I was SO excited to come home from work and find these waiting for me!! (We'll overlook the fact that he put them in the really cute water pitcher that Rachel gave me for being her maid of honor. )On the drive back to Knoxville Andy and I had talked about going camping at Elkmont in the Smokey Mountains during the upcoming weekend and we decided it would be a lot of fun. Now when I say camping I don't mean the "hike through the woods, dig a hole for the bathroom, eat wild berries" camping. Andy and I are more of the "park the car at your campsite, sleep on an aerobed, buying ice for the cooler" camping. Andy went out and bought a new tent (the last one he had was a victim of mold/mildew) and we were going to take the really nice queen sized Aerobed that I gave Andy for his birthday this year. Well let the laughter ensue. When Andy bought his new tent he read the measurements wrong. He was so excited that he found a tent for a good price that was 7 feet tall.....umm try again the base of the tent was 7 feet x 7 feet....but it still said on the box that it would fit a queen sized air mattress. After we set up the slightly small tent we tried to blow up the air mattress with Andy's portable generator....oops what do you mean the generator doesn't have enough power to blow up the bed? Finally we got the bed inflated (not completely) and realized that when the box said the tent was "large enough to fit a queen sized air mattress" they actually meant "large enough to fit a queen sized air mattress and nothing else...seriously don't even try to put anything else in here".
After setting up camp we walked down to the stream that's next to the campground to stick our feet in the water to cool off (apparently my feet regulate the temperature for my entire body). 
Then Andy and I drove to an old town that was right next to the campgrounds we were at to look at some old "rich people summer homes". We decided that staying in the car's AC was preferable to sitting outside around our campsite so we drove around the Smokeys eventually finding a grocery store and enough cell phone bars to check the score of the USA vs Ghana game (sad day). Then we made our way back to the campgrounds and Andy cooked dinner (for my own safety I don't cook over open fires) and we had hamburgers.
That night after Andy walked around the campground and met some of the other campers (Andy could talk to a brick wall) it started to get dark and Andy said that we should take a hike to see the fireflies which blink at the same time (the fireflies had stopped blinking together at this point in the year but I didn't know that) so we headed off on our walk. When we reached the place with the fireflies (which was unremarkable...since all the fireflies were gone) we started heading back to camp. Andy told be another fib...a guy from his work said that if you skip rocks off this particular bridge they make a spark. Apparently I'm really gullible. Andy told me to pick up 4 rocks and he only picked up 3 and when I was finished throwing my rocks off this bridge (dissappointed that they didn't spark) I turned around to find Andy down on one knee with a ring.
Well DUH I said "YES"! Andy preceded to tell me about my ring. It was the ring my great grandfather proposed to my great grandmother in 1924. The diamond in the middle of the ring predates the 1920s (and now I'm terrified to lose it....not quite as scared as Andy was walking around with a very expensive ring in his pocket all day while camping).
The nice thing about getting engaged in the Smokey Mountains is the excellent cell phone reception. I'm being sarcastic of course but it was nice only having Andy and I know for the night. Once we woke up the next morning....after a very uncomfortable sleep on our 1/2 inflated aerobed....we packed up our stuff and headed back to Knoxville. Around Gatlinburg I was able to call my sister and her new hubby and then my brother (he was so happy to be the 3rd to know).We spent the rest of the day with family members on the phone and on skype telling how it happened and showing off the ring. I'm so excited to start planning our wedding!!!
Not to switch to a dramatic note or anything but, honestly, I'm just trying to keep my head above water right now. Between full days of clinic, 2 online classes, trying to clean the apartment, spending time with Andy and all of the new projects my new boss is piling on it's getting stressful. Hopefully soon I'll have a weekend without any plans so I can really get stuff done. Really soon Andy and I have to pick a place for the wedding and reception and I haven't even thought about it yet...well it's time for me to head off to bed. Night everyone.
YAYAYAYAYA!!!
ReplyDelete