Stanniversary?!?!

As the recession reduced incomes, staying home for inexpensive vacations have become more popular. This phenomenon spawned a new term – staycation. I used this as the basis for a new phrase used to title this post – staying home to celebrate a wedding anniversary.

Since Angie and I are planning for a huge European 10th anniversary trip next year, we thought we’d do something on a much smaller scale this year. I told her to make arrangements for the kids and I would take care of everything else. I wanted to go to Las Vegas and take her to see the Elvis Cirque du Soleil show, but we just didn’t have enough time so I looked for something closer to home.

She’s previously asked me if we could stay at a Hilton hotel that is part of the Rockwall Harbor. The hotel is nice and is surrounded by a harbor on Lake Ray Hubbard with restaurants, shops and a movie theatre. I thought this would be perfect for our stanniversary. I booked the bed and breakfast package with a room overlooking the lake. My plan was to go to a restaurant that we went to as one of our first dates, then go to the hotel for some drinks. The next day we’d have a nice leisurely breakfast, go to a movie and then return home so I could go to work.

Last minute Sunday afternoon she asked me if we could go to dinner a little later. I said we could, so she made plans surprise plans for us earlier in the afternoon.

When we left, she told me where to drive. I didn’t know what she had planned and she didn’t know what I had planned, but her directions to me were to head towards Rockwall. Suffice to say, I was surprised when we ended up in the parking lot to the very hotel that I booked for the evening.

After a drink at the bar, she took me to the harbor and informed me that she had booked a sailing trip on the Seawolf – a catamaran that sails the lake. We boarded with several other people and proceeded to leave the harbor. We cruised for 90 minutes while enjoying the wonderful evening, wine, and each other. When we returned, I informed Angie that I had booked the hotel where we were and gave her a choice to head to the restaurant that I had planned (about an hour’s drive) or we could stay at the harbor and eat at one of the restaurants there (that we could walk to). She said she would prefer to stay where we were, so we went to the Blue Canyon and had an awesome meal.
After dinner we walked around the harbor and then retired to our room.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast and we went to the movie. I hate going to the movies and she loves to go, so it didn’t matter what we were going to see – she was happy. I had purchased tickets to the chick flick “The Backup Plan”.

We had a great time and a great stanniversary. Next year, though, there is no staying home. We are doing Italy, France and England.

Happy Anniversary, sweetheart.

SL