Hello, Anna Maria

This post is lonnnnnng overdue, 2 months over due...to be exact... but this summer has been crazy busy and I'm honestly not really sure where the time went. 

Today, my husband, Wells started year 3 of Physical Therapy School at the University of South Florida, HIS LAST 1st day of School EVER! Woohoo. To say he (more like WE) is excited is an understatement! :) 

Praise Jesus, from whom all blessings flow; 

We see the light. 

Yes, I absolutely had to take a "LAST 1st Day of School" pic of my hubs. 

Anyway,  as the New School Year is beginning, I figured there is no better time, and in appropriate Addison fashionably lateness, I would share this hidden beutiful jewel,  Anna Maria Island, with y'all; Better late than never, right?!

Wells and I celebrated our One Year Wedding Anniversary back in June. Wells was in the midst of his first clinical rotation so we knew we couldn't go anywhere too far away, so we did some research and some asking around to the local Tampa natives, and we decided that a weekend getaway to Anna Maria Island was just what we needed. From everyone we heard from, Anna Maria was beautiful, cute, quiet, an low key.

Anna Maria has many homes and condos available for rent, but Wells and I were really in search of a B&B. We wanted to truly relax and didnt want to worry with cooking or buying groceries and such... A friend reccomended the Harrington House Bed & Breakfast to us, and we are so grateful that they did.

We arrived at the Harrington House on a Friday evening with plans to stay until Sunday; however we loved it so much (plus Wells ended up having Monday off...) that we stayed an extra night. 

As soon as we drove up, I fell in love. I am a sucker for all things quaint, cute, and old. The first thing I think that stuck out to me at the Harrington House was the sign that said, "Welcome, Come as a guest, leave as a friend." That is exactly how we both felt throughtout our stay. We were treated like family. Everyone was perfectly personable, loving, and overly accomadating. 

How adorable is this little walkway?

 I felt like I was walking into a secret Garden.

The B&B felt like you were going to stay at your Great Aunt's home; welcoming, cozy, friendly, it just felt like HOME. They had movies, books, games, bikes, kayaks, beach chairs, beach umbrellas, and towels for guests to use as you like, They also had snacks and homemade loaves of bread for purchase for which they use the honor system, which is so up my alley. I love being able to step back in time where you can trust people and you are trusted. Each day around 3 in the afternoon, the chef baked homemade cookies, and they were SO GOOD! This may have been one of my favorite things..

The Harrington House had literally everything you could ever think of that you just may need. They had a full list of reccomendations to restaurants of any and every kind. 

Our first night, Wells and I rode bikes to a local eatery, The Feast. We had amazing mozzarella wedges (pictured above), holy cow, my mouth is watering just thinking about them...& a delicious pepperoni pizza, can't ever go wrong with a pep pizza, right!? The Feast was a casual restaurant with a very wide variety of foods. you can get anything from soups, pastas,salads, to sandwiches, seafood, and pizza. You can truly FEAST at this establishment, so their name is so true. 

Beautiful peonies (my favorite) from my hubby in honor of our anniversary gettway weekend... I had to share. How gorgous are they???

Breakfast at the Harrington House was SO good, y'all. 
I mean like not just okay, and not just good; it was excellent. 

Each day we had some type of fresh eggs, and a slice of fresh and absolutely delicious bread made daily. 

   

Oh yea, did I mention yet that we were at the Beach? And that the Harrington House is a Beach front Bed & Breakfast. I promise, we did do more than just eat on our weekend getaway. ;)

We were just a walk through the patio/pool area and just a few steps away from the beach;

 SO NICE!

The water at Anna Maria was breathtaking. The beautiful blue-green water could not truly be captured with a camera. It was like being in the carribean but you're not...you're in Florida on the pristine Gulf of Mexico.  

They say once you go to the Gulf, you never go anywhere else. 

Growing up in SC, I grew up swimming and playing on the beaches of the Atlantic, and as much as I love my home state and myhome beaches, they just really don't compare to the Gulf.

The white sandy beaches next to the beautiful blue green water seem to make the water sparkle that much more. 

It was turtle season so we saw many marked turtles nests. We were hoping to see some babies...maybe next time.

Holy Donut Experiment! 

This is a MUST if you visit Anna Maria. It was super fun, FRESH, and delicious...and this was totally our lunch the Saturday we were there. No shame. haha.

I loved that you could see the donuts being made fresh, right there in front of you and even better, they were warm when you got them. Hot Now ain't got nothin' on these things. ;) jk...but really, they were THAT good!

