Kierstyn was managing a local restaurant and Gabe was a regular, often eating multiple times a week. Kierstyn found Gabe to be handsome, but due to being shy, never approached him outside of taking his order or bringing him food. One day, her boss gave him her phone number and a little while later he added her on Facebook. Kierstyn reached out to Gabe first and they planned their first date for that weekend. Kierstyn almost cancelled their first date due to being so nervous, but finally decided she would go and give it a shot. After dinner, drinks and a couple rounds of bowling, their adventure began.

One of the first adventures Gabe and Kierstyn went on consisted of taking city boy Gabe camping for the first time. It was late April, but Kierstyn started to get that itch to be outdoors and Gabe agreed to give it a try. In true Pacific Northwest fashion, it down poured the entire time and water even ended up flooding the tent. In Gabe's good-hearted spirit, he still said he'd be up for camping more in the future. That trip thus sparked a yearly ritual of camping in the rain along the Clackamas River whenever Kierstyn starts to get that urge to camp in the rainy spring season. In February of 2020, Kierstyn had to take pictures outside for one of her classes and she decided that area would be great--it's beautiful and not that many people running around at that point in the year. Gabe agreed to tag along and it was along the river, in the rain, that Gabe got on one knee in the mud and asked her to marry him, thus beginning their grandest adventure yet.