Daytona Beach : A Place to Relax and enjoy the Sun
Leave your fancy clothes at home
By Arvin Steinberg(Daytona Beach, Florida)
Leave the world of chauffeur-driven limousines, tux
and tails behind and enter the laid back world of Daytona Beach, where
you can don blue jeans, wear flip-flops and eat at the fanciest
restaurant in town without a jacket.
Daytona Beach is a Florida getaway that doesn’t put on
airs. It’s a place where you can relax and enjoy yourself at your own
speed. It’s also a place you can enjoy the finest beaches, world-class
sports attractions, excellent museums, and first-class restaurants.
For me, Daytona Beach was like a tranquilizer. The
beach itself is world famous. I couldn’t wait to experience it. As soon
as I put on my swimsuit and stepped on the white sand, I was in a
different world. Everything seemed so calm.
| The beach was super-wide – so wide and flat
that cars and trucks rode on it. Many years ago automobiles
actually raced on it. The ocean near my hotel was unbelievably
calm and very shallow when you first entered. I didn’t have to
fight the waves.
There are 23 miles of beautiful beaches in the
Daytona Beach area. As I looked down the beach in either
direction, it appeared that all of the waves were breaking in
unison. This symmetry was intriguing. The waves breaking slowly
over and over created a calming, relaxing effect.
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However, for those who to like to surf there are
beaches where the waves are high and robust.
There is also a boardwalk on the beach with some
exciting rides. I could spend everyday of my vacation on the beach and
many visitors do. But there is so much more to do and see in Daytona
Beach.
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The Daytona International Speedway was a
must-see on my visit to Daytona Beach. The Daytona 500 race is
the most watched motor sports event in the world when attendance
at the track and television viewing are combined. Estimated
attendance for the Daytona 500 is 200,000 and more than 29
million watch it on television.
I had heard they had tours of the Speedway,
but that’s only a small part of it. Located at the Speedway is
DAYTONA USA, an interactive motor |
| sports-themed attraction. This is an
interesting and exciting entertainment experience for hard-core
race fans and casual observers. It offers lots of fun for the
whole family. In addition to the thrilling interactive features,
there are historical exhibits such as the Goodyear Heritage of
Daytona history walk. |
A good place to start your visit to DAYTONA USA is by
taking a 30-minute guided tour of the Speedway. The tour takes guests on
an open-air tram through the Speedway’s garage area. The tour is
narrated and you see Pit Road, Victory Lane and the world-famous 31-
degree high banks where cars race at over 200 miles per hour.
There are two new motion simulator rides at DAYTONA
USA—“Daytona Dream Laps” and “Acceleration Alley”. “Daytona Dream Laps”
is a ride that seats 32 guests for a full-range motion experience racing
at the high banks of the Speedway. On the “Acceleration Alley” ride you
hop inside a racecar, buckle up and take a simulated ride at high speeds
that combines motion, video, and sound.
Other activities include going over the wall at Ford’s
16-second pit stop challenge to test your skills in a live pit stop.
One of the most popular attractions is the Daytona 500
movie, a large-screen format film presented on a screen 55 feet wide and
almost three stories tall in the Pepsi Theater. You see the movie in the
realism of 3-D, and with the accompanying sounds you feel as though you
are behind the wheel of one of the racing cars.
Tickets for DAYTONA USA including the Speedway tour
are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and $14 for children 6-12.
If you want the real thing, for an additional charge
of about $130 you can first don a racing outfit including helmet. Then
climb through the window of a racing car on the Speedway track, strap
yourself in, and ride next to a race driver at high speeds around the
track. I saw many racing enthusiasts waiting in line for their chance to
be a semi-participant in this high-speed sport.
| Whether or not you are a baseball fan, the
Jackie Robinson Ballpark is an interesting place to visit in
Daytona Beach. This is where baseball legend Jackie Robinson
played in the first integrated baseball game. The ballpark was
built in 1908, seats 3800 fans, and is the Class A affiliate of
the Chicago Cubs. It is also a museum
with plaques and photos documenting the life of Jackie Robinson.
