Change of plans, need ideas!

I mentioned the other day that my husband and I were planning to spend our 10th wedding anniversary at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In my opinion, it's one of the most fascinating places on the East Coast. Gregg has a soft spot for the Outer Banks, having spent a few years in his 20s living just north of there, in Virginia Beach, VA.

There are beaches, obviously, but it's also the site of the Wright brother's first human flight (at Kitty Hawk), the lost colony of Roanoke, old haunts of famous pirates like Blackbeard, several shipwrecks to explore if you're into diving (the coast up there is called "The Graveyard of the Atlantic"), and if you're lucky you might get to see wild horses that live on the beach that are the descendants of horses that swam ashore after Spanish shipwrecks long ago. Here's a link to tell you more:

Wild horses of Corolla

I was soooooo looking forward to going.....and then, my dental drama begin. Two simple fillings turned into two weeks of pain, and an expensive root canal yesterday, and I'm still not entirely sure the problems are completely fixed. So we decided to postpone our trip. I'm terribly disappointed, but I just don't want to take a chance on not feeling 100% well on our trip. It takes 5-6 hours to drive there, and hotel rooms are terribly expensive from mid May until mid September which is the height of the tourist season. It would be a shame to go to all the trouble and expense and then to feel bad. So we're thinking of taking a long weekend at the end of September and going then. The trip will cost less and the weather won't be so terribly hot, which are the two consoling facts about waiting for me.

But, Gregg and I still have more than a week off together! Our vacation starts this weekend (Friday) and lasts through all of next week. Now I have to think of some alternative ways to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary a little closer to home.

(I cried the other night because I felt so bad about my teeth being the reason we're missing our trip, and Gregg was so sweet about it. He says he's just thrilled we're celebrating ten years of marriage, ten happy years, and that he feels lucky that we can take time off together no matter what we end up doing, and even if we stay at home the whole time. He says just being together is enough for him. Of course, that really made me cry. What a good man I married!)


I have no idea what we should do to celebrate now that we're not going anywhere special. I had hoped to spend our anniversary on the beach and sitting on our private balcony overlooking the ocean...but now that's out. I thought about some sort of picnic close to home, but it's so hot here....today was 95F and humid. I suppose there's always the beaches closer to home....and there are several public gardens I've always wanted to visit....not that gardens are terribly appealing to Gregg.

I'm open to any ideas for marking our special day that my blog friends may have. I'd love to hear from my readers in relationships about how you celebrate milestone anniversaries!