Day 175
No Boat
Travel.
Before returning
home to the boat last night, I made a date with Jane and her friend Sam to go
to the gourmet donut shop in town. We agreed to be ready at 8:00, so I set my
alarm and dragged myself out of bed around 7:25. With overcast skies it looked
and felt more like 6:00 a.m. Worse yet, when we stepped off the boat for our
morning trip to the “head”, we found that the air was full of moisture. I had
on a light jacket to protect myself from the mist in the air. This turned out to be
insufficient protection when the rain worsened as we walked the docks to get to
the restrooms.
Due to the
foul weather Jane said she would drive us “girls” to the donut shop, so I did
not have to take my bike out in the rain.
The “boys” decided to stay back on the boat. At “The Donut Experiment”
(see thedonutexperiment.com for details) the customer has their own donut made
to order with an icing and a topping of choice. Somehow we got from planning to
get 6 donuts to buying a dozen. When we left, we had 3 maple icing with
bacon, a chocolate with coconut, a chocolate with peanuts, a maple with
cinnamon sugar, a vanilla iced with no
topping, one maple with graham cracker crumbs I believe, the special of the day – key lime, and
a few more I cannot remember.
From the
donut shop we went to an art store and bought paint and brushes, so Jane can
try her hand at painting a picture she wants to add to her boat décor. Following
that, Jane took us to a home decorating store where we looked at cushions and
trimmings for Jane’s new boat. We wandered the relatively small store for quite
some time exploring all the nooks and crannies to see what goodies they have
that might coordinate with Jane’s intended color scheme. Jane walked away with
a few good ideas and the need to measure some areas of the boat to see what
will fit.
After fully
investigating the interior design store, we headed off to Publix to pick up a
few food essentials. While there Jane told me that we were having ribs for
dinner. Yum!! Since Clark cannot eat pork, I bought him a steak to eat instead
and picked up a few things to supplement the dinner menu.
When I eventually got
back to the boat, I found Clark strumming away on his guitar. I do not think he missed
me at all. I put my groceries away and then cooked the stir fry veggies I
bought for dinner tonight. Once that was all settled, we had our lunch and then
headed into town on our bikes to look around. By noon the rain had stopped and
by the time we left the boat, most of the puddles were already drying out.
For our
first stop, Clark and I headed to the pier. The pier was originally built in 1911 to
greet visitors coming to the resort island via steamship. Since then the pier
has weathered a number of storms and been restored four times after serious
damage from hurricanes.
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| Anna Maria City Pier |
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| View from City Pier |
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| The City Pier Restaurant at the end of the pier |
Temperatures dropped overnight and it was windy on the pier. One poor bird looked mighty chilly as he stood beside us on the pier fishing for his dinner.
Clark
captured some pretty island views while on or near the city pier.
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| View of pier from near the street |
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| View of the nearby beach |
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| View from the foot bridge |
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| View from Anna Maria Island |
Continuing
on, we made our way to the beach. We walked our bikes down the sandy pathway
through the overhanging tree branches. Where the sand turned to boardwalk, we
found a bike rack and left our bikes to continue onward without dragging the them along.
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| Walk through the "jungle" to the beach |
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| Wooden walkway to beach |
Multiple
historic markers are set up in town explaining the background behind key items
of interest on the island. For example, we learned about the origin of the island and the history behind some of the buildings including the old jail in town.
The jail was
built in 1927 due to the dancehall opening in town where men would become drunk
and disorderly. A building with bars but no windows was constructed as the
mayor decided that a night with the mosquitoes would sober anyone. After
spending a night “in the slammer” the guilty parties had no desire to spend
another. Very quickly folks learned to behave themselves at the dancehall.
After the
jail caught fire many years ago, nothing was left of the building except the
cement block walls once the fire had run its course. Instead of tearing the
building down, the town made the decision to leave the burned-out building
standing as a tourist attraction. It worked and worked well! The old jail is one of
the most photographed historic buildings on the island.
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| Remains of the 1927 Anna Maria City Jail |
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| Pine Ave - Anna Maria Island |
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| Building with Mural on Pine Ave |
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| Some Shops on Pine Ave |
At 4:00 we
decided that we had explored enough for one day and headed back to the boat.
Whether it was the fresh air with exercise or a lack of sleep, I do not know,
but I decided to lie on the bed and close my eyes. My mother used to say to me,
“Just five minutes” as she closed her eyes for a nap. Now that I am older, I understand
how vital those “5 minutes” can be to rejuvenating oneself.
We were
invited to come to Ben and Jane’s for dinner at 5:00, so once again today I
dragged myself out of bed to get my act together enough to bike to their place.
I was so thankful that I cooked earlier in the day, so I was all set when it
was time to head out. When we arrived at Jammin
Jane, folks were busy cooking. Ben was working the smoker for our ribs and prepping
the grill for our vegetables. Jane and Sam were inside getting the veggies ready
to be put on to cook.
Dinner was a
huge success as everything tasted great. Since Clark does not eat pork, the
ribs were a real special treat for me. Ben used peach and pecan wood in the
smoker to enhance the flavor of the meat. Mmmmm-Mmmmm good!
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| Ev, Sam, and Max with asparagus and stir-fried squash with peppers |
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| Ben, Jane, Clark, Ev, and Sam preparing to enjoy ribs and acorn squash |
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