Meet us in the mountains

In 2016, Jessie had just started work as an ICU pharmacist at the University of New Mexico Hospital. Bennett was a third year medical student also at the University of New Mexico. It was his first day in the Neuro ICU, he was lost, and he stopped at Jessie's desk to ask for directions. He insists to this day that he really was lost, A few weeks later with a little online dating help, they went on their first date at their favorite New Mexico brewery, La Cumbre. Fun fact, Bennett was late to their first and second dates and Jessie makes sure to remind him regularly.

Because Bennett only gets a few weeks of vacation a year, we had long been anticipating our road trip vacation through some of Utah's National Parks in March of 2020. As everyone knows, that was the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seattle was the epicenter, so we made the decision to go ahead with our plans because we were driving and planning to camp or stay in remote places. Our first park was Capitol Reef National Park. On our second day we started our trek early to the Navajo Knobs trailhead. We saw no one on the trail the whole way to the summit. Once reaching the top, we took photos of the panoramic view and despite the wind, Bennett got down on one knee and asked Jessie to marry him and she happily agreed. It was a perfect moment and very fitting for us.