TheMagicMoment

I agree with the advice @GreenEyedTrombonist gave you. I got my MA at a university where all grad students were required to take courses in all of the subdisciplines of anthropology (and encouraged to take courses in other departments on campus), and one result was that interdisciplinary theses were quite common. I would definitely reach out to/investigate your favorite departments and see if they foster that kind of environment. I know a cultural anthropology PhD who got their BA and MA in archaeology. It could happen.

I agree with the advice @GreenEyedTrombonist gave you. I got my MA at a university where all grad students were required to take courses in all of the subdisciplines of anthropology (and encouraged to take courses in other departments on campus), and one result was that interdisciplinary theses were quite common. I would definitely reach out to/investigate your favorite departments and see if they foster that kind of environment. I know a cultural anthropology PhD who got their BA and MA in archaeology. It could happen.

I say apply. I was in a similar situation where I wasn't sure if I was going to attend UNLESS I had funding from the uni. They send an email with details to apply and so I did. Ultimately I didn't attend this uni but knowing that this app was sent in for consideration can't hurt. Plus if you decide not to attend, then that uni can give it to another student - or whatever. 
But, yes-Apply. It's money 

I'm a digital ethnographer! My master's thesis was based on digital ethnographic methods, as well as my current project, and very likely my PhD dissertation, too!

OK, in my response to this, I want to make clear that I am not trying to convince you to apply to nonprofits, @wildviolet, nor am I trying to dissuade you from applying to faculty positions. I completely respect that choice! It sounds like it might be the right one for you. I'm merely offering my response because I think your comment has some interesting misconceptions - some of the same misconceptions I had about non-academic work myself when I started looking - and I just want to offer a response to anyone who might be making the choice.
Qualitative work: Many, many non-academic institutions do and appreciate qualitative work. I have mixed-methods training from grad school, but when I started applying for non-academic jobs in the private sector I assumed that my qual background would go unused and undervalued. Not so! In fact, I think I do more qualitative research now than I did in graduate school, lol, and my qualitative training was a huge factor in my getting the job I currently have an the value I have on my team - I'm one of the few formally trained qual people on my team and we need qual work done seriously all of the time. I do qualitative research in education currently in support of a product that I support (a well-known video game that recently released an educational version).
Autonomy: This is something I've been reflecting on a lot recently. It's certainly true that non-academic researchers have less autonomy than academic ones, at least big-picture. But I have a lot of independence as a researcher in my role, and many non-academic researchers do. It just depends on which kind you value.
I think if you (general you, not wildviolet specifically) need to direct all aspects of your research agenda - from what you study to how you do it to how you report the results - and you want little to no oversight, and you'd be unhappy otherwise, then an academic career is probably the only way to go.
But if you're willing to accept something different, there's a spectrum of autonomy. Think tanks are going to be the most like universities and academic settings in terms of the kind of autonomy you have (I'm thinking RAND, RTI, Booz Allen Hamilton, American Enterprise Institute, CATO, etc.) A lot of researchers at those places operate almost exactly like academics, in that they have to compete for grant funding (either internal or federal or both), have almost complete control over their research agendas and methods, publish regularly, etc. A lot of nonprofits, NGOs and agencies assign you a specific research area (say, income inequality and education) and you conduct research within that area, but you get to decide how and what exactly you investigate.
I think my job is somewhere in the middle. In my corporate, private-sector job, I am assigned to a project but then have the autonomy to conduct research within that project. So for example, my job might be to give product support to a specific game(s) or franchise, but I decide what that research support looks like, plan out the studies I'm going to conduct, how I'm going to build relationships with my team stakeholders, what the research priorities are for those games, etc. I can also propose spearheading new horizontal lines of research - like research into online multiplayer gaming or streaming games or e-sports or something - but the research has to be related to the business goals of company and I need to make a good case for how it'll help the company operate towards our end goals. That sounds super corporate, but honestly it's really not that much different (and honestly, far easier) than writing a grant. I'm quite good at it, it turns out, and really it involves more of a presentation or a discussion instead of spending 8 months writing a 6-page grant
Again, I am not trying to convince anyone! Just offering some nuggets from the non-academic world.

Presumably your field has several professional organizations; I would start there and look at their listings. There are the big ones, like AAA, but also the smaller ones that may focus on subfields or specific geographic areas. Take a look there. You may also look in relevant interdisciplinary areas' professional organizations. For example, I looked at both the American Psychological Association and the American Public Health Association because my research crosses both, and I also looked at smaller ones like the Society for Personality & Social Psychology and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality because those were my subfield and my specific area of interest. Are there any recurring post-docs that hire every year in your field? Examples are Michigan Society of Scholars, UNC's Society of Scholars, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation postdoctoral fellowship, etc. Let the professors in your department know that you are looking for postdocs and to send you any leads they may have. They will. Let your classmates and colleagues know, too! Check out organizations that give grants in your field; they may offer fellowships that allow you to go wherever you want for a postdoc. Also note that a lot of postdocs are posted later in the year - some of them aren't posted until spring semester.

I know the PeaceCorps probably makes the most sense for an anthropologist, but have you also considered AmeriCorps? Depending on your research interests that might be an excellent way to gain some valuable experience and there may even be opportunities already available close to where you live.

I know the PeaceCorps probably makes the most sense for an anthropologist, but have you also considered AmeriCorps? Depending on your research interests that might be an excellent way to gain some valuable experience and there may even be opportunities already available close to where you live.

I totally understand your dilemma. When I got my Master's degree I chose to stay at my undergrad institution instead of going somewhere else and I still wonder what kind of opportunities I missed out on because I didn't take a risk and go to a different university. That being said, I don't think I was being a coward either and I had plenty of success with my MA. I had a good relationship with the faculty at my undergrad institution, an advisor in my areas of interest willing to work with me, an established network, and all the benefits of being in a small department.
I found your post because I've also been accepted to the UCI Informatics program, which was/is my first choice for the PhD. From my POV this is not a bad option for you because 1) you're familiar with the department and presumably already have relationships with the faculty, 2) the faculty there share your areas of interest, and 3) they fully fund their students. But you might find something incredible at GaTech that you want to pursue.
It sounds like you and your partner have a plan for either situation, so my advice to you is this. The deadline to accept the offer at UCI is April 15th and I assume that GaTech has a similar timeline. Go to the campus visit at GaTech and go to the one at UCI. Find out what both programs have to offer you in terms of potential projects and see if you "click" with any of the faculty. Sure you know the faculty at UCI, but from my experience faculty members interact with their graduate students differently than they do their undergraduate students so you may see them in a new light. I'd also make sure that GaTech fully funds their PhD students. From my POV, taking on something like a PhD that isn't funded for the duration seems like a bad idea. And if you have the time I suggest exploring Atlanta a little bit and see if you might like living there. Not only would you be committing to GaTech for 5+ years, you'd be committing to living in the ATL.

I hope any of this is helpful to you.