Beautiful gardens and museums, and even thrilling water rides, can be discovered on a weekend trip to Providence, RI.

Sometimes our greatest adventures lie next door and not in far away or exotic places. After stumbling through a protracted period of urban blight, Providence, Rhode Island has emerged as a super weekend destination for families wanting quality entertainment, educational activities and reliable family-friendly services.

While not exactly jumping, this city is an exceptional example of urban planning at its best, and they've put out a broad welcome mat for families eager for an affordable, fun time. To drive the message home, the tourism folks worked out a deal with Rhode Island-based Hasbro to create 50 larger-than-life size Mr. Potato Heads. Scattered around the city and state in 2000, these lovable, happy sculptures once waved at visitors. Where are the Potato Heads now? Ten of the statues were auctioned off on E-bay for a charity, one "Head" was donated to a Boys and Girls Club in the state, and some were donated to schools. The rest of the stars were retained by their original sponsors.

But the appeal goes way beyond the cute stars made popular by Toy Story 1, 2, and 3. According to Tom Silvia of the Providence Convention and Visitors Bureau (800/233-1636), the city boasts the second highest hotel occupancy rate in the country. It's easy to believe when you see the renovation and construction that's going on. There's a creative energy at work in this city, but it's one that happily avoids creating modern new buildings not compatible with the grace and style of the Colonial, or Victorians that characterize much of the city's architecture.

A Thriving Waterfront

New parks have sprung up where once derelict lots occupied depressing corners, and the river - so polluted it had to be covered not so long ago - is now the site of the award-winning Waterplace Park, a true urban oasis formed by the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers. The park has a stone-stepped amphitheater for lively summer concerts and pedestrian walkways that wind along the shores, past benches, colorful gardens and Venetian-style footbridges. Two Italian-made Gondolas glide sleekly along the canals taking friends and lovers for a romantic ride. For the more practically inclined, canoes and kayaks are available for another kind of spin down the rivers - or a lazy, floating lunch on a pond.

This is also the site of one of the city's most spectacular visual treats -- WaterFire. On several evenings each year, 100 "singing bonfires" are lit; burning torches are accompanied by music ranging from original compositions to ritual chants from all over the world. The event arouses a sense of wonder in the spectators, as volunteers move up and down the river on small barges, rekindling the torches as they burn down. During the summer months, WaterFire occurs almost every Saturday evening.

Providence Has What It Takes

Part of any weekend trip must include a visit to the Roger Williams Park Zoo (401/785-3510). Once a small city attraction, today it's ranked among the top zoos of the country and attracts over 700,000 visitors a year.

What I liked about the zoo is the intimacy. It's 44 acres (small as zoos go), and the layout and atmosphere invite participation from visitors and encourage questions on just about any related topic. The staff clearly love their work and share their enthusiasm with visitors - a nice change from understaffed attractions with indifferent workers that all too often characterize other venues. Most of the displays are mixed species displays, meaning you'll see a good replica of the natural habitat with several animals and plants native to the surroundings. Even the concession stand is built with thatched roofs and materials compatible with the environment. The gift shop is actually the old, original zoo building (1872), a registered historic site with lots of interesting details.

The zoo wisely integrates cultural, geography, history and zoology. In the Marco Polo exhibit, for example, you pass through the explorer's trading ship and walk along a Venetian canal with appropriate street scenes painted on a mural. The music and language of this 13th-14th century traveler are piped in, and one of the docents spins camel hairs into a garment. The hairs are taken from the two dromedaries lounging in the area, and remind the visitor of the exotic sights the intrepid Polo saw on his journeys.

A favorite is the Australasian Exhibit (New Guinea and surroundings) with its ancestral masks and Indonesian Shadow Puppets highlighting the wildlife from the region. On my recent visit, children were busy happily making masks and crafts from the region, hearing the sounds around them and enjoying being in the middle of this vivid combination of culture, art and wildlife. Or go on safari in the Fabric of Africa exhibit and get together with some of the biggest, rarest, tallest and fastest animals on earth. You'll see rare and endangered species like the cheetah and African elephant all roaming through natural settings.

Carousels, History & Green Grass

Either by design or accident, the Zoo is located in a gem of a green space: the Roger Williams Park. These 430 acres are an urban paradise. Within city limits and host to the Zoo, the park is a restful retreat offering families an opportunity to paddle boats through the extensive lake system, listen to concerts, picnic on the many knolls, bike the paths and drop in to the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium (401/785-9457), an interesting clay-colored French chateau design from the 1800's.

Perhaps my favorite experience, after the flowers and landscaped hills, is the colorful Carousel, a wonderful throwback to the days when having fun had nothing to do with technology. Imagine riding gaudily colored horses and fanciful dragons, heads thrown back with vivid manes frozen in time. Everywhere are brightly colored lights, shinning mirrors, the surround-sound of hurdy-gurdy music pumped from an organ - and the laughter of kids twirling in the magic of this rush of sound and light. It's been too long! Outside is a small and rather innocent ice cream and hot dog stand. What more for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon?

Especially for the Littlest Ones

The Children's Museum (401/273-KIDS) is not to be missed. Located in the so-called jewelry section of the city (because of the costume jewelry once made here), this place is another example of Providence's success in working with corporate partners to create inner-city places that stimulate while being intimate and fun. The woman at the cashier's desk plays the guitar, Dads (and Moms) play in the water with their kids in the Water Ways Room while next door, an anatomically correct (but huge) teeth exhibit teaches fun ways to achieve oral hygiene. Hanging from the board are interesting letters from kids of many cultures explaining what they do when their tooth falls out. You can tell your story too. Michael (German-American) tells us, "I put it in a glass and at night it turns into money!" Sounds good to me.

Because Providence is home to so many ethnic groups (Portuguese, Irish, Cambodian, Greek, German, Russian, etc.), the museum stresses multi-cultural attractions and activities including stories told in the accented English of the culture. There's a Cape Verdian packet ship to explore, a 1989 Cambodian wedding to observe (on videotape) in a Cambodian home with the wedding dresses intact, and actual photographs of the offspring of that marriage. There's a listening room where kids can hear stories of their contemporaries from other lands and tell their own tales for future listeners.

The Children's Garden (401/273-KIDS) is a unique mix of the wacky and the aesthetic, it features a sundial decorated with lizards, a huge, colorful play-on map of Rhode Island, a fieldstone fountain and plants and flowers with labels showing visitors where the plants grow in the wild. Two new play environments in the garden have just opened: a climbing playground and an underground world where kids can explores roots and tunnels. Voted "One of the best reasons to borrow a child if you don't have one," the Museum has book nooks geared to each exhibit and a Baby Nest area for little ones 4 and under.

Details, Details

Providence, as an international publication recently said, has learned "to beautify without bulldozing." It has also learned how to create safe, fun weekends for families that mean something. If you go, we found the Hilton Providence (401/831-3900) to be a good family place to put up for the night. There is an indoor pool and the rooms are pretty accommodating.

For more lodging and attraction recommendations, contact the Providence Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800/233-1636.  Also see Top Hotels in Providence for more places to stay.