Engagement & Celebration Trip
If you haven’t been reading the blog (and aren’t keen to blatant foreshadowing), or if you aren’t connected to Maddie’s social media, or if you didn’t receive a notification call - I have big news! I proposed to Maddie and she said yes! We’re now engaged!
I’m the luckiest man on earth and so thankful that God put Maddie in my life. This is the happiest I’ve ever been. I love Maddie so much. So much. And I’m excited for the next stage of our life together.
Along with announcing the good news, this post is going to be a photo dump from our celebration trip of the Southern United States. We took a week of PTO to celebrate Maddie’s recent promotion at work and my (almost) wrapping up some of my actuarial certifications. Each day we toured something amazing and it was easily the best trip I’ve ever been on.
Map of our travels: Raleigh/Durham Airport —> Chapel Hill —> Biltmore Estate —> Cherokee —> Great Smokey Mountains National Park —> Nashville —> Mammoth Cave National Park —> Louisville —> KENTUCKY DERBY —> Cincinnati Airport
The first part of the trip, we toured my college campus. Pictured behind me is the stats building where I hibernated four years before moving to Seattle. Since I’ve been gone, the university built an entirely new media academic building and my favorite restaurant went out of business. [Insert sentence here about reflecting about the passage of time but ultimately coming to the conclusion that: no, I’m not donating to the UNC alumni association.]
The Biltmore Mansion, constructed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of America’s beloved railroad tycoon, is a visual reminder of the importance of monopoly laws. Above that, it’s a cool tourist destination of a big-ass mansion. Unrelated, but an equally important trip memory-sake, I took Maddie to Waffle House that morning to experience fine southern cuisine.
One of the last photos of “girlfriend” and “boyfriend”. Now when I tell my coworkers I don’t want to hang out with them, preferring to spend the evening with my “fiancé”, it carriers more weight.
I proposed on a Tuesday, obviously the most romantic day of the week. We hiked Andrew’s Bald in Great Smokey Mountains and were crazy fortunate to have the trail and the meadow to ourselves. (Normally it’s the most popular hike in the most popular national park.) Now it’s forever our spot and we have squatter’s rights. Prior to me bending the knee, the entire trail was blanketed in thick fog, but right around when she said “yes”, the fog lifted and the sun came out. It was very romantic and very planned (in the sense that I can control the weather).
Part of the romantic Tuesday, I reserved a table at one of Nashville’s best restaurants. I booked it at 9:00 PM to give us time to drive the four hours from Great Smokey Mountains to Nashville. Putting it on the record so I don’t forget, we saw five black bears in Smokey Mountains, so obviously a great day for multiple reasons.
In Nashville, you don’t “bar crawl”, you “honkey tonk hop”. The city has the United State’s largest concentration of live music and bachelorette parties. The music and people watching are both superb. Highly recommend.
The photos of Mammoth Cave National Park don’t do it justice. What you’re looking at is a cave.
On the day before the Kentucky Derby, we toured Louisville. Tasting whiskey at Angel’s Envy, touring the Louisville Slugger museum, and walking at the state park where Lewis and Clark allegedly started their expedition.
Attending the Kentucky Derby has always been a bucket list item for me. Maddie and I went all out and bought grandstand tickets for [insert large amount here] dollars. The atmosphere was absolutely amazing. Everyone was dressed extravagantly and all the concessions were free. Literally all the drinks and food were given away for free. We saw celebrities and placed fun wagers on the horses.
