How It Started
We didn't plan to do this.
The coast had other ideas.
Michelle grew up moving around the Midwest, with roots in South Dakota and Nebraska. But some of her most vivid childhood memories are from time spent at her family's marina at the southern tip of Fort Morgan, Alabama, right where the Gulf of Mexico opens up and the water turns impossibly blue. That stretch of coast never really left her.
She met Ryan in Omaha. They built a life in Denver, eventually made their way back to the Midwest to start a family, and spent years doing the responsible thing. Then in 2023, they took a trip to 30A on Florida's Emerald Coast. Something clicked. The pace, the water, the warmth, the sense that this is what vacations are supposed to feel like. They came home and started looking at properties.
In early 2025, they bought Coral Cabana in Palma Sola, Bradenton, their first property on the Gulf Coast. What started as an investment became a passion project, and the passion project became a business. Vacation Thyme was born out of a genuine love for the Gulf Coast and a stubborn belief that a short-term rental can be something more than a place to sleep.
Then, in mid 2026, they made the move themselves, and now call Florida's Emerald Coast home.
