It was a wintry May weekend in the high Rockies at CSU’s mountain campus. Blake and Cierra had just arrived for a four week natural resources field course. As fate would have it, Cierra & Veronica were in a cabin next to Blake and his motley crew of roommates. Everyone became fast friends over reams of plant ID flashcards, some trailside revelry and a tasteful splash of PBR. At the end of the course, Blake and Cierra serendipitously discovered they lived but one block away from each other in Fort Collins! Oh, happy days! Cierra and Veronica spent many weekends hanging out at Blake’s apartment, getting to know his roommates Trevor and Henry. Blake and the boys eventually spread their wings and left Fort Collins, and Cierra and Veronica were forlorn to see their friends fly the nest. Fast forward and Blake returned for Cierra’s graduation party. Alas, the spark of friendship grew into the flame of summer love. They spent some weekends in Grand Lake, but their situationship was put on pause when Cierra moved to California. Blake, realizing the woman of his dreams was merely a 20 hour drive away, jumped in the car and took a Thanksgiving road trip so they could enjoy the misty magic of the California coast. This sealed the deal and they were officially going steady in November 2018. Cierra moved back from California in 2019 and got an internship at the visitor center in Rocky Mountain National Park, where Blake was a trail crew stud. Parkie love! After bouncing around seasonal gigs for a few more years they settled into their current jobs as a ski patroller and preschool teacher at Winter Park Resort. They are happily living the mountain life in Fraser, CO with two tricksy kitties named Smokey and Boris.