Courtney and I ditched cold Cleveland for a trip to Anna Maria Island in FLA. Our 6:00AM flight to Tampa was uneventful and we were in Tampa and on the road by 9:30AM – not bad. After a leisurely brunch at the local First Watch we drove to The Henry B. Plant Museum which was part of the old Tampa Bay Hotel built in 1891 and closed after the depression. It’s now part of The University of Tampa. The old hotel was super cool – huge – and interesting to see how rich folks vacationed back in the gilded age. We spent an hour in the museum, other parts of the old hotel and walking around the grounds and then hit the road for Anna Maria Island – about an hour south.We were so fortunate that John & Alissa invited us to share their house for the week. John’s Mom, Stephanie was also there. They had been there for a week already and her SO and Andrew and William had to leave hence the extra bedroom. So thankful. The house was beautiful in every way – especially the pool and hot tub that we used a lot.Anna Maria Island is a great place – beautiful beaches, not very big and not crowded. click on picture for an article that was just in cleveland.com today about AMI.Our days were spent relaxing on the beach enjoying the FLA sunshine. We celebrated New Years Eve – although we were all in bed before 10:00PM.Sunset before dinner. We went out to dinner once and lunch twice – both at local places. We never left the Island once we were there.The tide was low one morning and explored some interesting tide pools.The Boyd women.We left AMI on Saturday morning and said goodbye to everyone. We stayed an extra day in Tampa area. We stopped at the Florida Botanical Gardens and walked around. We liked this six foot tall bay plant.Alligator and turtle friends?We rented ebikes for the afternoon and biked along a nice trail along the coast – stopping for lunch somewhere along the line. It was the first time on ebikes – could get used to it for sure.We explored Honeymoon Island on Sunday morning as we had an hour to kill before our flight home.Nice trip and so nice to get away.
Eat On Edgecliff 