It used to be embarrassing to tell someone that you met your significant other online. Oh how times have changed. Nowadays, its so common to meet someone this way that no one thinks much of it now. Well that's how it all started with us. According to Emily: I remember "swiping right" on this really cute guy who also happened to have a cute dog and it looked like he liked the outdoors and going to music festivals. All things I also enjoy. I'm pretty sure he was the one who took the initiative to message me first through the app. He seemed really nice. I remember he had told me he just celebrated his dog's second birthday by making him a steak. Eventually he asked for my number where he told me instead of calling him Emmanuel I could call him Nelo, pronounced like "jello" but with an "N" is what he told me. Turns out that's the Portuguese nickname for Emmanuel. We finally decided to meet up for a drink probably 2 weeks after we first started talking. We met up at a local Irish pub called Chieftans. Unbeknownst to us it was trivia night so we decided to put our brains together and play. I don't really remember how we did point wise but I do remember finding out we were both Buffalo Bills fans through one of the questions. The question was "What Buffalo Bills kicker is known for his missed "wide right" field goal?" I knew immediately it was Scott Norwood, having grown up as a diehard Bills fan because of my mom. So my response was "Oh I know this one" and Nelo's was "I should know this." Now keep in mind, growing up in this area everyone was either a Giants or a Jets fan, we got made fun of that we were Bills fans growing up. So I slowly turned my head and asked "Are you a Bills fan???" He went on to tell me he was in fact a Bills fan, but he didn't grow up being one, he recently DECIDED he was going to be a Bills fan. I mean if that's not fate, I don't know what is. From there we went on to play some likely mediocre pool that night and then kiss in the parking lot. I'd say things went well! According to Nelo: After we met we continued to see each other often. Our second date was at Green Wolf Brewing Co where we again played trivia. We got talking about music on this date and Emily told Nelo that The Shins were playing at Ommegang that following weekend and although she didn't know a lot of there stuff, what she did know she liked. Nelo had the same thought. Thus the third date was going to see The Shins at Ommegang and camping overnight. It would be the first of many concerts attended together and first of many many camping trips.

At some point we both got talking that we wanted to get into hiking more, especially with the Adirondack mountains being not far from us. We both had heard about the Adirondack 46er challenge - hike all 46 of New York's highest mountains located in the Adirondacks, most of which exceed 4,000 feet of elevation. Well about 2 months into seeing each other we found ourselves at the local outdoor store looking at some serious hiking packs. One thing led to another and Emily bought a pack and some gear and Nelo ordered a pack online along wit some gear and the rest is history. We got to planning our first hiking trip, which turned out to be the Santanoni range, which included hiking three high peaks - Panther, Couchsachraga, and Santanoni. For anyone who has not hiked the Santanoni's - turns out this is not necessarily the one an accomplished 46r would recommend as an aspiring 46r's first hike. We learned this the hard way.