Durango.

After my half-birthday, I wasn't sure were things were going with Paul. But a few conversations we had had me realizing that this was not just another guy.
And then, he sent me this:

I sent it to my mom and sister. At which point Candice called me up and said, "Marry him NOW. You are the stupidest girl ever."
So we set up another date.
I had the 4th of July off, but did not feel like driving to SLC (and if I drove to Utah, I had to drive to Idaho, so anyways, I wasn't driving to SLC.) I did think maybe we could meet halfway and go camping in St. George at the Virgin River Gorge. And then I looked up that campsite and it was super ugly and was not going to work.
So I got out a map and clicked on the first green area that looked halfway between Utah and Arizona, which was Durango, CO. It was 8 hours from each of us. And it was breathtakingly gorgeous, according to the internet. I asked. He agreed. He asked if I wanted to make it a backpacking trip, which I did, but I hadn't wanted to say. We each had backpacks we had never used. Durango 4th of July it was! :-)
I left after work Thursday night and slept in the TruValue parking lot in Tuba City. We called each other 18 times on the way there because the reception was so bad. At about 6, I started driving again. (And for some reason I thought Burger King breakfast would be ok. Never. It is NEVER ok.)
Paul's alternator went out, so I beat him there by like an hour and a half. I didn't realize our paths actually crossed and I drove right by him :-( !)
While I was waiting, I bought a map and chose our trail. Meanwhile, he drove up looking SO cute and hot and whatever and we went to Sports Authority and Wal-mart to get a few last minute things.
And finally, at like 5 o'clock, we headed out. It was kind of sprinkling, but it never got bad. We hiked like a mile and realized we were like 300 feet above the creek that we had thought we would be following. We were a little nervous that we would run out of water, so we just camped there.
Paul had got this fancy new tent, which weighs 3.7 pounds and basically puts itself together, so that was really a highlight in itself.
The next day, Paul made us pancakes on his cool JetBroil thing, and then we headed out thinking we would just hike another trail. And then we ran into a park ranger who told us if we had just gone another mile, the trail follows the creek the whole way and we would have plenty of water. (For the record, we did ask people the night before, but everyone said it was their first time hiking and they had no idea.) So we turned around. Paul has a 13 year old golden retriever named Gallagher who was not super thrilled by all this walking :-), but he did good anyways.

We did eventually reach the creek which was just so beautiful. Really, the whole area was just breathtaking everywhere and it made me so happy and my soul so full. We used our new water filter at the creek where he squirted me in the face with it and thought it was HILARIOUS and we took cute pictures with the people around us and just rested. The weather was just amazing and it was so nice to be there.
We found a camping spot in the early afternoon (really, this was not a rough hike), and just chilled. Paul made us a great little campfire, and we had our freeze dried meals and protein bars and smores. And played Phase10. And slept.
We hiked out pretty early the next day, ate lunch downtown, and then took a little nap in the Albertson's parking lot before we said good-bye. I might have almost cried.
Being in the woods for 3 days with someone can either make you want to kill them or really appreciate who you're with. And I was so glad to be there with him.
We followed each other to Cortez, CO, fueled up, and then said good-bye for reals. Best 4th ever.