Overlooked: Anna Maria Island
 Just when I thought I had thoroughly explored Florida's coastline and discovered its best vacation destinations, I stumbled upon a place like Anna Maria Island, a quiet resort area near Bradenton, right across the bridge from Longboat Key.
On a recent visit, I was pleasantly surprised to find clean beaches with reasonably-priced hotels. Anna Maria is Florida's wedding capital, so there's an occasional party or two to contend with on the weekends. Otherwise, it's as restful as you could want (here's a picture of Aren at the beach).
We arrived just in time for the Florida Gulf Coast Outdoor Festival at Coquina Beach, with featured everything from kayaking seminars to a fish "petting" zoo. The highlight was a display by the Manatee County Mosquito Control District which showed the kids how fish could be used to naturally control mosquito populations.
 Here's a photo of the kids with their grandmother, petting fish.
What I liked the most about Anna Maria was that it had a charm about it that's rare in Florida.
There's a vibrant artist's colony, where you can buy everything from original paintings to enormous
metal sculptures.
The restaurant scene is pretty decent, too. In addition to the standard seafood fare at restaurants
such as the Sandbar (nice beach
views) and the SunHouse Restaurant & Bar, we found a place called the Island Creperie that made the best French Toast I've had in a long time.
You know that you've had a great stay when you start looking up the real estate listings,
wondering if you can afford to move to the beach. (Alas, it's way out of my price range. But nice
try, Elliott.)
My thanks to David Teitelbaum of the Tortuga Inn for giving me a personal tour of the island and introducing me to one of Florida's best-kept secrets.
We can't wait to come back.
Posted July 17, 2007
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