Easter Sunday in Venice, Florida

I think this is the first time ever we haven't been home in Minnesota on Easter. We decided to find a church where we could ride our bikes. After doing some research, we located a Lutheran Church online that looked like it was about eight miles away and had a service at 11:00 am.

 We packed a few "church clothes" in our bike bags and hopped on the trail at about 10 am.

We were riding straight into a headwind that was at least 25 mph with gusts up to 30?

Anyway, after a lot of work riding, we never did find the Lutheran Church exactly. At about 10:58 am, we decided to stop at the Venice Presbyterian Church for their 11 am Easter Service.

The church was huge — there were four pastors participating in the service! But we were able to find two seats in the packed sanctuary towards the back.

It was a lovely service and all the hymns were familiar to us — in addition, they had a brass choir, bells, and a large choir, so we felt right at home with all the beautiful music.

After the service, we rode our bikes to downtown Venice and had a wonderful meal at an "Italian Cafe."

The City of Venice acquired its present name in 1888 from settler Frank Higel, considered the "Father of Venice," because of its likeness to the canal city in Italy where he spent his childhood. The City of Venice was incorporated in 1927, and the dream of a model community became a reality when homes & businesses featuring Italian architecture were constructed. Having just traveled to Italy last fall, it was fun to have an authentic Italian meal for our "Easter Dinner."

After our meal, we continued our ride south to Venice Beach and the Venice Fishing Pier. You can get an idea of the wind conditions by looking at the flag and our hair! :-)

We then spent some time taking our last "Florida beach walk." So fun to see all the dogs having a blast on the "dog beach!"

In addition to the dogs, we enjoyed seeing kids and adults of all ages enjoying the waves and beautiful day at Venice Beach.


The final 12-mile ride home was a piece of cake — with the wind behind us this time, we just flew!

Now we are packing up and getting ready to leave this great state park tomorrow morning on our journey north. We've had a wonderful time here, and have enjoying biking everyday on this beautiful trail!