The proposal (part one)

Saturday was a day in which everything went wrong before it went completely right. Tragically and hilariously wrong. It’s a bit of a long story, so I’ll be separating it into several posts.

Jeff had planned out an entire day in the nearby town of Leavenworth. Last January, on my first trip out to see him, Leavenworth was the first place he took me. It’s where we shared our {looking back} awkward first day together and where we officially decided to start dating. We arrived that day as two people who had formed a deepening friendship over the previous months, and left as girlfriend and boyfriend. The goal of this day was to arrive as girlfriend and boyfriend, and leave as fiances.

On any ordinary day, even without the aforementioned details, Leavenworth is a perfect place for a proposal. It’s a beautiful little town nestled beneath snow capped mountains with quaint stores and restaurants all built in the Bavarian style. It has a wonderfully excessive amount of charm and character.

Unfortunately, Saturday turned out not to be any ordinary day. The fact became quite apparent as we slowly drove into town. All the public parking lots were packed with tour buses. Parking on the outskirts of the city required payment. And everywhere you looked the normally sleepy town was filled to the brim with people. Lots and lots and lots of people. Immediately it became clear to Jeff that the day he had planned and scoped out in person just the day before was likely to now encounter hiccups. But it was too late to turn back now.

We paid for a distant parking spot and headed into town. Endeavoring to keep up the illusion that this was a normal date day, he led me to a couple stores to do a bit of Christmas shopping before lunch. Endeavoring to keep up the illusion that I had no idea what was in store for the day (when in actuality I had had my strong suspicions that the question would be popped since Monday), I resisted the urge to document every moment. However, crazy tourists with snowglobe hats were a legitimate excuse to pull out my phone and snap a picture. Laughing at the crazy tourists, we slowly made our way through the crowds to our intended lunch spot.

Jeff had picked out a quaint outdoor cafe with a cozy atmosphere and fire pits to keep you toasty warm. However, as we approached the place it became quite clear that there wasn’t any chance of us getting in anytime soon. With an agenda to keep to, and illusions to be kept up, we headed instead to a street vendor. We picked up brats and fries. Fries, which during the few minutes I set them on my lap, left prominent grease stains on my jeans. We managed to find two folding chairs along the side of the very frigid street, and attempted to eat as quickly as possible so we could get out of the cold. Slightly stained by grease and ketchup, we headed back to the car for part two of the day, with hopes of our luck turning around.