I wanted to share all of our awesome (and not so awesome) vacation adventures. Anna Maria Island is such an awesome place, plus it holds a very special place in my family's heart. My mom and step dad were married on the beach there 10 years ago! They go back almost every summer, depending on what is going on. Last summer, since Kinnley's arrival was during the summer, they didn't go far :)
Eating on the Island
When we travel to Anna Maria, we stay in a condo. Most condos have a washer and dryer and FULL kitchens. I'm talkin' pots, pans, silverware, blender, toaster, the whole nine yards. **Not every condo is the same, so be sure to ask or check!** So since we had a full kitchen, our first stop on the island is the grocery store. Lunch and snack items, plus things for a few dinners. Popcorn, chips and salsa, watermelon, lunch meats and condiments, tacos, steak night, grouper--just a few of the items we had and prepared ourselves in our condo.
On our way to the island, on the Bradenton Beach Pier, we ate at Cast and Cage. Its right at the end of the little pier and its beautiful. If you are a regular down there, you may be more familiar with Rotten Ralphs. Well, Rotten Ralphs is no more. I ordered the crab cake sandwich with creole mustard, and it was DELICIOUS!
Sign of the Mermaid. Oh boy, I wish I had nicer things to say. My step dad said that the past few times they had visited the island that this place was going down hill and that it had changed ownership a couple times. The Sign of the Mermaid is in this cute little yellow house and the inside is really just as cute as the outside. However, that is really where my compliments end. We were sat at a table all the way in what appeared to be an addition to the original house and it was HOT in there. Our waiter was less than professional. We had to ask for drinks other than water and he was not helpful when it came to answering questions about the menu. I asked a question about the Caesar salad dressing, whether it was homemade or bottled "EVERYthing here is homemade". My mom asked what the portion size difference was in the meal she was interested in, since you choose between a small and a large size. He replied that there were about 4-5 shrimp in the small portion and 6-7 shrimp in the large, so she ordered the large and my sister and I followed by ordering larges in our pasta dishes. When he sat my dish in front of me (nearly an hour and a half later) all I could think about was Chef Gordon Ramsey and what he would say about the portion size. I mean, HUGE. There was so much pasta. Endless pasta. Enough pasta to feed our entire party of five and have leftovers. My mom's dish did not have 6-7 shrimp, if I remember correctly she counted 12. Just plain ridiculous. Like I mentioned above, the wait time for dinner was out of control. Luckily, Kinnley was such a good girl the entire time. When our ticket came, we noticed that our waiter had typed our total in wrong. After alllllllll of that, we entered out the back door which led to a ramp. We had watched an elderly man with a walker come in this way just before we left, so you can imagine my surprise when we opened the door to see this ramp. It quite obviously needs replaced. The ramp up to the back door is the only way for wheelchairs/walkers/disabled to make it in to the restaurant, the front door has stairs, so please keep this in mind if you have read my little review and still want to chance it.
Oma's Pizza. Again, just don't. We ordered it for delivery one night and we ended up throwing out all of the leftovers (which was almost everything we ordered since we didn't enjoy it). We were told 45 minutes and after waiting an hour and a half, we gave the restaurant a call. We weren't rude, we weren't even upset. Mostly we just wanted to make sure the delivery hadn't gotten lost, since we were in a condo. The lady on the phone was less than pleasant and not helpful, stating that the order wasn't at the restaurant anymore and that they were really busy.
Both Lobstahs and The Waterfront Restaurant were impressive. The Waterfront Restaurant is down by the City Pier. We ended up driving down on a separate day to go swimming there. The water was so clear, we found many beautiful shells, there were dolphins swimming around not far from us, and we found tons of sand dollars. Please pay attention and know the difference between live and dead sand dollars, don't take a live sand dollar from its home! Check all shells for anything that may be living in it! We had no complaints at either of these two restaurants. The food was great and the service matched!
Speaking of sand dollars, not far from Lobstahs, is my moms favorite little place to shop. The Sand Dollar has so many cute home decor items, some clothing, jewelry, lotions, candles...and I'm sure more! Everything is so cute and very reasonably priced.
Lastly, a couple places for those of you with a sweet tooth! Joe's Eats and Sweets for homemade ice cream. I had strawberry cheesecake (and shared some with Kinnley), so tasty. There are so many flavor options and different sundaes to try. There was a homemade brownie sundae that sounded so yummy, but unfortunately I was just not hungry enough. My advice: come here hungry! Anna Maria Island Donuts is another must. Zach traveled from the condo to the cute little donut shop by the free trolley service one morning. He said that you put in your order and they fry up and put the toppings on your order right then and there, no donuts in a display. AMAZING, FRESH donuts! My fave was the maple topped donut, but we also had oreo topped donuts, peanut butter and chocolate topped, and vanilla frosting with sprinkles. There are other toppings/flavors to choose from as well, its a must stop!
We had a rental vehicle while on vacation, but the island does have a free trolley service. We went out adventuring one day and took it from our condo, all the way to the south end of the island, and then all the way north to the City Pier. It was nice. Trolleys come to the stop every 20 minutes, so not too terrible of a wait.
Last but definitely not least, our condo. It was awesome. My mom's only complaint is that she wished we could have watched the sunset from the balcony. We could see a lot of ocean from our room's balcony, just not the sunrise/sunset. We were also right next door to the public beach, which I didn't mind, but some people may want more of a private beach. I liked being next to the public beach because there was a little restaurant that served breakfast/lunch/dinner and also a stand that looked like it served yummy margaritas and beers (we never tried them out though). The breakfast Zach and I had one morning was pretty yummy. Anyhow, we stayed at the Gulf Sands condos, our condo (201) is listed through Island Vacation Properties, LLC. It was so clean, well stocked, and we happened to meet the owner of the condo as we were arriving. He was so nice and explained some things about the condo, there was a storage room near our parking spot that had sand toys/pool toys/beach chairs and such that we could use. Plus, there were cold drinks and some snacks waiting for us in the kitchen, such a sweet touch. Overall, our stay was awesome.
Cloth Diapering while on Vacation
Since our unit had a washer and dryer, we were able to easily continue on with cloth diapering. We did choose to buy disposable wipes for use on the trip. It made traveling by plane and packing my carry on much simpler. And we did use disposables on the way home and the flight home, I didn't get around to doing diaper laundry on the last day there. Other than that, life carried on as usual :)
Odds & Ends
My step dad, sister, and mom did go para-sailing while there. They all enjoyed it! My mom needed a little talking into, but she conquered her fears! They used the YOLO Adventures company. We traveled to Clearwater (about an hour and a half drive north) to visit Winter the dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I have been once before, but for everyone else it was their first time. If you're not familiar with Winter, maybe you'd be more familiar with the movie Dolphin Tale? About the dolphin who loses her tail and they take her in and try to make her a prosthetic tale? Anyhow, its well worth the visit. There are also turtles, otters, pelicans, sharks, and other dolphins at the aquarium. Plus, if you have watched the movie (and if you haven't, you should before you visit) you'll recognize places at the aquarium that were used as scenes in the movie. It is well worth an hour or so of your time!
We are happy to be home but we are definitely missing the beach already, can't wait to go back!
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