It explains Robinson’s childhood, how he |
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excelled in many sports in college, and the
humiliating experiences he faced as the man who broke the color
barrier in major league baseball. It also lists many of his
accomplishments such as playing in six world series and being
voted MVP in 1949 in the National League. But for me the one
that tells it all, was that after Robinson’s retirement from
baseball, his “number 42” was also retired by every major league
baseball team. It’s a real pleasure to visit this historical
ballpark and watch the Daytona Beach Cubs play. Tickets are only
$5.
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| Another fun way to see Daytona Beach is by an
amphibious adventure on a trolleyboat. It leaves daily from the
Ocean Walk Shoppes and takes you on a drive through historic
Daytona Beach. It then enters the Halifax River where you are
given a narrated tour of the history and wildlife of the area
with great views of the riverfront mansions. The trolleyboat
then leaves the river and drives you back to the Ocean Walk
Shoppes. |
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At the Ocean Walk Shoppes there’s lots to do. There’s a new
Bandshell featuring concerts with an ocean view and a beachside
theater showing ten movies. There’s also a delightful Bubba Gump
Shrimp Co. Restaurant for some casual fun, good food, based on
the Forrest Gump movie with plenty of Forrest’s favorite fixins.
A visit to the Museum of Arts and Sciences is
a wonderful way to spend some relaxing and interesting hours in
Daytona Beach. All six permanent collections are excellent. I
especially enjoyed three of them.
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| The Center for Florida History collection
tells the story of Florida’s historical and cultural development
from prehistory to the present complete with interactive
features. It centers around a 13-foot tall skeleton of a Giant
Ground Sloth which was excavated in 1975 in a fossil site called
the Daytona Bone Bed. This huge vegetarian could have weighed
three to five tons and eaten a daily ration of 300 pounds of
plants abundant in the area.
The Cuban Museum collection is the largest
Cuban Museum in the world outside of Cuba. It contains rare
18th, 19th, and early 20th century maps, documents, lithographs,
paintings, furniture, sculpture, and ceramics arranged
chronologically. Rare photographs help establish a sense of time
and place. |
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The Root family’s collection is not
only interesting, it brings back a lot of memories. This is an
astounding display of more than 800 Teddy Bears, ranging from
seven feet tall to only a few inches in height. Each Teddy Bear
represents a different time period or theme, and portrays
everyday scenes such as a “Teddy Bear Wedding”, complete with
bridesmaids, groomsmen, and a minister.
The Root family has also amassed one of the
most historically important anthologies of the American soft
drink, Coca-Cola, on which their family fortune was founded. The
collection includes just about every conceivable item relating
to bottling, advertising, and consumption of Coca-Cola.
The Root’s collection also includes an
impressive |
| array of decorative arts, china, silverware,
and glasses collected from 85 of the nation’s railroads, hotels,
and restaurants. Two actual railroad cars are also displayed in
this permanent collection. |
There are still lots of other fun things to do in
Daytona Beach. You can spend an hour or two at the Ponce de Leon Inlet
Lighthouse, and climb to the top if you wish. It’s the tallest
lighthouse in Florida.
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Not far from the lighthouse is the Inlet
Harbor Marina & Restaurant. The seafood is fabulous. There is a
lot of freshly caught fish on the menu. It’s a nice place for
lunch or dinner (they have sunset specials if seated by 6 p.m.)
with a lovely waterfront view. You can dine inside or on the
riverfront outdoor deck. It’s casual dining. A live band playing
on the outdoor deck added to the festive Caribbean-like setting.
Greyhound racing is also another exciting
attraction in the area. They race at the Daytona Beach Kennel
Club. Children are welcome with a parent or guardian.
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For more information on Daytona Beach:
call toll-free at 1-800-854-1234
or visit www.daytonabeach.com
Article and Photos by Arvin Steinberg |
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