Cortez & Anna Marie Island...2Fer1

Losing our snowbird virginity wasn't easy...but it sure felt good. Actually, it didn't hurt at all and staying in Cortez was a real-real pleasure. Prior to our December 2023 stay in Cortez we hadn't ever been before. We rolled the dice and came up a BIGTIME winner. We really dug the fact that it was just a couple miles from Anna Marie Island (AMI) which was the true pleasure of the entire stay. Cortez was also only 20 minutes from Sarasota, 50 minutes from St. Pete, and, Longboat and Lido Keys were bonus plan conduits to Sarasota. Since we have family in both it was wonderfully convenient.

The Rv Park was a 55 and older and no-pets allowed resort. Our first experience at one of these! All the spots had cement pads and the park was a swift e-bike ride to the bay. The facility had pickleball, bocce, shuffleboard, a pool, hot tub that sat 10, and a gym.

We played shuffleboard and Bocce once. Ha! At least we did that so we felt like we were getting our monies worth. What we did get more than our monies worth of were the magnificent sunsets.

Try to ignore Brad's belly above....it was the way he was sitting?!?! We did join a gym after a couple work-outs in the RV park gym after deciding it didn't have quite enough to get the job done. So, we joined a YOUFIT gym compliments of Silver Sneakers.

The first day we drove all over AMI scouting out the island. We stopped at a beachfront restaurant called the Sandbar for lunch. They valet parked our car and said "Your first two hours are free and if you want to stay on the beach after lunch, parking is $20". There were beaches everywhere so after lunch we took off. One of our goals was to check out every beach during our monthly stay. The first beach we earmarked was Holmes Beach. There was plenty of street parking available and without exaggeration two handfuls of entry points. As you'll see (down below) it was very quiet and kind of private. We dug it! One down and four more to go...

We met Brad's sister Marci and our Brother-In-Law J for lunch the next day which was fantastic. They live in St. Petersburg so we met them half way at a restaurant called Riviera Dunes Dockside. It's always great spending time with them.

It was Kathy's birthday on the 5th so we had a great all-day plan to celebrate. We met our Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy who drove up from Sarasota to join us for lunch. We had a wonderful time at the Seafood Shack with them. Which is so easy, cause we love spending time with them. We took pics of the restaurant but not with them. Bummer! Too busy talking...and speaking of talking we made the same mistake with Marci and J who we met for lunch a couple days before. Hah, no pics, too much fun chatting it up.

Kathy got a kick out of herself snooping on Brad ordering her birthday present above. After lunch we went bar hopping until dinner at Tide Tables. They get their fish right off the dock from their own fishing boats. It was fresh as heck and it didn't matter they served it on paper plates and with plastic utensils. Kathy had a great day! That's what it was all about.

Manatee Beach was the second, out of five AMI beaches we hit. Getting to our five beach goal.

For Kathy's continued birthday celebration, the weekend after, we went to our favorite Florida restaurant, Columbia. There we had our proverbial 1905 salad and their fantastic pitcher of sangria. This Columbia is at Saint Armands in Sarasota. We've been to three others in Tampa, The Tampa Airport and St Augustine. Of course, we took home some souvenirs (see below). That's 1905 dressing in the bottles and a packet of sangria mix. That should last us about four or five months or so?

We cruised AMI a few times during our month stay. Often, when we did, we admired (and took pictures) of the beautiful houses. Two of our destinations after scouting were the Anna Marie and Rod and Reel Piers. The former Pier was pretty but the Rod & Reel had more personality cause they had a restaurant and bar at that one.

We visited the Florida Maritime Museum per our Aunt Judy's recommendation and since it was just down the road from our RV Park it was a no-brianer. It was a cute little museum. We were excited when we saw one of our next-door neighbors having a campfire. After, we decided to get some wood and break out the torch and firepit. This neighbor who was caddy-corner to us who we've never seen outside before in our two-three weeks here busted out of her 5th-wheeler to let us know there were no open fires allowed. Brad said: "our neighbor had one yesterday". She said, "Theirs must have been propane." We never saw that old-B the rest of the entire month.

Detwilers is like a Stew Leonards and they opened in Bradenton just up the street from us. We got snow crab and NY Strips for $6.95/lb., 15-20 shrimp for $8.95/lb, fresh tuna for $5.95/lb. and free donuts. It was an awesome Grand Opening.

Our sister Marci and Brother-in-law J asked us to meet them at Billy's Stone Crab and Lobster to check out a musician friend of theirs for happy hour.

Here is some of the fruits of our labor from our Ditwilers Grand Opening shopping spree. It worked out nicely!

We weren't sunbathing at Coquina Beach. It was on the end of the Island and we probably went there three or four times during our stay. There was a Farmers Market there Wednesday, Friday, and Sundays. We hit that twice. The other times we were there to see the waves during a windstorm and for an e-bike ride.

Now you can see why we went back to Coquina Beach a handful of times. On another note, we were fortunate enough to remember to bring our National Park Passport book and we were very excited to break out the cobwebs on it and get it stamped at Desoto National Historical Site.

The memorial commemorated the 1539 expedition of the Spanish Conquistador and his impact on American culture. Florida isn't a foodie state in general but it is stone crab season now. We passed on the opportunity to eat them a few times because they are so gosh-darn expensive. We went to the the Swordfish Grill for happy hour and took the opportunity to partake. This place is in Cortez and has a small fleet of fishing boats, it's own dock, restaurant and dockside bar. We had six medium legs for a reasonable price and they were fresh, and scrumptiously delicious. Plus, we stuck around long enough for a wonderful sunset.

Beautiful Bradenton Beach on AMI was quite quaint and lovely.

We did take the time to go home for Christmas. It was only a four night jaunt so between two days of travel it was a swift and slightly hectic visit but we found it enjoyable and fulfilling. We hosted Christmas Eve at our house and took a shortcut by ordering food out which worked out nicely. Christmas Day was at Brittney and Pat's which was very gracious for them to host. Brad was too engrossed in the Eagles game but admitted to his obsession and learned by it for future reference.

We had no idea this blog was going to be this long when we set out to share it. Our next one, from St Pete will be broken up into two week increments. Less time-consuming for you the reader. Thanks for sticking with us up to this point. We're hoping all the pics assisted your reading and following down to here.

A few last things to share are our fifth beach visit, the Bradenton Art and Riverwalk and a HUGE announcement. We'll try and make them quick. We took a drive to Lido Beach which is in Sarasota. We anticipated just a drive-by but it was so beautiful we broke out the beach chairs (which we conveniently keep stored in our trunk) and hung out awhile.

We went to the Riverwalk one other time just for a reconnaissance visit. After some additional research we learned they had an art display throughout the walkway. We hit it and it was fun and we were glad we went back for seconds.

Last but not least...if you haven't heard already, our youngest daughter, Chelsie, got engaged on Dec.29th. We love her fiancé Dan and can't wait for next steps. Yee-Haw! Congrats to them! They'll have a wonderful life together.

Thanks for reading down this far. Much love, Kathy and Brad

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