Winter? What winter, Anna Maria beach visitors say

ANNA MARIA -- Somewhere in the world, it was cold Monday, the first day of winter.

But not on Anna Maria Island beaches, where folks in swim suits frolicked in the water, or just stretched out on the sand to soak in the sun and the mid-80s temperatures.

Really now, how bad can the first day of winter be in a place where palm trees grow on every corner?

Adam Miller, 35, a principal from Dallas, Texas, was out on the beach with his wife Jackie, and two of their three children Monday afternoon.

"This is our winter break. We have a lot of friends in much colder climates," Miller said as he crafted a little sandman, the closest he could come to building a snowman.

Jackie Miller, a native of Kansas, said there was no place she'd rather be.

"This is the best winter I have ever experienced. This is my kind of winter," she said.

After spending time on Anna Maria Island, the Millers plan to move on to Miami to watch Oklahoma play Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

There were also plenty of Europeans on Anna Maria Island.

Christine Kolacio of Austria knows Southwest Florida beaches well. As a child, she came with her family to visit beaches in Sarasota County.

"It sure is beautiful," Kolacio said Monday of her patch of Anna Maria Island. "Back home it's just about freezing at the moment."

A few yards away, two couples, Conny and Danilo Bruggermann, and Mario and Sabrina Lucke, were visiting from Berlin, Germany.

"The beach is nice, the weather is nice, the people are nice," Conny Bruggermann said.

Dawn and Tucker White, northwest Bradenton residents, were enjoying their empty nest status with a day at the beach.

"We make it a point to come to the beach once or twice a week," Dawn White said. "We are grateful to be here. Grateful is a big word in our vocabulary."

Beach lovers can look for more of the same the rest of the week, BayNews 9 meteorologist Mike Clay said.

"It won't be like winter," Clay said, adding there will be lots of clouds, unseasonably warm, with a 30 percent chance of showers on Tuesday.

James A. Jones Jr., Herald reporter, can be contacted at 941-745-7053 or on Twitter@jajones1.

This story was originally published December 21, 2015 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Winter? What winter, Anna Maria beach visitors say ."