If you follow the blog, you'll know David and I don't stay in one place too long. We love Kalamazoo, and call it home, but there's way too much of the world left to see, so every so often we plan an adventure.
This one had been in the works for over a year, but I had no idea just how special it was going to be. David had lived in Montana for a bit previously, and had been compiling a list of must-see places since we first started dating, knowing someday he would be able to show me around Kalispell and the Glacier National Park area. When wildfires halted our plans last September, we decided to try again for June of 2018.
It was everything I could have ever hoped. The natural beauty was every photographers dream, but the company was the absolute best.
We started the trip off with his favorite breakfast spot in Kalispell (Split Rock Cafe) and then toured a few the top breweries (Bonsai Brewing Project was pleasant as heck), and finished up on Flathead Lake, boating with one of David's best big sky buddies.
Day number two held things I didn't see coming from a mile away.
David took me on a hike to Holland Falls, knowing the entire time I would want to take photos at the top, so we packed a tripod and remote (on top of that, I looked like a hot mess, hiking with a boots/sundress combo that I swapped out for flip flops when the walking was done.... for the photos sake of course).
We had been planning on shooting frame-able photos at some point this trip, so I thought nothing of his insistence I make absolutely sure to have the wireless remote in the bag.
Once we fought off the invasive ground squirrels searching for snacks (note that close up shot was not taken with a telephoto lens) we set up the tripod and took a few shots.
And then he surprised me.
I had no idea he had been planning the proposal ever since we booked the first trip that got rescheduled, and had kept the ring a complete secret all this time! I've been on cloud nine ever since, this man is my best friend, and my biggest supporter. Life is such an adventure with him, and I can't wait to start the next chapter of it.
He planned it all perfectly, and even got us THE most beautiful Airbnb in St. Ignatius to spend our first engaged night.
After all that, we spent the next few days camping, hiking, and getting overall publicly unpresentable. One of my favorite hikes from the standpoint of feeling so accomplished when we finished was definitely Iceberg Lake, but there wasn't a single bad day and not one hike I regretted. We spent loads of time outdoors away from cell reception, and it was perfect.
I have no doubt we will be back to this other-worldly place. Bears and ground squirrels included, there is something special about Montana.
