Anna Maria

Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Clearwater, FL

 This past week we took a 5 day trip to Anna Maria Island, FL. It is about an hour and a half drive from Tampa. Aaron bought this vacation fall 2016 at an auction for Maddy's school. He planned to use it as a work trip for Bios Research, but it never came together until May 2018. So the Fletchers, Mom and Dad, and two of Aaron's employees went to the beach house for the vacation. The house we stayed in was huge and really nice and maybe a 1/4 mile walk to the beach.
We started our trip off by having flight delays and then rental car problems.  I was 1:30 a.m. when we got into Tampa. Then took forever to get our mini van we rented. As we drove to turn out of the airport the back of the van popped open and would not shut! So we turned around and went back to the rental place. The guy got it to close but then the back wouldn't open! So they gave us another van and we finally got to our hotel at 3 a.m. We all slept in the next morning. After breakfast at the hotel, we decided to drive over to Clearwater to go to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter the dolphin. There is a movie called Dophin Tale about Winter that Maddy loves. The summary is that the dolphin was discovered as a baby. She lost her tail from an injury. Then Hanger Prosthetic, which is a company that has made some orthodics for Maddy, made Winter a prosthetic tail to help her with swimming and physical therapy. So the kids were thrilled to get to see Winter in person. Kelsay pretended she was Winter all week long and when they watched Dophin Tale at the beach house (just happened to have a dvd of the movie there) Kelsay cried and cried over Winter, even though she'd seen her at the aquarium and knew that Winter was ok. Anyway, I think that was THE highlight of the trip for Kelsay and a big highlight for Maddy.

Petting stingrays at the aquarium

 After the aquarium, we at lunch at a grille that was right across the street. I had fish tacos, Aaron had fish nachos and others had sandwiches of various kinds. After lunch we headed to Anna Maria and our beach house. We got in about 5 and then went to have supper at a spot called the Beach House that was right on the coast. It was raining like crazy when we got there. The girls didn't mind getting wet while we waited for a table. We all had various kinds of fish and shrimp for dinner. I had stuffed grouper that was really good and Aaron got some shrimp linguine that was amazing.

 We had all been running on about 5 hours of sleep and were feeling tired so after a short detour to see if we could see any manatee over in the channel by our friend's house, we headed back to the beach house and to bed.

Heron at docks

 The next morning we got up and hit the beach right after breakfast. Rain was predicted for the afternoon and it was overcast all morning. It felt hot to us Coloradans but those from Dallas thought it was a little chilly for a beach day.

 We had a great time playing in the sand and getting used to the ocean and figuring out where it was safe for the kids to go, etc. We picked up a lot of sea shells and built sand castles.

Maddy got to use her aquascope to check out the water.

 We went back to the house after lunch and then played in the pool until it started raining. Then we took a walk after supper (grilled chicken and shrimp kabobs) to see the sunset and look for more shells. We got to see a sea turtle nest as well.

 Now my pictures are out of order. Monday was fishing day but those loaded further below so  I will tell about that in a minute. These are pictures of our beach day on Tuesday. It was hot and sunny on this day and we got to try paddle boarding and sea kayaking.

 Aaron forgot to sunscreen his back so he burned bad. Blistered in fact. All of us got a bit toasted in various places. A lot of people forgot to sunscreen their feet so got burned there. We ate a picnic lunch on the beach on this day so we'd have more time to kayak, etc. WE thought it was going to storm but it all stayed east and south of us so we had a great day for beach activities.

 Even Nanna and Grandad got into the kayaking and paddle boarding. I really liked both a lot more than I thought I would. It was a lot of fun and I'd love to do more soon.

 On Monday we fished. It was four to a boat so we had to take two boats out. I caught a sea trout and Aaron caught a sea trout and a mackerel. We saved those to eat. Maddy caught a huge snook (pictured below) but those were out of season so we had to put it back .

 Maddy even got to drive the fishing boat and did a great job! The fishing trip was a ton of fun. We had fish Monday and Tuesday night. On Monday we grilled mackerel and made the trout into fish tacos. On Tuesday we made almond crusted trout and had roasted veggies and salad as sides. It was all really good but we were all done eating fish for a while by the end.

Dolphins swam in the boat's wake for about a 1/4 mile. It was amazing!

 Wednesday morning, our time was up. We left and ate lunch at a place called The Getaway. No one got fish but I did get to try a Cuban sandwich which was fun. We had delays again on our way home and got in late back home. I am exhausted but glad that we went.

 The kids enjoyed the water, the sand, the pool, and beach life so much. The water and beach were beautiful on Anna Maria island. I grew up going to Galveston for the beach and never liked it that much. It was gross and dirty. Until a few years ago, I thought the beach was just gross. I am thankful to have had this opportunity to see a pretty beach and all of the amazing sea life. We saw dolphins, manatees, pelicans and lots of other birds. My dad even saw a stingray jump out of the water. It was an amazing trip and an experience I hope to repeat soon.