At the end of their Life-changing Road Trip™ of 2013, Ally and her friend Jack decided to stop halfway between Portland and San Francisco to break up the long drive home. Looking at a map, they starting calling around for a last minute room in Ashland, Oregon.
The Ashland Commons had space and, fatefully, hosted a party that night. As a friend of the owners, Jay was there too. Ally's heart literally skipped a beat when they locked eyes across the room.
They talked for almost an hour straight that night. Before she left, Ally offered up her email address in case Jay wanted any recommendations for San Francisco, where he would be visiting the next week...
Jay did email Ally (which she still has in her important mail folder) and joined her in watching the 49ers playoff game with friends. Thankfully we were both more interested in talking, and we spent another 8 hours(!!) getting to know each other over burritos and beers.
Jay made plans to return to San Francisco soon. After a weekend of Napa wine tasting, more football (unfortunately), and an easy and familiar connection, we knew things felt right. We made it official just a month later, after a Japantown photo booth-and-sushi date.
Though Ally's friends thought she was definitely going to be murdered by this stranger whisking her away to a cabin in the woods, Ally made an extended trip to visit Jay in Ashland—which is when things really started moving fast! By the end of the 10 days, Ally had met Jay's entire family, helped him get his vacation rental up and running, and planned an impulsive two-week trip to Kauai.
The whirlwind romance, our natural teamwork, and, especially, those spontaneous travel plans pretty much set the tone for the rest of our relationship, and laid the foundation for our decision to get married 6 years later.
We traveled to Bali in December 2018. Thinking this would be the perfect place to propose, Jay managed to hide a ring in a rolled up sock at the bottom of his backpack for over two weeks! This coming from a man who locks his car while parked in our garage. He anxiously checked to make sure the ring was still there several times a day.
Towards the end of our trip, we stayed at the most romantic hotel in the northern part of the island. Jay planned a whole day's worth of activities: a hike through country roads to a waterfall, facials at the hotel spa, and, at the last minute, a coffee tasting class from the hotel's plantation that left him even more nervous when he popped the question over a special dinner!
After six years, a bunch of new passport stamps, two failed import business attempts, five different homes, being mugged with machetes, and eating our way across the world, we are so excited to embark on our next big adventure! We can't wait for all our loved ones to join us in one of our favorite cities to celebrate our marriage.