Our Engagement Story: Misty and Lockie

It’s perfect. I’m so in love with Lockie and so in love with our engagement story. First of all, I didn’t think we were going to get engaged. Lockie and I had discussed marriage earlier this year and determined it was not on the table right now. Lockie isn’t a big fan of marriage and didn’t see the point– since we were already acting like a committed couple. I wasn’t set on the idea of marriage until this year when I realized I couldn’t see myself NOT getting married one day. So our conversation on marriage ended with the idea that we would revisit it in a year or so. Welp, turns out that was just Lockie’s plan to throw me off! This whole time, he was planning on engagement but didn’t want me to see it coming. Here’s our engagement story.

A weekend getaway

I ♥️ hiking. I often unsuccessfully beg Lockie to go to the mountains and hike with me. (Just trying to fit in here in Denver!) So Lockie knew that prompting me for a weekend hike was the way to my ♥️. He found a bucket-list-worthy hike 2.5 hours from Denver in Glenwood Springs called Hanging Lake Trail. So naturally, I insisted we make a weekend of it in Glenwood Springs. I had heard about the Iron Mountain Hot Springs there and I thought no trip to Glenwood could be complete without it. I planned the hot springs for Saturday and Lockie planned the hiking adventure for Sunday.

Things started to look suspicious a couple of days before the road trip. Turns out you have to pre-book a shuttle to take you to Hanging Lake Trailhead. Lockie asked me some detailed timing questions about the hike and shuttle bus. I thought to myself, huh, that is strange because Lockie never worries about travel details. That’s typically my job. Fast forward to the morning of Saturday, July 27. Lockie had Footy practice that morning and promised me he would come straight home and we would leave for our trip as soon as possible. Well, he came home extra early and was ready to go way before I was. This never happens! I also saw him pack a cooler of ice and water for our hike… but we’ve never packed a cooler for hiking. Coolers are for tailgates and camping, right?

The hints

During the road trip, Lockie dropped a couple more mysterious hints. He was very concerned about my phone being charged and asked me if I would be able to save IG stories without wifi during the hike tomorrow. After a brutally long drive through the mountains (traffic was horrible), we made it to our hotel in Glenwood Springs. We waited for the afternoon storm to pass and then headed to Iron Mountain Hot Springs. I was impressed. This place had 16 different hot spring pools of varying temperatures, ample shower amenities, a cafe, and two poolside bars. We could have stayed there all night, but we wanted to get to dinner early so that we could go to bed early for our hike. We ate dinner in downtown Glenwood at The Pullman and it was fantastic! Excellent food and atmosphere and reasonable prices. We showed up without a reservation on a Saturday night and had no problem getting a table.

We woke up early on Sunday, July 28 to get to our scheduled shuttle at 7:00 am. And the clues continued. 🔎Lockie raced out to the car first thing to check on the cooler before stuffing it inside his backpack. The shuttle to Hanging Lake was a 15-minute drive. And the hiking trail to Hanging Lake was lovely. It was early enough that the dry Colorado heat hadn’t set in yet and the trail wasn’t super crowded. I got a good chuckle because the cooler Lockie had stuffed in his backpack was leaking water all over him. But no, he did not want to dump out the water. So he hiked the whole way with ice water dripping down his back. Mid hike he asked me if I wanted any photos taken. That’s odd. He does not typically enjoy taking photos of me OR with me. He also suggested that when we arrive at the lake we take photos jumping in front of the waterfalls. Cute!

It happened

A steep 1.2 mile incline later and we arrived at the hidden lake. It was as gorgeous as the Google images dream up. Multiple waterfalls set the backdrop with hills of trees surrounding the area. We walked along the lake and found a bench to sip water and snack on Rxbars. After 10 minutes I asked Lockie where he wanted to take those jumping photos he mentioned. He liked the view from where we were, so he asked a nearby couple to take a photo of us. We posed in front of the waterfalls and then Lockie suggested we take a photo from behind while gazing at the scene. I turned around as instructed but Lockie was nowhere to be found. I turned BACK around to see where he had gone and BOOM he was down on one knee! Lockie was already crying, so I started crying and the rest was a blur. I was mesmerized by the diamond ring 💍 in his hand and I’m pretty sure I said YES!

The couple taking our photos captured the whole thing and onlookers who had a front-row seat were the first to congratulate us. Turns out my new fiance had snuck up a bottle of Moet in that dang cooler! We popped some bubbly and toasted with our new friends. We couldn’t hang out long since Lockie had planned a celebration dinner with friends back in Denver. On the hike back down, I took a ridiculous amount of photos of my new bling and I couldn’t wait to call my family.

The whole experience was surreal and took many hours to set in! I found myself spontaneously crying because I couldn’t believe that Lockie had actually proposed. Yes, I am over the moon and I’m going to stay this high for as long as I can. 

 I love you, babe. Thank you for a magical proposal weekend. 7/28/19