5 Years (and some BIG news...)

...Ben and I are engaged!

This weekend, we celebrated five years of being together and Ben took me on a tour of waterfalls through the Columbia Gorge. Like any good blogger's boyfriend fiance (!!), he brought the tripod and camera remote so that we could collect five photos, for five years, in front of five waterfalls. Needless to say, exploring the misty, mossy, chilly gorge was beautiful and perfect. We sipped tea at the second waterfall, Wakheena, we ate bread and cheese at the third, and most famous, Multnomah Falls. There's not a lot that says "I love you" more than cheese and a hunk of bread. 

The first stop was Bridal Veil falls and it was a short set of falls but totally gorgeous an empty. An empty waterfall viewing area is hard to come by along the highway, so we relished it.

Along the route, we kept seeing snow-capped rock faces, and dusted snowy treetops in the hills. It was ten times more breathtaking than these images up in the Cascade Locks near the Bridge of the Gods. I wish I could bottle up the entire drive and share it here, as these photos hardly cut it.

We ended the scavenger hunt of waterfalls at the Columbia Gorge Hotel - a historic hotel built in the 1920s that used to house steamship passengers. The interior was wonderfully quaint and the bedrooms updated but still in keeping with the rest of the hotel. There's actually a hand-operated elevator in the building that a porter has to operate. So neat.

That night in our room, the motion sensor lights kept going on and off in the closet and Ben and I felt a little creeped out. We shut the closet door and banished the thought of eerie things from our heads until the next morning when I, the googling machine, looked up "Columbia Gorge Hotel haunting?" and found a big list of paranormal sightings, ghost hunting trips, and stories associated with the hotel. During it's brief stint as a retirement home, there was an incinerator in the basement for the morgue, and the halls are reputably haunted by ghosts that lock bedroom doors and move furniture. Eek! A two for one deal - paranormal encounter and hotel stay.

This was the view from our hotel room - insanely gorgeous river views and the sun setting over Washington. 

Our evening of waterfalls ended with an amazing dinner and an even more amazing proposal. Naturally, I said yes, and we spent the rest of the weekend just admiring the fact that being engaged is both not so different from being committed to each other (without a promise and a ring) and yet so much more magical at the same time! 

We're now headed into the planning stages which are sure to absolutely drive me insane and give me some stress hives to rival all other cases of stress out there. If you have kernels of wisdom from your experience, lay 'em on me! I have a vision, but the little bits of advice are always the most appreciated.