A happy announcement

I had wanted to call a few people to let them know personally ahead of announcing it publicly on my blog. I've got some good news. Kristin and I are engaged! Read all about it here...

K came to town last Friday, arriving later in the evening. Unbeknownst to her, I had used my lunch break to go downtown and pick up the ring I had purchased two weeks prior. Her parents had given me their blessing in asking her to marry me, and even having seen Kristin twice while knowing they held the secret closely. All Kristin knew was that we were going for a hike on Saturday.

My plan was to take her up to Mugu Peak and pop the question while we had a view of both ocean and mountains. Having been to the park once before with friends from work, I knew of a loop trail; I'd seen maps that showed an offshoot that went to the peak and figured it'd be easy to find. Well, we never found the offshoot. And me, always prepared, but for some reason I had failed to print a map this time. What to do???

K was a bit irritated when I told her we wouldn't make the peak. We had already crossed some trail with brush alongside, scraping our legs, and now had to go back through the same stuff to get out. But as luck would have it, the sun was on its way down by the time we arrived back at the trailhead, so instead of heading to the car to go home, I suggested we walk over to the beach.

We were sitting on the rocks facing the Pacific when I asked Kristin to be my wife. She saw the ring and managed to keep her jaw in place long enough to say yes...but as you can see, it promptly dropped after that:

We watched the rest of the sunset as a newly engaged couple, and once back in the car she called her family.