This is the story about how two people fell in love and how I (Steve) proposed to Andrea. It all started in Rochester, Minnesota, where we were staying with my parents. We left there on the morning of Monday, June 18th, and it was sunny, hot, and humid day. We had plans to spend the night camping at Gooseberry Falls State Park on the Scenic North Shore of Lake Superior. When I was a geology student at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, it was a short drive to the state park. I went there every autumn to take in the incredible scenery of the leaves changing colors and to hike the park's many trails. Gooseberry Falls gets its name from the Gooseberry River which cascades over layers of lava floes on its way to Lake Superior. If you ever get the chance to see it, it is well worth any detour. At any rate, Gooseberry Falls State Park is a special place to me and has been since my college years.

Anyway, back to the story. We get to Two Harbors (a small town 40 minutes north of Duluth) and buy our provisions for the evening and breakfast next morning, then head on up to the park. We get there at about 6:00 and immediately set up our tents because the weather was no longer hot and steamy, but rather cold and foggy with a steady light mist. I was disappointed to see the fog when we approached Duluth on I-35 because I love the scenic overlook from the rest area right as you go over the last hill and can see out over much of the city below. Fortunately, however, the heavy fog cleared up a little bit on our drive north to the park.

In my mind, I had pictured how I would propose to my future bride, and if it was going to be at night, it would be next to the moonlight dancing off the Lake or during a beautiful, cloudless, sunny day. I went to the bathroom to collect my thoughts and to think over my strategy. I came up with the idea that I would ask Andrea if she wanted to go for a walk before we ate dinner - if she did, I would propose; if she didn't, it would take place on Tuesday with hopefully better weather conditions. She wanted to go for a walk. *gulp!*

The trouble was we were not very close to the river bay, so we had to hike along the shoreline, which is very rocky and potentially slippery in the mist. Carefully, we made our way toward the river and came to a place where a separate island of rock was connected to the shoreline by a few fallen trees. The picture below was taken by Andrea as she was content to watch her boyfriend have a little fun. But fun wasn't the only thing on my mind, of course, and I was toying with the idea of proposing to her from across the ravine - only about 10 feet away. I asked if she could hear me and she could, but I decided against it.

I paused for a few seconds because it was pretty clear - at least to me - that the gig was up. Also, realize that I'm wearing a t-shirt, fleece pull-over, and a rain jacket, so if she is feeling my heart beating through all that, something's going on! So I turned to her and told her that rock climbing wasn't the reason why my heart was beating so fast. I proposed right there. I won't get into the exact dialogue of what I said, but I remember her whispering, "Oh my gosh" under her breath as I pulled the ring box from my pocket. I got down on one knee and slipped the ring on her finger as she was saying, "Yes" to the question of, "will you marry me?"

Just about every time we try to take a timed picture with her camera, we end up having an adventure. This case was no different. We ended up setting the camera in the window sill pointing toward Lake Superior and we would be in front of the railing. After I took a failed picture of her alone (no timer), she took over and got the timer light to come on for the next exposure. Unfortunately, there are some water pump pipes in that section of the shelter, which delayed her in getting out to stand by me by the time the timer went off. In the process of running, her hat flew off and we were both laughing when the flash went off (her hat is missing in one picture and we both have big smiles! She also stuck out her hand in a karate-chop-like move to show the ring milliseconds before the flash went off.) - I couldn't tell if she had gotten into position it was so close. So we took another one and this time, she was able to get around the pipes in plenty of time for the picture.

As it turned out, Tuesday was that perfect, sunny day I had imagined for a daytime proposal. Oh well. After we got back to the campsite that night, we had a nice, romantic evening cuddled together around a toasty fire. The weird thing was that it sounded like it was raining in the trees all around us, but no rain seemed to be hitting our raincoats. It started raining in earnest just as we were saying our goodnight and going to our respective tents. This was probably about the time that Siren, Wisconsin, was being hit by the tornado if you remember that.

So there you have it, folks. That's how we got engaged. I have some other pictures below with captions to explain them. Our relationship has been a dream for me - everything I have ever hoped for in a perfect match is personified in my bride-to-be. The engagement was just the next natural step in what I hope will be long a prosperous lifetime together.
~ Steve