Kid-friendly diversions
BY DENISE FLAIM and BETH WHITEHOUSE
denise.flaim@newsday.com; beth.whitehouse@newsday.com
June 22, 2008, 4:24 PM EDT
You know the usual summer suspects: the aquariums and theme parks and game farms that persist in the collective Long Island consciousness, right up there with Billy Joel songs.
But there also is great promise in the roads less traveled. Here are five destinations for families with children that are decidedly off the beaten track.
The Long Island Puppet Theatre
10 Heitz Place
Hicksville
516-932-5469
lipuppet.com
More on the Puppet Theatre
Puppet Theatre photos
Cost: $10
Cuban artist and muralist Roman Valdes is the creative force behind this exuberantly decorated, impossibly gilded jewel box, tucked unexpectedly behind bustling Route 107. No surface or corner has escaped ornamentation, including the ceiling, which drips with sparkling baubles.
The puppets on display range from centuries-old characters from the Mandarin Opera to Valdes' own fairy-tale characters. Now performing in the theater: that summer staple, "The Little Mermaid."
Sagamore Hill
12 Sagamore Hill Rd.
Oyster Bay
516-922-4788
nps.gov/sahi
Cost: $5 adults, free kids 15 and younger
Long Island's only presidential site was always kid-friendly: Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th president, raised six children at this Victorian compound.
From the bearskin rug in the otherwise feminine parlor to the old-fashioned telephones to the lack of air-conditioning, the house is a lesson in pre-electronic living.
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