Anna's POV:

Austin and I met in January 2022 while living in Charleston, SC. I had moved there for work and Austin for PA school. We matched on both bumble and hinge, but he didn't make a move fast enough so I took my shot. We messaged maybe 5 times before meeting for beers and playoff football at a cute little Biergarten downtown. I don’t think we went more than 2 days without seeing each other after our first date.

As I'm sure everyone knows: we’re huge hiking + travel + adventure people and go on backpacking trips around the world. Neither of us had ever really gone backpacking before, but we both thought it would be fun, so we took our very first camping trip together to Sam Knob outside of Asheville using my dad's old boy scout equipment. We had no sleeping pads, used real pillows, carried up a whole loaf of bread for dinner, and woke up to our tent leaking the next morning. With many camping trips across the world (and a few gear upgrades) between then and now, Austin proposed to me on April 6, 2024 in the very same spot where our adventures began. Our most recent adventures were to Argentinian Patagonia and camping in the crater of Haleakala in Maui. We have trips to the Canadian Rockies and Northern Italy planned this year and countless other locations around the world on our "to-see" list. We’re huuuugee foodies and love good sour beers.

Beyond our crazy fun adventures and all of the delicious food we eat: I believe Austin and I were truly made for one another. He's the kindest, smartest, strongest, most determined, and best human I know. I'm so excited to call him mine and to be together forever. He balances me out in all of the best ways and I cannot wait for the rest of forever by each others sides.

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Austin's POV:

As my first year of PA school in Charleston, SC was coming to a close at the end of 2021, I knew I was about to have a lot more free time. I figured this was a great time to start looking for someone to spend all of this time with. As was the standard in the COVID-era, I downloaded a few dating apps and started swiping away. According to Anna, we first matched on Hinge and I didn’t message her (lol) so thankfully we matched soon after that on Bumble and Anna shot her shot. The conversation was easy and we had similar interests, so we quickly decided to meet up.

It didn’t take long for us to start hanging out every day and I practically moved in with her two weeks later. About 4 months in, Anna convinced me to bring my cat, Mora, to her condo so that I didn’t have to keep going home to take care of her. After that, we barely left each other’s sides. Around that same time, we went on our first backpacking trip in the Pisgah National Forest and camped on the top of Sam Knob with Anna’s dad’s old backpacking/camping gear. It leaked, was heavy, and didn’t include sleeping pads, so we basically slept on the ground. I don’t think I slept more than 30 minutes at a time that night, but it didn’t matter. We loved waking up on that mountain together, and there was no doubt that there were many more adventures in store for us.

In August of that year, we took our first major backpacking trip to the North Cascades and Olympic National Parks in Washington state. This was an incredible experience that really set the stage for our relationship and the kind of lifestyle we now enjoy together. Since then, we’ve traveled to all four Hawaiian islands on three separate trips, Patagonia, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, and Colorado. We also have several trips booked and a laundry list of places we want to visit one day.

With each trip, I feel like we just grow closer to one another, and I couldn’t imagine traveling the world with anyone else. In April of this year, everything came full circle as we took a weekend trip to Asheville and hiked up Sam Knob—where we went on our first backpacking trip together. It was at this spot where I asked Anna to spend the rest of her life with me. She was so excited that I don’t know if she ever said yes. To be honest, I’m not sure if she’s ever said yes to this day, but we have a wedding venue booked so I think that might mean something. In all seriousness though, my life is a million times better with Anna in it and it’s hard to think about how I ever lived life without her. My life is so much more full and exciting because of her, and I couldn’t be more thankful that our paths crossed.

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