Our Engagement Story - Adirondacks, NY 7/25/2019

Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/1600; f/4.0; ISO 800

So it's been a while since we've posted on here.  Totally my fault (Kim) because I'm slacking on editing a bunch of photos taken over the last year.  With it being April of 2020 I thought I should put some of the self-isolation to good use and bring this page back to life again!

A lot has happened since we last posted, but thought a good place to start would be our engagement story.

Nikon D500 200-500mm 5/6 - 1/125; f/5.6; ISO 2500

Towards the end of July in 2019 we planned a 5 day vacation in the Adirondacks; a place neither of us had been before, but always wanted to see.  We stocked up on a bunch of camera gear thinking we'd be going through batteries and memory cards, but surprisingly didn't take too many pictures.  It's definitely one of those places that pictures can't do it justice.  Even so, they'll be more than one post on here from this trip with less scenery and more birds, butterflies, and astrophotography ;)

Back to the engagement.  On the 2nd day of our trip we decided to do our first official mountain hike (ended up being the only).  We chose Snowy Mountain, which is the tallest peak south of the High Peaks region.  We saw it was labeled in a couple of books as strenuous and we were like yeah they're probably exaggerating.

We were wrong.

Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/500; f/4.0; ISO 1600

Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/60; f/4.0; ISO 800

American Toad, Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/200; f/4.0; ISO 100

Wild Mushrooms, Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/500; f/4.0; ISO 8000

(Likely Poisonous) Caterpillar, Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/60; f/4.0; ISO 200

Wild Berries, Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/125; f/4.0; ISO 640

Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/250; f/4.0; ISO 1600

Garter Snake, Nikon D500 200-500mm 5/6 - 1/40; f/5.6; ISO 720

American Toad, Nikon D750 Irix 150mm - 1/80; f/4.0; ISO 1400

American Toad, Nikon D750 Irix 150mm - 1/150; f/8.0; ISO 125

Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/125; f/4.0; ISO 640

The beginning of the hike was easy and beautiful.  What were used to.  We're like well if the accent is just like this it's not going to be a problem.  All of a sudden it turned into 50-60 degree rock scrambling situation.  And we soon realized we didn't have enough water or food for our trip.  Typical me (Kim again) I start breaking down crying.  And stopping.  Multiple times.  We looked in the book and it was supposed to only get steep the last quarter or so.  But every time someone came down we asked how much further and they gave us a sad laugh and said you're nowhere close.

GoPro Hero 6

It took about double the time it was supposed to.  And with a lot of tears and encouragement from Dan we made it to the top.

Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/640; f/10.0; ISO 400

Fun Fact: There was Hundreds of Dragon Flies at the top, Canon 5D Mark IV 17-40mm - 1/800; f/4.0; ISO 125

So of course I cried some more shocked that we hiked this crazy mountain and how beautiful it was.  We start pulling out our cameras and taking photos.  I hear hey Kimmy? And turn and see Danny down on one knee.  Then we both start crying.

iPhone 6

iPhone 6

The descent down was full of a lot of smiles at first.  Then if you look closely in the photos you can see giant rain clouds in the distance.  It decided to torrential downpour.  Full on monsoon thunderstorm.  We were so physically exhausted and were hiking with full adrenaline to get finished.  It stopped raining as soon as we got to the bottom.  We were drenched, but I guess the sky also wanted to join in on the crying with us.

GoPro Hero 6 (See those storm clouds I was talking about?)

GoPro Hero 6

When Danny first mentioned back in February wanting to go that summer I had no idea he was actually planning our engagement.  I give him props for keeping the secret from me for so many months and so excited for more of our endless adventures.

Full View of the Mountain (As best as we can get), Nikon D750 24-120mm - 1/1250; f/4.0; ISO 100

Full View of the Mountain (As best as we can get), Nikon D750 24-120mm - 1/640; f/4.0; ISO 100

Nikon D750 Irix 150mm - 1/320; f/8.0; ISO 500

Nikon D750 Irix 150mm - 1/640; f/5.6; ISO 450