A Week at the Beach

I was fortunate to be able to spend last week at the beach on Anna Maria Island which is on the Gulf side of the state just below Tampa. I had never been there before and after a fabulous week I am sure it won’t be the only time. This trip all started with my friend, Alice, suggesting we should go the the Holocaust Museum in Orlando which is about 30 miles away. It then became a discussion that we should keep heading west and spend a couple of nights on the other coast. Quickly, it became a week and we never did make it to the museum.

Anna Maria Island is just 7 miles long and really not a lot to do there other than water activities but that is just what we wanted.

We were in the bottom left unit which was literally just steps from the water. It is so much nicer than the Atlantic beach and water. The water in the gulf was clear teal blue. You could actually see your feet no matter how far out you walked. And no or very little seaweed. I don’t go in the ocean here at home anymore because I want to see what I’m walking on but last week we were in the water every day floating on our noodles.  In fact we alternated daily between the gulf and the pool.

Alice and I both love doing puzzles and we did four of them while we were there. I also read two books and we played a new game, Qwirkle. It was such fun I just ordered one.

We found great food while there. This was from the Waterfront restaurant. Shrimp and grits and brussel sprouts. We also found a great French restaurant and ate there twice.  And we tried 3 ice cream shops. Needless to say there was no dieting last week.

Everyone comes out of where they are staying to watch the sunsets. It reminded me of the people lining up to watch a launch at home. While this was pretty it was not quite as spectacular as the rest of the nights. (below)

It was suppose to rain two days during the week but it wound up only raining about 15 minutes the whole time we were there. And then this happened!

One of the shops we went into called Ginny & Jane’s was a combination restaurant and gallery of very unusual decorations and artist items for sale. There were decorated bicycles hanging from the ceiling and jewel adorned items everywhere.

A week goes by way too fast and vacations do have to come to an end. Now it’s back to going to the gym, working out, and making cards.

Thanks for stopping by