We drove for four hours or so (with a quick pit stop at McDonalds...classy, right?) and eventually stopped at Camden Hills State Park. The person at the gate told us that the park closed at 4:30, which meant that we only had 1.5 hours to hike. I was mildly concerned about that fact. Nevertheless, the official blog boyfriend would not be dissuaded and we proceeded to hike Mt. Battie nonetheless. I started to become mildly suspicious, but I talked myself out of it: Don't even think about it. This is a fun trip, and you can't ruin it by being disappointed and lame just because you thought one thing and it didn't turn out that way.
We got to the top at 3:40 - just enough time to look around for a little bit and then head back down before the gates closed. The top of the mountain had a great view. We could see all the way out over the ocean, including a bunch of islands.
One of those islands happened to be familiar. "Hey look! It's Deer Isle!" I said to official blog boyfriend. The significance of this particular island is that Diana and her husband Nathaniel live there. "I'm going to text Diana and tell her I can see their island."
Official blog boyfriend hesitated for a second, then said, "Maybe you should wait until we get back to the car to text her since we don't have too much time up here."
Too late. It was sent.
Diana wrote back to say, "What! So cool! I've been there. Wish I could see you!"
(In retrospect: sneaky, Diana. Very sneaky.)
There were a few other people on top of the mountain. We wandered around looking for a good lookout spot. We walked to the edge of the hill. People shortly followed. There was a tower on the top of the mountain. We climbed up there and looked out. People followed. Finally, we walked around a copse of trees to a different (deserted) lookout spot. We looked out. We hugged. Official blog boyfriend looked at me and said, "Do you want to get married?"
I said yes. Enthusiastically. And he pulled a ring out of his pocket.
(Admittedly, this picture was from a little later that day.)
And then we had to turn around, because we only had 40 minutes to get back and drive out.
On the way down, official blog boyfriend told me the story behind the ring. It was a long, complicated, interesting story. He'd done an amazing job - at risk of sounding incredibly cliche, I think it's the prettiest ring I've ever seen. Also, I'm really picky, and he found one that I absolutely love.
Also on the way down, he mentioned that we'd be spending the remainder of the weekend with Diana and Nathaniel on Deer Isle. Here's the subsequent continuation of the correspondence with Diana:
We made it to the park exit at 4:28!
After that, we drove the remaining two hours to Deer Isle, and spent a glorious weekend with the most wonderful of friends.
And so 10/26/13 has taken on a special significance for us.
We're so excited.
