Our Engagement Trip – July 2004

Places we visited

• Cedar Breaks National Monument
• Zion National Park (Kolob Canyons)
• Timpanogos Cave National Monument
• Yellowstone National Park
• Grand Teton National Park
• Fossil Butte National Monument
• Dinosaur National Park
• Colorado National Monument
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
• Mesa Verde National Park
• Hovenweep National Monument
• Natural Bridges National Monument
• Navajo National Monument

Our Engagement

It took only a month for Kim to move in with Scott, but it took much longer to take the next major step and get engaged. Here’s the story.

The ring

Scott spent nearly nine months finding just the right ring for the occasion. He was determined to combine the two elements he knew Kim wanted the most: emeralds and sunflowers. He finally found the perfect one online. It featured two half-circles with emerald sunflower petals and a small diamond flower heads on a white gold band. He worked closely with the ring company to ship the ring in a discreet package so Kim wouldn’t know and then he hid it for weeks and weeks until their trip.

A special time at a special location

It was important for the proposal to happen on our anniversary, and in a cool place. As we started planning our 2004 roadtrip, we wanted Yellowstone National Park to be the focus of the trip. Scott knew that this was the perfect location for the engagement – not only is Yellowstone the world’s first national park, but it is a fabulous and diverse place that Scott knew Kim would instantly love. What made Yellowstone even better was the rest of the roadtrip – it would be the longest and best we had taken to that point.

Scott wasn’t intent on just doing it anyway in Yellowstone – he needed to pick just the right place in the park for the proposal. He wanted to be close to Old Faithful area so we could celebrate at the Old Faithful Inn, a landmark of the National Park Service that was celebrating it’s 100 year anniversary. He also wanted to find a secluded spot that was easy to get – thinking ahead, he wanted to be sure we could return to the exact spot when we were substantially older.

He ended up choosing a secluded spot off of the trail on the shoreline of Shoshone Lake, the largest backcountry lake in North America. It was a perfect spot. The hike in was relatively short and flat – and still quite scenic if you could avoid the huge mosquitoes that guarded the boggy areas. The hike followed the DeLacy Creek through a wooded area before opening up and skirting the edge of a large meadow, terminating at the lake.

And since it was important to have the proposal on our anniversary, July 15, he also had to make sure they scheduled their time in the park without arousing suspicions. We always try to be in the “anchor” park of our roadtrips on our anniversary, so being in Yellowstone on the right day wasn’t a problem. However, he had to work hard to subtlety fix the schedule so that we’d end up doing the DeLacy Creek hike on our anniversary, particularly since the hike wasn’t on Kim’s radar at all and wouldn’t have been the typical outing we preferred on anniversaries. But with some forethought, some intentional “misscheduling,” and some luck, he was provided the right opportunity.

The proposal

Scott’s not big on tradition, so it’s not surprising that his proposal didn’t fit the norm. Instead, it came after several minutes of sitting at the shoreline. Kim sat in front with Scott immediately behind her while they chatted about how much they were enjoying Yellowstone and the roadtrip in general. Scott then posed the question, “Do you want to spend the rest of our lives traveling to great places like this together?” As she started to answer, he swung the ring around in front of her. She quickly answered “Yes! I would really love to.” Completed surprised by the proposal, Kim adored the ring and loved how the plan had come together. We logged a GPS waypoint of the site, took a photo of us at the shoreline, and hiked back to the car to celebrate at the Old Faithful.

Photos

• Scott’s pictures
  • Cedar Breaks National Monument
  • Zion National Park (Kolob Canyons)
  • Timpanogos Cave National Monument
  • Yellowstone National Park
  • Grand Teton National Park
  • Fossil Butte National Monument
  • Dinosaur National Park
  • Colorado National Monument
  • Rocky Mountain National Park
  • Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
  • Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
  • Mesa Verde National Park
  • Hovenweep National Monument
  • Natural Bridges National Monument
  • Navajo National Monument