10th Anniversary: Steep Hill Beach

Mr. Badger and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. I seriously can't believe we have been married that long ... We were married on Steep Hill Beach in Ipswich, MA, which is part of the Crane Estate (near Crane Beach) and we had our reception in a big white tent on the lawn area just above the beach (left photo).

Our 10th anniversary was very full! To start, I woke up right around 6 AM, and noticed the pups and my husband were all missing ... which is very odd, Mr. badger is not a morning person! Turns out, he had taken the dogs for their morning walk <3 Afterwards, Mr. Badger, being the fantastic, giving man that he is, even agreed to volunteer with me at the shelter first thing in the morning. The shelter was doing a huge clean-up of the grounds and trails they maintain and a tree was dangerously hovering over one area of the trail. We went over for about 8AM with our trusty chainsaw and Mr. Badger chopped down the offending tree and we were on our way! 

We went out for some delicious breakfast at The Purple Finch Cafe - so yum! We then got ready to go to Ipswich for a beach day, but got side-tracked at an estate sale a few houses down from us. We bought all kinds of treasures there and continued on our way. Made a quick trip to our credit union (and ended up changing around some accounts, to our benefit :D ) ... and then we were finally on our way to the main event! We made it to Russell's Orchard in Ipswich and had our traditional cider donut with cider (and a bag of apples!). Grabbed the same cider + perry bottle we bought 10 years ago and a blackberry wine (need to try that!). Finally made it to Crane Beach and then had to walk along the beach to the actual beach we were married on, Steep Hill Beach! Spent a lovely afternoon remembering how we were married and lying in the sand <3 

There is an old schooner boat skeleton that was beached at Steep Hill Beach Christmas day 1909, the Ada K. Damon, that was very well exposed (right photo). It was 80 ft x 23.5 ft - so not a tiny boat. I didn't recall seeing it on our actual wedding day. Apparently it is hidden or exposed depending on the storms for the year. It was a really neat find!

Finally headed home, stopping at our favorite media store, Bull Moose Music and grabbing dinner from our favorite Italian joint and called it a day (the pups had been on their own too long for a sit down meal!). It was a fantastic day I am unlikely to forget <3 <3 <3