Family Getaways 2008 - (Page 14) cities&towns VENICE by Amy Nance Venice, the Vintage City Venice Municipal Beach. Photo by David McRee, VISITFLORIDA.com Beach Expert. Y ou’ve done the sprawling beaches and the mega-resorts, ridden every amusement ride from here to Key West’s Mile Zero, swum with dolphins, buzzed along on a swamp buggy and charted the Space Coast. Your family‘s garage sports pendants and paraphernalia from every notable Florida attraction and then some. Feeling “family fun” fatigue? Round up the gang and head to Venice, a not-so-sleepy city on the southwest coast. Venice and nearby Englewood are a return to basics for parents and kids who’ve had enough of the state’s big-name delights. True, you’ll find symphony, opera and theater – we’re not talking the smallest-of-smalltowns – but the area offers a lot in the way of good old-fashioned fun. Take the family-run El Patio Hotel, located in the Arcade Building in downtown Venice and built by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union, which created the town. Here, the suites all have second-story porches overlooking historic Venice and guests hang out together in the large lobby, all of it built in 1926 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Above, Venice Little Theatre’s Into the Woods. Image courtesy of Venice Little Theatre. 14 VISITFLORIDA.com/family http://VISITFLORIDA.com http://VISITFLORIDA.com/family
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