March 2, 2009

A Tour of Venice Florida

My grandparents have owned a vacation property in Venice Florida since I was around 8 years old. Every year usually twice a year my parents would load us in the car and we would make the 20 hour drive straight through to visit them. We often went and spent Christmas there as well. My uncle lives about an hour north in Clearwater so the trip was also to visit with him and my 3 cousins. When we were little people would look at my mom as if she was crazy since she would have all 5 of us in tow.

Here is a tour of one of my favorite places to be!

A view of the coastline from the Pier at Venice Beach. There are 3 really nice beaches within 5 miles of my grand parents condo: Caspersan (the shark teeth capital of the world), Nokomis and Venice Beach. This guy was taking advantage of the windy cold evening!


This is what we call the "Jetty". Here we are looking at it from the Venice Beach side. The other side is Nokomis. It is the perfect place to come and watch the sunset. You can walk out on the pier, climb on the rocks along the Gulf, watch the boats coming in from the Gulf and even see a few dolphins! We usually take drinks and snacks and sit here for hours waiting for the sun to go down!


Sharky's is one of my favorite places in Venice. It has a really fun atmosphere with live music, a deck that overlooks the Gulf and a long pier that you can walk out on to see dolphins!


Mango Bango and Nachos! YUMMY!


Shopping downtown is also fun. There are a lot of neat little touristy shops and clothing boutiques. Mom, Lorraine and I spent an afternoon exploring Venice Avenue!


The first insulated tumbler was actually created in Detroit Michigan but the corporation and factory are located just north of Venice! You can purchase these tumblers in 6 different sizes and over 200 different designs. On our visit I bought a UofM on for myself and a John Deere one for Phil! They are great for ice water because it stays cold for hours!


The Pool - what is a Florida vacation without days laying in the sun at the pool! The pool was at least 85 degrees. It was great!


My absolute favorite grocery store. I love it so much Phil and I went to one on our honeymoon just for fun. They have the best homemade bread! We went almost everyday while in Florida!


Anna Maria Island. Grandpa was nice enough to let us take a road trip up the coast to the Keys. We drove through Siesta Keys, Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island. There are beautiful houses, lots of shopping and White Sand Beaches!


We stopped for lunch at the BeachHouse Restaurant in Bradenton Beach before heading back to Venice after our road trip up the coast!


Nokomis Groves - An orange grove in Nokomis just north of Venice. They are best known for their ice cream. Here mom and I are enjoying small cones of Chocolate Lime! We also bought a huge bag of tangelos for $5!

6 comments:

The Jessie James Gang said...

Aw, your sweet mom. I miss seeing her at Costco.
Speaking of the awesomest stores in the world, I finally went to Publix.
It should have a halo over its name.

Unknown said...

sweet pics. I wish I was in Florida right now.

what exactly is a pulbix? never been to one. apparently it's not your average grocery store?

Katy said...

It isn't your average grocery store. You will have to go there when you go visit your grandma in Florida. It is like Payless but much better. It is really clean, the staff is friendly and the produce, meats, bakery items are always really fresh and good!

Holly - I am so glad that you went and liked it. My grandma actually knows you as the Costco Holly..lol!

Kirsten Alana said...

Awesome pics!!!! Florida really is wonderful and I am so glad you got to go! I want to go back!!

Kari said...

i always giggle when i drive by a publix. because it makes me think of the word "pubic."

Charles Rinehart said...

Great blog. My Venice Florida blog will be up soon. Hope you can see my Flager Beach, St Augustine, Palm Coast, Key West, St. Pete Beach blogs. Thanks.