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Back in the middle of 2024, we decided that 2025 was the year of "doing things". We were tired of waiting, tired of long distance, tired of feeling like we couldn't do all the things we wanted to. So we declared we would do something about all of it and we began scheming: for Mike to move back to California, for us to move in together, and to start the next chapter of our lives. In the meantime, Liz was craving an adventure beyond the Sierra Nevadas and the Sonoran Desert we had gotten so used to. She began to plan the epic southwest road trip that had always been on her bucket list. “If 2025 was the year of doing stuff, why not do this?” she thought. She also had the great idea that Mike should propose on this trip, so she told him so. Thinking that he’d just laugh at that and think nothing of it, she moved onto planning more of the trip. Little did she know that later that day, Mike called his best friend, and told him he was going to propose to her on the trip. Months passed, and Mike was plotting and planning. He slipped a few accidental clues along the way, that Liz thought she was clever and picked up on. She was convinced that he was going to propose on the trip. But then Mike was given the go-ahead to relocate his job to California. In the midst of a very busy time at work, he was packing up his life in Arizona, helping Liz look for a new place to live in Lodi together, and planning to move 2 weeks after the upcoming road trip. After her own move to Lodi and preparing for Mike to move in, about a week before the trip was to start, Liz was convinced that Mike wouldn’t propose - there was no way he could manage to get a ring and plan a proposal with everything he had going on. She had worked herself up into an anxious mess about it (classic), told herself the trip was still going to be awesome, even if he didn’t propose, and did her nails anyway, just so she wouldn’t jinx anything.

And so she told him all of this on the first day of their road trip, as we were driving out of Las Vegas, through Valley of Fire State Park on their way to Zion National Park. Keeping his cool, he shook his head and told her it was good that she liked how her nails came out - “now you’ll know for next time!” he said with a chuckle. Little did Liz know, Mike had planned out a special evening for the two of them. He had gotten a nice DSLR camera and a tripod that he learned how to use and practiced setting up. The two of us had planned on taking a scenic mountain highway out of Zion National Park, stopping at a canyon overlook for sunset on our way to our lodging for the night. He was going to surprise her with his camera and take some photos of us and pop the question after doing the “Liz Pose”. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had some other plans in store. Apparently it can snow quite a bit in the high desert in the middle of winter. We were expecting it to be cold, and maybe see some flurries, but it ended up snowing a couple of inches by the time we got to Zion. On the drive, the visibility dropped lower and lower, as the snow on the side of the road gained more ground coverage. We stopped at a brewpub outside of the park, to grab a bite and plan our strategy to make the most out of the day, despite the weather. We already knew that we wouldn’t be doing the hike we had planned, but we learned that the road through the park was closed a couple of miles in, and the scenic highway we had planned to take out of the park was closed completely - we would have to turn around and tack on an extra 2 hours to get to our lodging for the evening. Liz was pretty bummed - this was the highlight of the trip. Sure we were going to see the Grand Canyon the next day, but she had really been looking forward to Zion. Mike seemed glued to his phone in the meantime. In reality he was frantically texting back and forth with both his and Liz’s sister, deciding whether or not to go for it or delay a day. Finally, he steeled his nerves. Things hadn’t gone to plan at all but the next time he saw Liz having fun on this adventure, he was determined to pop the question.

So into the park we went! It took all of 1 minute from the entrance to get to the closed highway gate, but even just that tenth of a mile was entrancing. The majestic cliffs loomed in the fog and snow, there weren’t enough windows in the car to take in the landscape. We pulled off at the highway gate to really take it all in. Spinning around in place to see the 360 view, Liz was beaming at the stunning, and rarely seen, views of Zion as a winter wonderland. Mike’s eyes however were just on her, seeing the excitement in her eyes, and he knew now was the moment. Seizing the opportunity, Mike fumbled in his pocket, and got down on one knee in the snow, to Liz’s absolute shock. At first unable to process what he was doing, her jaw dropped and eyes got wide, as Mike opened the ring box upside down (yes the ring almost fell out) and said, “Bubses, will you marry me?” Starting to cry, Liz said “Yes! Are you f***ing kidding me?! Yes!” still in shock at what was happening.

After putting the ring on we hugged, both for love and warmth, until a snow plow came barreling down the closed highway. We quickly got in the car to get out of the way, and continued driving through the park, absolutely elated, and still in awe of our surroundings. After stopping at a couple of pullouts for some pictures, and sliding on the road a bit, we decided to turn around, since the snow was coming down heavier, and we had a longer drive than planned to get to our lodging for the night. We were staying in a tiny cabin in a small mountain town, just outside of the park. We retraced our steps back to Kanab, the last major town before we arrived at our destination. We still had about 20 miles to go, up a steep, windy mountain road. The snow was really coming down at this point, and we both had the same thought - maybe we should just stop here for the night. Great minds think alike, but neither of us said it out loud, so we kept driving. The snow continued, and the time to destination kept climbing up. Soon enough, we left the lights of Kanab behind us, not another car in sight, and the snow piling up on the road. The situation quickly deteriorated. Liz turned up the music (Bonnie Tyler’s Holding Out for a Hero) so Mike couldn’t hear her hyperventilating as the car lost traction a couple of times through the snow. The miles slowly went by as we kept driving, and eventually a large SUV came up behind us. Happy to let them pass, they forged ahead, and we followed in their tracks. Finally, we arrived in the tiny town of Glendale, passing a few shops and houses on our way. Pulling off on a gravel road that was plowed a few hours earlier, we found our tiny cabin, and mounted a snow bank to get into our parking spot. We were the only car there. We quickly unloaded as the snow continued, took hot showers and settled in for the night, calling our families to share the news with them. We talked to Liz’s parents first, and then hopped on a call with Mike’s family, just as the power flickered, and the heat went out in the cabin. Everything came back on immediately, and we were a bit unnerved, but finished our chat with family. After hanging up, we remembered that we wanted to put our windshield wipers up, so they wouldn’t stick to the windshield overnight. Mike bundled back up and ran outside to do so. Just as Liz closed the door behind him, the power went out again. The lights for all of the other cabins went out, and a short ways away, we could see that the lights for the whole town went out. Mike fixed the windshield wipers, and came back inside, and we started panicking. We messaged the owners of the cabins, and they confirmed that the power for the whole town was out, with no indication of when it could come back on. We started weighing our options, calling hotels in the area with no luck, and even considering driving all the way back to Kanab. It was much later, and the snow never let up, so we quickly shut that idea down. Liz voiced the thought that it was only 25 degrees out, and we were in an insulated cabin, with water and food. We had camped in colder weather just a few months ago, with less resources, surely we’d be fine overnight here. So we hunkered down in the dark and eerie silence, and eventually got to sleep. We woke up to the heat blasting and pale sunlight streaming through the windows. The power was back on and we had made it! Packing ourselves up, Mike went to dig the car out of the fresh foot of snow, and freeing the car after a couple of tries. We quickly packed up and got on the road, finding it plowed and salted, ready for the next day of adventures. The remainder of the trip was dotted with more twists and turns, but it gave us such an incredible story. It was an epic trip and an amazing way to kick off this next chapter of our life. Here’s to many many more adventures together ♥️