Discovery Park holds my heart

We are settling into our new apartment and I'm becoming a bike commuter (my thighs are already getting more toned from the miles of hills!). I regret not posting more frequently, especially as I have multiple draft posts waiting to be finished. But I have a different story to tell today! Another long, sappy one I'm afraid.

On Sunday, June 8th, Brad and I went to REI to get panniers for my bike. We found a pair of bags for a really great price that were huge! As soon as we got home I was thinking we needed to test them out and see how much stuff we could cram in there. So I decided that instead of making a stir fry as I was planning, we should pack a picnic and take it to Discovery Park. Brad agreed and looked up directions for how to bike down to the beach on the Puget Sound. We packed potato salad, half a bottle of wine that we had from the previous night, fruit, and cheese into my bags, along with the picnic blanket. Everything fit and we set off the three miles down to the water. 

I made Brad take this picture of me on our porch with my panniers on my bike!

It was a beautiful, sunny (but with some clouds) day as we watched boats of all sizes go by. We even saw some bird of prey dive into the water and come up with a fish, which it held in its talons as it flew into the woods. 

Checking out the water. It felt cold but good on my feet.

I kept exclaiming how spontaneous we were with this spur of the moment picnic and how perfect it turned out to be. I even said "who says I can't be spontaneous?" and "what a good idea I had!" (though Brad argued that just the previous day he too had suggested bringing bikes down here at some point).  Brad was very complementary of the potato salad I made. After a while of lounging on the sand we decided to walk to the lighthouse, which sits on the western most point in Seattle.

He convinced me to clamor over a bunch of rocks and down to this little sandy strip in front of the light house that jutted out into the Sound. At a different time of day it would be covered in water. It was so exposed and windy, with waves crashing around us! We were hugging from the cold and looking around at the water and mountains that surrounded us as he started telling me how he loves to see me every day and wants to be with me every day and wants to spend his life with me and never be apart. And I thought he was being so sweet. And then (shocking me thoroughly), he reached into the pocket of his athletic shorts and pulled out a little box, as he got down on his knee. 

It is so surreal to think about it now, how it felt as he asked me to marry him. I was giddy and shocked and laughing and speechless all at the same time. He managed to flat out surprise me -- I thought I was being so spontaneous, I never saw it coming. And the ring was glittering so brilliantly in the sun, it was a perfect moment. I'm not even sure how long we stood there hugging and crying and laughing until we got cold from the wind.

A cool aerial photo of where we were standing, right at the end of  that super pointy tip sticking out in the Sound! Source

We had a seriously steep bike ride back up through the park, but I felt I had extra human strength from all the adrenaline and I made it the whole way without stopping (probably at a whopping top speed of 3 mph as we ascended). Brad said it was our first challenge together, being newly engaged. 

I'm wishing we had photos, but its so close we can easily go back when we are actually dressed up a bit nicer if we want. I just want to live in that moment forever. It is what I will always think of when I look at the ring. I'm so proud of us and what we have accomplished together so far. I know marriage will not always be easy. We've already had our share of fights in the past four years, but we've always found a way to work through them and to come out on the other side, loving and respecting each other. And I wouldn't want to face a lifetime with anyone else. 

We don't have any wedding details nailed down yet, but I'm hoping for early May as a time frame. And we won't be doing anything big. But I welcome everyone's advice on weddings and how to sustain a happy marriage :) And I promise to make a proper post about our new place soon!