Camping at Lake Constantine...Really???

Friday after work Mike and I headed up just past the small town of Minturn to go hiking/camping for the night. With our summer being so busy we think that this will be the only time that we are able to before next year. We got to the trail head and it was looking like the weather was not going to cooperate. We decided that we would hike as far as we could and then stop and set up camp if it did start to rain. Thankfully, it didn't rain and the skies cleared up and we just had to hike in a bit of mud. After we hiked up the four miles we reached our destination, Lake Constantine. Mike and I had done this hike last summer with some friends so we new it was going to be beautiful. Last year we hiked to Lake Constantine and then continued up to two alpine lakes above treeline called Tuhare Lakes. This year after our 2 previous hikes we determined that if we continued up we were going to hit snow and a couple frozen lakes. So we got to our campsite around 6ish. Mike quickly grabbed his fishing stuff and went to the lake to see what he could catch. I chopped down some firewood and kindling and then joined him. By the time I got out there the sun was going down and we were both getting cold, we also started to see our breath so we decided we needed to get the fire started. We went back to our campsite and Mike continued to try to find firewood, there was not a whole lot dry up there besides kindling and 1 inch sticks...not good for a campfire! So we started our battle with the fire and continued this fight all night until we gave up after 4 hours and went to bed. We couldn't get any of the big logs to start on fire and were just going through sticks and kindling all night. Mike started to cook the pasta that we had brought up for dinner and I continued to find more kindling and get our air mattresses blown up. It was dusk by now and it was getting darker and darker. Mike came up behind me as I was sitting on a log that overlooked the lake by our fire and crouched down.

We started to talk and were just talking about random stuff when he said "so let me ask you this, will you marry me?" I proceeded with "Really?" three times while he said "yes" and then he said "does this help" and showed me the ring! Then I finally new it was REALLY happening and said "yes." Then the crazy planner that I was wanted to know everything about how he had done it, who knew, and when he got the ring ect. So we talked about it for a bit before we tried calling our parents to tell them. It wasn't until after I had told my parents and we had eaten dinner that it hit me that we were really, really, engaged and that we were going to be together forever. So then I got a bit emotional as it all set in, but what a wonderful night! So special, romantic, and wonderful. I haven't been able to stop smiling and staring at my finger all weekend. I have been dreaming about getting engaged to Mike since the minute we started dating. I said on Saturday when we were hiking down the mountain, "I need to keep reminding myself that this isn't a dream!"
Besides getting engaged, my favorite thing about the weekend has been calling all of our friends and family and telling them the news. From my side everyone was expecting it because I told them to keep their fingers crossed, as I thought he might do it on one of our mountain trips. When Mike calls his favorite thing is to do the "blend" where he casually talks about weekend and then rolls in "went camping, got engaged, caught some fish." We are both really excited and can't wait to start this new journey together. Obviously all my girlfriends are super excited about another wedding and even his buddies welcomed the news and are now asking about wedding plans!

We leave for Europe on Thursday so nothing is going to be figured out until then. I think I liked "pre planning" more than I actually like "planning." Now it feels like I have to get it all figured out sooner than later. I am hoping that we can still pull off a spring wedding, but if not summer or fall is always an option.