Something that you should know about me is that I love the beach. I look forward to going every year and just getting to really relax. Typically, my husband and I choose Hilton Head for our trips. It’s where we went on our honeymoon and where we’ve gone every year since. It’s really special to us! But, for our anniversary this year, we opted to try a new place. We spent the week on Anna Maria Island in Florida, enjoying the Gulf Coast and seeing what the little island had to offer!
I always thought it would be fun to blog about our trips, mostly because they’re laid back and realistic for anyone to take. This trip felt like a great time to start! This post will highlight our trip as a whole, but I will be writing another specifically about the food we ate and our recommendations. The only thing we plan for our vacations is where we’re going to eat, so a food recommendation is not made lightly and therefore deserves its own post.
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria is such a cute spot! The island is only 7 miles long and the speed limit is 25mph everywhere - which makes it a really great spot to rent a golf cart! We rented ours from Beach Bums and they were wonderful. When we picked it up, they went over all the tips about driving around the island and also offered us some great food recommendations. Naturally, we loved that.
Our AirBnb, Snail's Pace, was on the north side of the island, just one block from the beach. While being beach front gives you the best views, this spot was tucked back just enough that it backed up to a canal (and the property had kayaks for use). It was the best of both worlds - so close to the beach, but with a nice little deck on the water with a great view.
Our days consisted of breakfast and coffee each morning, followed by lots of time on the beach. If you haven’t been to the Gulf Coast before, it’s beautiful. The water is so clear and blue and, if you’re a shell hunter like me, full of treasures!
One really neat thing about where we stayed on the island is that we were just a short walk from the very tip of the island, so you could see the Tampa Bay side and the Gulf side - so cool!
Though we spent most of our days at the beach, we did leave a little early one day to kayak on the canal (with high hopes to see a manatee, but with no luck). It was so quiet on the canal and super calm so our kayak adventure was pretty leisurely. You forget pretty quickly how much of an upper body workout kayaking is, so we didn’t make it as far as I had planned to in my head. Still, it was really nice and a fun way to get to look at all the houses nearby - talk about beautiful beach houses!
One of the other highlights for me was getting to visit The Fox Mercantile. I have followed Ashley (@arrowsandbow) on Instagram for years. She and her family moved to AMI a few years ago and renovated an inn on the island, Joie Inn, where you can stay (it’s out of our price range, but one day we’d love to stay!). They also opened a store/coffee shop, The Fox Mercantile, about a year ago. Wednesday morning we went for coffee and breakfast and got to shop around, enjoy the space, and check out the garden. Definitely worth a visit (and Ashley is definitely worth following)!
Most evenings after dinner we finished off the night with ice cream - but I definitely didn't get photos of that...I’ll blame it on the fact that it was melting too fast! Trent did take this photo to commemorate the ice cream though so I guess it counts for something.
The last night of our trip, we got to attend church on the beach. It was such a cool experience to join fellow believers in worship in the midst of God’s creation! What a way to end such a wonderful trip - thanking the Lord for blessing us and soaking in one last beautiful sunset!
Stay tuned for part two - the food guide!