YESTERDAY AT 6:50AM, I PROPOSED TO CHRISTINE HILLGROVE TO BE MY WIFE AND SHE SAID YES!!! Three times to be exact :) I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! WE'RE ACTUALLY GETTING MARRIED!!!
I arrived at her house at 3:15AM, went inside, set the dog up in the kitchen w/ food and water and such, and went up to surprise her. When I woke her, I said "Happy 3 Years!!! Wake up! We're going to Reddish Knob for sunrise!!!" She exclaimed and leaped out of bed and in 5 minutes, she was ready. We grabbed her "survival items" ... haha... and left!
GPS put us there at 6:30AM, with the official sunrise at Reddish Knob scheduled for 6:45AM. My blood was pumping on adrenaline and I'm so glad it was because I was going off of an hour of sleep... she had about 30 minutes more than me. So we're both pretty much on empty, but she's excited for our 3 year anniversary sunrise, and I'm excited because I'm going to ASK HER TO SPEND THE REST OF HER LIFE WITH ME AS MY WIFE!!! Needless to say, we had a smooth drive out up I-64 to I-81 and then hooked upwards towards Reddish Knob.
As we drove up the switchbacks of the mountain, the sky was beginning to turn blue. We drove faster! I was NOT GOING TO LET US MISS THIS SUNRISE!!! We were zig zagging everywhere and finally made it to the ridge top where the road follows the mountain peak for another mile or so.
We were RACING THE SUN.
And then with a few more wrap-arounds, we made it to the top. Nobody else was there. The sky was JUST beginning to have some dark purple/red/orange as the sun thought about beginning to rise.
We made it. We sat back in our seats, pulled out the blanket and sat in silence just watching the sky.
10 minutes later, a car pulls up to our left, packed with 5 girls from JMU all laughing and blaring "Circle of Life" from the Lion King. All of our windows are up.... that means we can hear it from WITHIN their car. Very appropriate for an epic sunrise, I must say. Excellent humor. Next came a guy and his girlfriend in a pickup. They had DSLR's and were taking some dramatic shots of the mountains.
It was freezing up there. 31 degrees and windy. We were glad for the blanket as we had gotten out of the car and sat on the stone ledge bordering the parking lot. We watched the sun come up and it was INCREDIBLE to see the colors change. The moon was even in the top right view, and it slowly disappeared out of sight as the sun came up.
We talked with the girls to the left for a bit. They were hysterical. Eventually we took some group pictures for them, on the condition that they'd use my phone to take a picture of Christine and I:
I arrived at her house at 3:15AM, went inside, set the dog up in the kitchen w/ food and water and such, and went up to surprise her. When I woke her, I said "Happy 3 Years!!! Wake up! We're going to Reddish Knob for sunrise!!!" She exclaimed and leaped out of bed and in 5 minutes, she was ready. We grabbed her "survival items" ... haha... and left!
GPS put us there at 6:30AM, with the official sunrise at Reddish Knob scheduled for 6:45AM. My blood was pumping on adrenaline and I'm so glad it was because I was going off of an hour of sleep... she had about 30 minutes more than me. So we're both pretty much on empty, but she's excited for our 3 year anniversary sunrise, and I'm excited because I'm going to ASK HER TO SPEND THE REST OF HER LIFE WITH ME AS MY WIFE!!! Needless to say, we had a smooth drive out up I-64 to I-81 and then hooked upwards towards Reddish Knob.
As we drove up the switchbacks of the mountain, the sky was beginning to turn blue. We drove faster! I was NOT GOING TO LET US MISS THIS SUNRISE!!! We were zig zagging everywhere and finally made it to the ridge top where the road follows the mountain peak for another mile or so.
We were RACING THE SUN.
And then with a few more wrap-arounds, we made it to the top. Nobody else was there. The sky was JUST beginning to have some dark purple/red/orange as the sun thought about beginning to rise.
We made it. We sat back in our seats, pulled out the blanket and sat in silence just watching the sky.
10 minutes later, a car pulls up to our left, packed with 5 girls from JMU all laughing and blaring "Circle of Life" from the Lion King. All of our windows are up.... that means we can hear it from WITHIN their car. Very appropriate for an epic sunrise, I must say. Excellent humor. Next came a guy and his girlfriend in a pickup. They had DSLR's and were taking some dramatic shots of the mountains.
It was freezing up there. 31 degrees and windy. We were glad for the blanket as we had gotten out of the car and sat on the stone ledge bordering the parking lot. We watched the sun come up and it was INCREDIBLE to see the colors change. The moon was even in the top right view, and it slowly disappeared out of sight as the sun came up.
We talked with the girls to the left for a bit. They were hysterical. Eventually we took some group pictures for them, on the condition that they'd use my phone to take a picture of Christine and I:
I then asked them to take on more as I "needed to change positions".... I knelt down next to her, and looked directly at her and trying to open the ring box with my shaking hands I said,
"Chistine Marie Hillgrove, I have a question for you. ...[ring box struggle] ... if I can get this thing open,.... [ring box opened!]...will you be my wife?"
"Yes, yes, YES!"
And now we are engaged. WE ARE ENGAGED!!!! AS IN GETTING MARRIED ENGAGED!!!
"Chistine Marie Hillgrove, I have a question for you. ...[ring box struggle] ... if I can get this thing open,.... [ring box opened!]...will you be my wife?"
"Yes, yes, YES!"
And now we are engaged. WE ARE ENGAGED!!!! AS IN GETTING MARRIED ENGAGED!!!
Check out the timelapse I was able to get with my GoPro. It captured the whole thing! :) It took pictures ever 2 seconds for the entire proposal!