Once upon a time, two conniving friends came up with a plan. A plan for two young people to "coincidentally" meet upon a mountain. Their plan was hatched in secrecy, until Caleb resisted hiking in a party of strangers and had to be convinced by, and I quote his mom here, "There's a girl your age and she's single". Excellent beginnings.

The day was set and the hike was on, although neither were expecting very promising results. Caleb trudged ahead distinctly avoiding any communication, like a Sasquatch harassed into leading a hiking party. Amidst the ascent to the top of Hesse Mountain, Rowan challenged the Sasquatch to a race to the peak. It was a very narrow race (allegedly the Sasquatch won, but since no one was at the peak to bear witness we will never truly know). While awaiting the rest of the hiking party a conversation was struck up and interest was peaked in a few shared interests such as literature (Tolkien may have been mentioned) and inquisitive questions about game trails.

Well, one does not simply go up Hesse Mountain and return dateless. Plans for a second hike became necessary; little did we know what a harrowing and fateful hike it would turn out to be.

Traversing the sweat and tear stained trails of Lake Angeline, we found icy relief in the lakes of the 7 Brothers, forged through bogs, and brawled our way through spike infused baby lodgepole pine forests born of evil. Weary and half starved we wondered if we would survive, but when Rowan mentioned the golden word "Burgers", the Sasquatch turned into a bull moose and rammed through the forest. From that point on, the fantasy of the World's Best Burger at the Cowboy incited us to rally and forge our way home.

After a 12+ hour hike, we all sat weary but victorious. And Sasquatch was feeling the victory most of all, as he was emboldened to ask Rowan out on a date. But how would he accomplish this? The party trudged out of the house to go home, and Rowan went to retrieve her backpack from Caleb's vehicle. As they said good night and she turned to walk away, the Sasquatch made his move. Complete with a finger gun, he throws out his ingenious proposal, "Hey do you wanna get burgers sometime?" To which she responded, "Yeah sure", and it was on. As Rowan walked away, the Sasquatch remembered a small minor detail and called out, "Should we exchange numbers?", which was a much better idea than attempting to show up at the same time by happenstance.

Having asked the Princess out to eat burgers the Sasquatch found himself waiting for her in the store of the local KOA, which is sponsoring this wedding. Killing time, he spoke with the untimely young lady's parents until she arrived, looking like a sunkissed angel in black jeans. So the two clamored into his Tacoma and made steam for The Cowboy where that night all patrons who were there would claim they saw Big Foot and the Yukon Rose.

Once seated and food ordered, the two struck up the typical awkward first date conversations of places lived, families , schooling, and work history. And once the food arrived the Sasquatch unlocked the keen ability to ask questions just as the Princess had her mouth full of burgers and fries.

To no one's surprise the Sasquatch finished his food first. Even with slowing his eating down mentally, he still got asked "Did you even get to enjoy that?" to which he responded with a simple "Yes."

So the young couple concluded their dinner and went up on the mountain where they endeavored to test there airsoft skill against one another, ending with the Princess scoring a headshot on the Sasquatch akin to Cupid shooting him thru the heart with his bow.

From the time the two parted the Sasquatch thought up how he ought to go about asking the Princess out. He understood the rules of old, of asking for her father's permission; and the more he dwelt on it the more he came to know this is what he must do. So he put together a team. A team of unknown wit and strength. He put in the ears of the grapevine the rumors of a BBQ, the whispers of a tournament.

And so, thru no effort of his own, the BBQ was put together by unseen hands and the date was set for his next arrival to Buffalo. First and foremost the Tournament of Cornhole was played in which the Sasquatch and the Princess dominated the field, albeit a small one.

Next on the menu was meat, rather it was back on the menu. With full stomach and courage in hand the young Sasquatch found the Princess' father. Not being one for beating around the bush, Sasquatch immediately stated he needed to talk to him, catching him with a mouthful of food much as he had caught his daughter previously (wonder where she gets it from?).

Having his full attention, Sasquatch asked "I would like to ask for your permission to date your daughter." Now it was the Sasquatch's turn to be caught off guard for the father gave a most surprising answer and I quote "Yes. Absolutely. I'm excited for you guys."

Thus the mission was set and the gears turning. The Sasquatch bummed a ride home from the Princess and stumbling over his words he asked her out to which the Princess gave a simple "Yes."

After only 3 weeks of dating, the couple embarked on a long but expected journey to the Springs of Colorado to meet old friends of the Sasquatch. The 6 hour road-trip was largely uneventful aside from the mob hit at the esteemed Buckee's gas station which the Princess had toted as the Disneyland version of gas stations. The Sasquatch wrote it off as a Kum and Go wannabe and remained unimpressed until he discovered their BBQ.

The time in Colorado passed swiftly, getting lost in dark unknown passages through the mountains, visiting friends old and new, and enjoying each other's company. Before the return to Buffalo, the couple decided to immortalize the trip by conquering the steepest, most arduous trail consisting of 2,768 steps and two thousand feet in elevation in less than a mile: The Manitou Incline.

The day was bright, full of mirth and absent of any misgivings - that is until about a 1/4 of the way up the Incline. Lungs began to collapse, the sun burned hotter, and water grew sparse. The stairs seemed to grow ever taller but all of a sudden the peak cleared and the couple was standing in the clouds.

After the NEVERENDING return walk winding down the mountain ( they don't tell you about that), the couple returned to ground level ravenous, exhausted and near faint with heat exhaustion. Sustenance was found in the restorative cuisine of the local Mexican restaurant, but before making their final journey home they resolved to pop in a cafe for refreshments.

There in the line, half dazed in the lingering aftermath of a chimichanga induced brain fog, the Princess heard the words "I love you" roll off the tongue of the Sasquatch. The Princess was elated but caught off guard. She didn't know how to respond but instead waited for the barista to break the silence. It took a week, but the Princess finally found the courage to say "I love you".

As the young couple spent more time together their love began to grow and take root and so the two began to speak of their future together and what it might bring. It was inevitable. Soon the couple realized that marriage was the path they would tread. Once this was realized they set out on the warpath to gain wisdom and knowledge of what they were getting into, but this part of the story goes back to the beginning.

What now seems like long ago, the first time the Princess had the Sasquatch help close the KOA and count the tiller was when fate began to plant its devious plans. The Sasquatch was to count the nickels like the pennies: 25 pennies, 25 nickels. So that is what he did and when he reached 19 he realized the Princess was staring at him with a bemused look and asked "What are you doing?" "Counting 25 nickels", came the reply to which the Princess immediately keeled over in a fit of laughter that caused the Sasquatch to think he had done something wrong, which he did.

From that time on the Sasquatch and the Princess made bets about random things and every time the bet was set at 25 nickels. As time was spent passing the nickels back and forth, the father's blessings was given to the Sasquatch to ask for the Princess' hand in marriage.

Some time before this the Sasquatch had done the most important counting he would ever do. He had counted out the letters of a certain question and had determined that his plan for proposing was sound.

When the time came the Sasquatch had the help of the Princess' youngest sister to distract her while he laid the groundworks for the bet of a lifetime. Then, when he had shaken of the butterflies, the Sasquatch asked the Princess to count the nickels for him. As she counted them she began to realize there was writing on them and after deciphering the Sasquatch's hand found the question "Rowan, will you marry me?" written on the 25 nickels.

As she turned to face the Sasquatch he gathered all his chips and thru them in saying "Rowan, I bet you'll stay with me all our lives. Will you marry me?"

Her reply was simple, but spoken from the heart, "Bet!"