Few know it as Shabooms. But most locals in Durham, NH knew it as The Knot. One of the 3 bars in the center of town where many….many college nights were spent. We first met in the Summer of 2012 Jeff grew up in Durham and had moved back home after college, frequenting the bar and becoming friends or ‘regulars’ to the bartenders. A few of which were Andrea’s good friends/roommates from college. Andrea, just back from studying abroad, was frequenting the bar to spend time with her friends and to sulk in the realization that she was no longer in Italy. Jeff was introduced to Andrea by one of those mutual friend bartenders and we quickly bonded over our shared love for listening to the oldies, taking over the jukebox at the bar to play SClub7, 90s nostalgia and all things oceans and adventures. The rest was perfectly imperfect history. Including The Knot. (RIP)

Fast forward 9 some odd years from when we first met and we’ve shared many adventures together. Traveling as much as we could, moving to Portsmouth, new jobs and a pandemic. May 2021 brought us our biggest adventure yet. We traveled out West to visit Jeff’s Mom in Utah. While there, we planned on hitting as many of the State & National Parks as possible. We started in Las Vegas and drove out to Valley of Fire State Park, stopped for a few days in Zion, then made our way to Pink Sands State Park, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyon Lands, Monument Valley, Peekaboo Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and finally the Grand Canyon. It was Friday, our vacation was almost over and we were in Kanab, UT just 30 min outside Zion where our trip had started. Since we were so close we figured, why not take one last drive through the park before heading to the Grand Canyon. So we drove off for the morning back to the park for some last minute souvenirs, photo ops and a small hike. We found one trail off the beaten path, followed it into a slot canyon and hiked up on the highest rock at the very end of the canyon. We have never been good at taking pictures together. But we both made an effort to change that in this trip. Jeff suggested we set up the phone to take some pictures. Andrea (somehow utterly clueless of what was about to happen) connected the camera to her watch and started snapping away. And in each picture you can see Jeff’s hand reaching for his pocket, eventually pulling out the ring. And thanks to self timers and some good luck, we captured the exact moment. And of course Andrea said, ‘yes.’ After yelling many ‘Wait, What!? And 'Are you serious!?’ The trip, that moment and the FaceTime calls that happened after running out of that canyon, could not have been any more perfect.