Clara had moved to West Yellowstone in hopes of continuing a dating hiatus and to reconnect with the wild.

 Patrick move to West Yellowstone to jump farther into the wilderness. Neither of us knew what was in store upon an innocent coffee shop encounter….

Clara came to West with no job, no money, a dog and a car with her friend, Claire.

They moved there on a whim and the promise of job in recreation. Patrick came back for his third season of working for the forest service; something most uncommon for him. He never went back to the same place twice, let alone thrice times. But something drew both of us back and kept us both there. Call it fate?

Clara had just gotten a job at the Book Peddler; a coffee/book shop as a barista. On her first day, Patrick meandered in looking scholarly and rugged and, for her, it was complete like at first site. He ordered his coffee and sat down with a big ole boring looking book. Of course, this warranted some flirting so Clara walked over with a rag and started cleaning a clean table next to Patrick.

Neither of them knew that they were about to find true love.

“What book are you reading?”

And thus ensued the conversation that led to a friendship that blossomed into a relationship 6 months later.

This all started in May, 2016. On December 1st, 2017 on our trip to Spain, While hiking El Caminto del Rey, Patrick asked Clara to marry him. Solidifying that you can find true love while traveling. 

This is the story of our engagement from Patrick’s Perspective… 

We were staying in Ronda, and took a day trip to hike El Caminito del Rey outside El Chorro, España. It used to be known as one of the most dangerous hikes in the world. It is a 7.7 kilometer path, built on the side of a cliff, in a gorge, perched 200 feet above a raging river. It was closed in 2011 and reopened after a large reconstruction project. Now there’s a wooden boardwalk that leads you through the winding rocks.

We bought tickets for the previous day, but couldn’t make it because the train–that we luckily weren’t on–derailed due to torrential rain. So we bought tickets again, for Friday, and after much tribulation with the train company, they gave us a free taxi to the international cafe just outside the trail head.

I was pretty nervous.

I had been carrying around the ring for four weeks. Four weeks hiding this little secret. I had wanted to propose over two weeks ago, but freezing rain put a damper on those plans. So it was finally the day and I could barely keep still, sitting in the back of the dining room of this old hotel, huddled under a heating lamp, eating country stew for breakfast.

We started our walk through the rolling hills overlooking the reservoirs created by the dam that caused the creation of El Caminito. It was 2.7 kilometers to the ticket booth. We waited in line, showed our tickets, and were given our mandatory helmets and complimentary hairnets.

The managing company gives you a talk of the rules and regulations–its part of a national park–then let us go in groups of 50, every ten minutes.

The rock walls are breathtaking.

The wooden boardwalk looks sturdy enough, but the great thing is they preserved the old concrete path just below, and you get a glimpse of all the holes and the places where the hikers of old only had the angle iron beam to balance on.

But I could hardly notice any of this, looking for the right spot, hoping to find a break in the crowd. Luckily, the path runs through two separate canyons with a beautiful valley in between, with room for lunching and relaxing.

With the excuse of finding a good rock to climb, I led her off-trail. With our helmets and hairnets on and vultures circling in the sky, I mumbled some compliments and romantic things, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. She said yes! And after some kisses and tears of joy, an employee came and yelled at us, telling us to get back on the trail.

Clara’s version of said engagement….

I had honestly gotten to the point where I thought I was going to have to do the proposing because Patrick hadn’t done it yet and I was getting impatient (imagine that. Me, impatient….) and I didn’t think it would happen this day, especially since we were on a board walk with lots of gaps and a steep drop. In my head he wouldn’t propose there because I would probably drop it and lose it forever. But he did anyways because of the nice flat and ring-safe place that he found.

Anyways, we got to this little private place in the wilderness and he got super jittery and kept giving me hugs and stuff. Eventually, he got some words out and said…

“I love the adventures that we go on together. They make me so happy”

To which I said “Me too.”

And then he said “And the only thing that would make me happier is if we could do this together, forever. Clara, will you marry me?”

And then he did the knee thing and brought out a beautiful little white box with the perfect little ring with turquoise and diamonds. My first response wasn’t to put it on but to do a happy spaz dance and the beauty pageant thing with my hands trying not let the water works lose. After I did that for little bit and he just knelt there smiling I asked if I could put it on and I did. And I love it. And that’s also when the guy told us to move because we had gone off path.

Who knew we would find love while traveling?

To celebrate we got lunch at el Chorro, got our taxi, got on the train, got back to Ronda, and then had the very glamorous dinner of…. RAMEN NOODLES!!! We are classy celebrators.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about how we found love while traveling. 

So many people act like you can’t find love while traveling because you have to travel. All the time. BUT you can do both! Since we have started dating, we have been to Belize, Canada, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, and a number of states. Love can happen anywhere as long as you have an open heart and a willing mind.