Jamie Thingelstad

Stopped at Turner’s Donuts to get a bite before hitting the road.

• Jamie: Cherry Cake, German Chocolate
• Tyler: Raised with White Frosting, Bavarian Cream
• Tammy: Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Iced Cruller
• Mazie: Blueberry Cake, Sour Cream Old Fashioned

All that, with a coffee, for $11.

• Mazie and Tammy run on the beach.
• Tyler and Jamie go to North Shore Cafe but it’s closed. Instead they go back to Mademoiselle Paris for coffee and an eclair.
• Tammy meets up with Tyler and Jamie at Ginny and Jane E’s for breakfast. The crème brûlée French toast is very good. Mazie stays back to read on the beach.
• Tammy, Jamie, and Mazie return the rental beach chair, umbrellas and boogie board to the Lazy Turtle.
• We ride our bikes to Holmes Beach and the Kingfish Boat Ramp.
• Tammy and Mazie make a quick stop at Publix for boat snacks.
• We meet Jeremy and take a boat tour of the bay for a few hours where we snorkel on a sandbar, see manatees, and dolphins and cruise around the bay.
• We ride our bikes to Bradenton Beach with dinner at SMOQEHOUSE!
• We ride back to our Airbnb after dinner and head to the beach.
• Tyler and Mazie hang out in the ocean while Jamie sits in the sand and Tammy looks for shells.
• We have our last sunset on the beach.
• Everyone cleans up and we walk to Dips for ice cream. Turns out 9pm ice cream is very popular.

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Tammy and I at sunset on Anna Maria Beach. 🥰

Sunset from Anna Maria Island.

Finished cycling 4.64 miles in 30.1 minutes. We actually rode twice this but I only recorded the route from Smoqehouse back to the Airbnb. There is really just the one main road that goes up Anna Maria Island. It has a bike path on the side so is an okay ride even though there can be a lot of traffic. 🚴‍♂️

Smoqehouse opened in 2016 in the now defunct Faribo West Mall in Faribault, MN. This was a short drive from our cabin and they had delicious pulled pork sandwiches. This became a regular part of our cabin weekends — a dinner visit to Smoqehouse. A year after opening this first location they expanded to Northfield and shortly after that opened a location in Anna Maria Island. Sadly for us the Faribault location eventually shut down, and the Northfield location sadly had a kitchen fire and was destroyed along with the historic hotel it was in.

We were without the delicious pulled pork from Smoqehouse. For years. In the meantime I’ve vastly improved my pulled pork technique and have gotten it pretty darn close — but we still miss our visits to Smoqehouse.

Since we were heading to Anna Maria Island, there was no way we were going to miss an opportunity to visit! And we were super happy to be greeted by Andrew Kubes who we used to see in Northfield in those early 2016 visits. He shared that we now are members of a fairly small group of folks that have were diners at the Faribault and Anna Maria Island locations.

Great barbecue in here!

We got a family photo with Andrew Kubes!

These lights are the exact same look that the Faribault location had in the big community table.

Same chalk menu board!

These cow, pig, and chicken images were also in the Faribault location.

Write-up in the Bradenton Herald on Smoqehouse.

Smoqehouse on wheels! Nice looking pickup.

And how about the barbecue? Love the classic barbecue style dinner trays.

Tammy got the classic pulled pork sandwich — good as ever!

Tyler tucked in on the brisket burger. His only regret was not making it a double!

Mazie had the chicken and thought it was great.

I got the Cubano and it was amongst the best. This was not a regular menu item in Faribault.

We had a fun afternoon with Crysten’s AMI exploring the bay side of Anna Maria Island with our guide Jeremy. We snorkeled on a sand bar in the middle of the bay finding sand dollars, crabs, and shells. Then found two groups of manatee as well as dolphins getting dinner.

These full face snorkeling masks were hard for me to get comfortable with.

• Up early at 7:00 am.
• Head to The Donut Experiment to start the day.
• Tammy, Mazie, and Tyler go on C Ponies horse riding activity.
• Jamie goes to Orange Blossom Coffee to tend to some SPS stuff he needed to do.
• Jamie picks up everyone and head back to Airbnb.
• Walk around the shoreline of the island to lunch.
• Long and relaxing lunch at The Waterfront.
• Tammy and Mazie shop. Jamie and Tyler return to Airbnb. Shopping: Pineapple Marketplace, Shiny Fish Emporium, Ami Outfitters, Two Sides of Nature, and The Lazy Turtle.
• Overcast and cool day, so head to the beach.
• Lots of throwing football, sand feet.
• Got treats from an Ice Cream Boat!
• Cleaned up and went out on bikes to dinner.
• Went to The Porch for late dinner.
• Ride bikes back to the Airbnb in the dark.

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We were hanging out on Anna Maria Beach around 5:30p today and saw a boat coming close to shore playing that unmistakable ice cream truck music. It had two flags in the back and we wondered “Is that an ice cream boat?” It was indeed an ice cream boat. AN ICE CREAM BOAT! How awesome is that.

The boat was a bit down the shore from us but how can you pass up getting ice cream from the very first ice cream boat we’ve ever seen. We made our way over to the boat. As we got closer I saw that not only was this an Ice Cream Boat, but it was also raising money for vets. All of the proceeds from these ice creams were going to support vets. We made a couple donations and got a couple of ice creams, and I asked for more information about this organization.

The organization is Project 11:11 started by Erin Gallivan from Bradenton. They have a bunch of profiles on various sites to check out, as well as a GoFundMe to help raise money.

What a great thing to do to bring smiles to people on the beach and do good for veterans. Way to go! 🇺🇸

Sand feet. 🦶

Yes I’m on vacation — but I’m still updating my bits.

Finished 2.21 mile walk in 59.9 minutes (27.1 min/mile). Majority walking along the beach in loose sand enjoying the scenery and sounds. Started at Airbnb and finished for lunch on other side of the island. Saw dolphins off the top of Anna Maria Island. 🏖️🐬

Seven custom made donuts from the Donut Experiment this morning.

• Tammy and Mazie go for a morning run.
• Breakfast at Madamosielle Paris.
• Rent beach gear for next three days from Fun & More.
• Beach time! 🏖️
• Early dinner at The Porch — delicious food!
• Tammy, Mazie, and Tyler go on bike ride.
• Back to the beach for sunset!
• Tammy, Mazie, and Tyler go on evening walk up the beach and finish in the dark.
• Turn in for the night.

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Prepared for an evening of shark fishing.

Sunset on the Gulf.

• 7:36a Alarm off so we can get on the road.
• Drive to hardware store.
• Peachey’s donuts!
• Botanical gardens
• Drive to Anna Maria Island.
• Check in at Airbnb.
• Attempted dinner at The Waterfront but had long wait.
• Buy a fun shovel for the beach.
• Dinner at pizza place.
• Ice cream.
• Walk along the beach until sunset.
• Jamie puts together Weekly Thing. Tyler suggests cards and the three of them have a lot of laughs playing Sevens, Blackjack, and BS.

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We are not going to get a sunset tonight. Will try again tomorrow night!

Instagram walls. sigh 😔