Spring Into Saturday: Lakeland

The Anne Pfeiffer Chapel, the first to be built
Started in 1938, completed in 1941

Historical fiction

I don't normally recommend a trip that involves heading out on I-Fear or I-4, but to get out of Orlando that is one of the few ways to head toward the Tampa or North Florida. Spending the afternoon checking out Frank Lloyd Wright's masterworks is a lovely way to indulge in the spring weather.

I've lived in Florida my whole life, passed by Lakeland many times on I-4, yet never stopped until this year.  Learning a little more about FLW after reading Loving Frank made me more than a little intrigued about the buildings that are part of his "Child of the Sun" design at Florida Southern College.  The spring time is a perfect to take advantage of the walking tour at Florida Southern, enjoy downtown Lakeland and indulge in your favorite Italian dish at Palace Pizza afterwards.

Sandcast blocks with the
glass insets.  

To plan a visit, start at the visitors centers where you can choose from a range of tours.  With two tweens and a teen, we chose the self-paced walk so that we could leisurely pace ourselves.  Your walk will take you across campus. 

 Angles and light are what immediately drew my eye and the squares and rectangles are cool contrast to the original buildings that reside on classical college campus. Although FLW planned for 20 buildings in his original design, only 10 were completed as well as another 2 structures.   An interesting aspect is that students contributed by working as builders.  To learn about the buildings more in depth here.

One of his structures, a perfect rest stop!

After a walking tour, we took our hungry teen and preteens to Palace Pizza.  There wasn't a bad dish.  If you just want a slice go for it, but the range of entrees will please all the eaters in your party.  I enjoyed the spinach chicken lasagna made with a vodka sauce.  Honestly, you won't go wrong with any pick here.

Not part of his structures,
 but a gorgeous Rose
Garden is one area to enjoy
 for brief stop
 on the walking tour.

If you want to keep this a low budge trip, pack a lunch. There are so many lakeside parks with picnic benches. You can just keep the costs down to a tank of gas.  Another free stop is the Polk County Museum of Art, though small, they bring great works to the community.  We enjoyed a Degas exhibit that day. Of course, the best part was napping on the way home while my husband navigating I-4.