Get ready for a Barton Adventure

We matched on Match.com! After we started chatting, we made plans to have our first date when Leah visited her grandparents in Florida in October 2019. At the time, she was still living in Washington, DC, but after her nephew Joey was born, she finally decided to join her family in Florida that December. Our first date was scheduled to be on a Tuesday, but after some plans fell through, Leah asked Chris if he'd like to meet sooner, "How about tonight?" Always game for adventures, he was down for it. When he showed up 20 minutes late, sweet Leah smiled away his tardiness to be polite. "Sorry, I drove in from Daytona Beach," he said. "Oh, no worries!" she said because he was cute and she had no idea where Daytona Beach was (for non-Floridians, Daytona Beach is roughly a 5-hour drive north). The date went well. So well in fact that we went on dates Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday that week before saying goodbye at Iguana Mia on Saturday. Leah recalls watching Chris turn away on his motorcycle, knowing something special was blooming. We kept in touch over the next month, and even had a chance to meet up again in NYC that November for a work conference on storytelling! When Leah finally moved to Florida in December, we were able to start our adventure for real.

Ok, fast forward 2 years. Chris was headed to Montana for a work trip, a state Leah has openly talked about wanting to visit for years. Surprisingly, she wasn't sure she should go-- Chris would be away part of the week and most of the hotels and adventures were already sold out by the time we got around to booking. "Maybe it's just not the right time for me to visit Montana. Can you get a refund on my ticket?" "No way," Chris insisted. God had plans for us. Suddenly, the world's cutest cabin opened up on Airbnb. We booked it. "It's all coming up Milhouse," Chris said. Then we got to the airport. But ...where was Leah's Starbucks? This was not our usual terminal. If you know Leah, she's a Starbucks addict, and looks forward to starting every flight with a hot latte from that green goddess. "I'll just... have this cold bottle of coffee," she said sadly in the corner mart, not wanting to ruin the start of the trip. But when we got to our gate, there it was! A POP-UP Starbucks kiosk! We boarded the plane, lattes in hand. Then de-boarded shortly thereafter for mechanical issues. They forecasted a 6hr delay. We would likely miss our connecting flight, have to stay the night in Denver, and miss our group hike the next morning. But once again, God insisted on this trip: they found us another plane, our flight was delayed only 1hr, and when we got to Denver, they were literally holding the connecting flight for us, which was conveniently located next to our arrival gate. Same thing at Hertz with our rental car in Montana. HE is Good. The week went well, and then came the big day: A hot air balloon ride over Glacier National Park! But it was cloudy. The team called us and cancelled. Leah found a rodeo we could attend, but Chris was planning to propose, and a rodeo was not quite where he envisioned it should be. "Maybe somewhere romantic in Glacier?" he suggested. And yet once again God insisted. The hot air balloon called us back: "It'll be cloudy skies, but we can still take you up." Check out the video at the top of the page to see how it went!