We both ordered the donut of the day, the Key Lime Donut. Y'all this was better than any piece of keylime anything that I've ever had. SO GOOD! I also got a chocolate with Sprinkles; can't go wrong with chocolate and sprinkles, my fav ever since I was a tot. It surely did not disappoint...very possibly the best chocolate and sprinkles donut evaaaa. Wells also ordered a S'mores donut; he LOVES S'mores and he said that it tasted just like a S'more. 

I am not a coffee drinker...so hello, what did I drink with my sweet donuts? Why Strawberry Lemonade of course!
Anddddd, this was probably the best lemonade I've ever had, hands down. Strawberry Lemonade by Natalie's with only 4 ingredients...Lemons, Strawberries, sugar, and water. The bomb, y'all. 

Meanwhile, hubs enjoyed his iced coffee, looking like a J Crew model....
y'all, who looks like this after eating donuts?!?

Anna Maria City Pier is a must do. Full of local fisherman & kids swimming.We were told that this is a place where manatees are often seen; we didn't get that lucky, but maybe next time!

The Pier is a huge part of Anna Maria's history, dating back to 1911; I love that this is a place that represents a sense of welcome. This is a place where visitors would arrive by steamship, a place that provided dockage for ships from St Petersburg and Tampa. This pier has withstood hurricanes and despite being damaged on numerous occasions, it has been restored
 to it's original form, each time. 

I love a good restoration story, I love it when history is protected and brought back to life.

As we were leaving the Pier, I noticed a nice man making Palmetto Roses, something near and dear to my heart as a true South Carolinian and something I wsn't expecting to see in Florida.
 They bring me back to Charleston, where they originated; if you ever visit Charleston, SC, you will see tons of these!
"The weaving of the Charleston Palmetto Rose dates back to the Civil War. Tradition holds that southern ladies would give their true love a Palmetto Rose to keep them safe from harm as they rode into war. Today these roses are still keepsakes that symbolize everlasting love.
The Palmetto Rose is made from frons from South Carolina's official State Tree -- The Palmetto Tree. Due to each leaves' unique appearance, no two roses are exactly the same. The natural colors may vary from dark green to yellow or tan..."

So of course, I couldn't say no; I had to have one. And how appropriate that my love bought me a Palmetto Rose on our 1st Wedding anniversry. 

Anna Maria is full of natural, lush, beautiful foliage. These are just a few of the beauties that caught my eye. 

Some locals told us that if we loved the Anna Maria City Pier, then we had to visit Rod and Reel Pier also. This seemed like the place to be; full of locals and a great fishing spot... I am not fisherman....but we saw lots of people fishing...so that means it is a great fishing spot, right?
T'was a neat spot, for sure. 

Happy 1 YEAR! Whoop Whoop.

We found this adorable shop,  The Shiny Fish Emporium ; located on Pine Avenue just down from The Donut Experiement. This shop is great for children or adults, and has a variety of cute nick nacks. They also offer Sand Dollar Painting which was so fun and unique. This was like a twist on those wine and paint classes you can go to but was simpler and you had more freedom to paint whatever you liked. This was fun for me and my husband had a pretty good time too. I would certainly say this is a MUST DO for any families, girlfriends, or couples while at Anna Maria!

Our finished Products, Wells painted the Palmetto Flag, our home state, SC flag and I attempted to paint us on our wedding day.... Looks just like us, huh?  ;)  I thought they turned out pretty cute, though!

We enjoyed a nice lunch date on our anniversary at The Waterfront Restaurant . It was super cute from the exterior, with the seaside cottage look. The interior was adorable also. With beautiful large moldings and unique details making it super welcoming, while still feeling casual enough for a great lunch spot. The food here was amazing. We had Fried Green Tomatoes as an appitizer, AMAZING. For lunch I ordered their Fish Tacos, which were hands down, the BEST fish tacos I've had. Wells had their Crabcake Sandwich which he fully enjoyed! 

We celebrated our anniversary night at The SandBar Restaurant; The SandBar is outside dining...you are literally on the beach,which we thougrouly enjoyed. We missed the Sunset....because I took way to long getting ready...but it was still an awesome experience. We enjoyed yummy drinks, great food, 

amazing dessert, and an awesome view. I enjoyed their shrimp N' Grits and Wells enjoyed a huge crabcake served over rice. (Yes, he did he crabcakes for lunch and dinner...hehe)

I would say, The Sandbar is certainly a must do while at Anna Maria....and hey, a sunset dinner makes it even better!

Anna Maria was an amazing anniversry weekend getaway. I think we just barely scratched the surface of all that there is to do and see, but we SO enjoyed our time. We will certainly be taking a trip back sometime soon! If you're contemplating making a trip to Anna Maria, do it;

 you will surely not regret it!

Anna Maria, you stole our Hearts! 

Thanks for reading, friends.

Until next time...hopefully it won't be so long ;)

xo,

Addie