Summer Traditions: Anna Maria Island, Fla. & Highlands-Cashiers, N.C.

Parrots flew overhead just after midmorning, less than a block from the Anna Maria City Pier, the gentle Gulf breeze swaying the palm trees along Pine Avenue under a radiant sun. The bright green and feathered pandemonium danced above from one neighborhood jungle to the next, taking with them any reminder that this slender barrier island at the Southwestern mouth of Tampa Bay was roughly an hour’s drive from reality. 

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