Most Adventurous’ award for this trip, and that I didn’t think I would ever plan another trip this long again.  It was just too long.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

This brings to a close the narrative of my 2023 Road Trip.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures (most of them) as much as I have enjoyed remembering (most of them) and writing about them.  Join me again next time as I explore new areas of our wonderful country and visit new historical places and museums.  Keep your eyes on the road and drive safely.

Photo Credit: https://www.clipartmax.com/cartoon-driver-waving/

—–The End—-

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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Meals with the Family-Part 2

15 Oct

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

  As the children got older, schedules were more difficult to manage for family dinners, so it has essentially dwindled down to just once-a-month with Bill, DiVoran, Fred and me.  We take turns where to meet:  one month Fred and I go to Titusville, and the next month Bill and DiVoran come to Orlando.  We usually meet about 10:00 a.m. at the house for some time to just visit and chat – catch up on our lives.  About 11:30 we head to a restaurant for a lunch meal together.

Bill and DiVoran’s house

Our house

In Titusville, that usually means Dixie Crossroads.  YAY!  Love that place and the Rock Shrimp they serve! 

Credit photo Google Search and Dixie Crossroads website; Steve Hunsader

There used to be a restaurant in Titusville called Portofino’s that we enjoyed, but they aren’t in business any more.  Another was Pumpernickle’s, which served authentic German food.  Fred and I really loved that restaurant, since we lived in Germany for six years.  But, unfortunately, they aren’t in business any more, either.  Shucks!  There is still a good Mexican/Cuban restaurant where we go occasionally called El Leoncito which is excellent.

Photo credit Google Search, El Leoncito website; Herve Andrieu

When Bill and DiVoran come to Orlando, we have quite a wide variety of restaurants to pick from.  Recently we went to Cracker Barrel, since they have such a wide variety on their menu.

Photo credit Google Search and Cracker Barrel Website

We described the salmon at Longhorn Steakhouse, and DiVoran decided the next time they come here she would like to try that! 

Another time they came over to Orlando, we all met at Columbia House in Celebration.  It is a “traditional Spanish” restaurant, and the food is excellent. 

Photo credit Google Search and Columbia House website

For those who don’t know, Celebration is a housing development built by Disney, located not too far from Disney World. 

This is the symbol of Celebration

Photo credit Google Search and Celebration website

It is essentially a self-contained community which includes shopping, schools (reported to be state-of-the-art), and a hospital (also reported to be state-of-the-art).  I’ve been a patient in that hospital, and it is quite good.

We’ve eaten at Azteca Mexican Restaurant, Cheddar’s Home Kitchen.  We’ve taken them to 4 Rivers BBQ, and The Catfish Place in St. Cloud.  We’ve eaten at IHOP as well as Red Lobser and Olive Garden.  So we really have our choice of eateries here.  That keeps it interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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