Why I Like Sutter's Mill

While we were in California, we stopped by Sutter's Mill, the place that began the Gold Rush. Historically, that's a fun thing to see.

Personally, it is a special place for me.

Phil and I got engaged over the phone. I was in Idaho in school; he was in Colorado. We figured we would like to get married, but it felt silly to make plans without a firm commitment, so on February 9th (our personal Valentine's Day), he proposed.

But it's hard to send a ring via phone or fax, and so I was ringless.

I met his family over spring break, about four weeks later. The days passed, and no ring appeared.

The day before I went back to school, we went to Coloma, to see Sutter's Mill. And Phil pulled out of his backpack my long coveted Lord of the Rings trilogy, in hardback with a slipcover. (Phil had casually mentioned the previous fall that I shouldn't let my parents get me that set for Christmas. That seemed like a dead giveaway for what he was planning to get, so I was a bit stymied when it didn't show up for Christmas. And not for my birthday either!)

The Fellowship of the Ring was poking out of the slipcover, and there was my ring behind it. I would like to think that Phil found gold at Sutter's Mill, too, almost thirteen years ago now.