Ring Recap

Well, it's been about one year since the ring fiasco occurred, so I thought I would re-post the story since it is such a great story! I actually had someone suggest that we send this story to Reader's Digest to see if they would publish it..haha! Just so you know though, Lex's ring is still safe on his finger! Enjoy!

Saturday morning Lex & I decided we wanted to head up to the mountains and be a little spontaneous for the weekend. We got on the Internet and found this beautiful park up in the mountains called Chimney Rock, not too far from Asheville, NC. We packed up our picnic basket and headed North. It was beautiful, bright green trees covered the mountains and trails were laid out for us to hike up to a beautiful waterfall that was miles up in the sky. After a long trek up the mountain & wading in the freezing cold river leading to the falls, we headed down the mountain. Along the way, their was a spot called "Nature's Shower," where a natural spring ran over the cliff and along the trail we had to cross. We went for it, trying to avoid as much water as possible, unfortunately Lex took quite a fall on the slippery rock and sliced up his left hand pretty well. He hopped up quickly and tried to walk it off. We made it down the mountain safely and had a wonderful trip overall. Later that evening we had stopped at Starbucks for a refreshing drink, when Lex noticed his wedding band was missing!!! Uh-oh! I thought he was trying to pull one over on me, as he tries quite often :o) But this time he was for real, it was missing. We headed home & scoured the entire apartment, turning up the couch & even checking the fish tank - but it was no where to be found! We came to the conclusion, it must have fell off when he slipped on the side of the mountain. We were quite upset, but couldn't do anything about it until the next day. So Sunday rolls around and we head up to Chimney Rock, one more time. We ask the ticket lady if she will let us in for free to go up to the exact spot he fell and look for his wedding band. Luckily she was a very sweet lady and told us to make sure to get some help from the park rangers and sent us on our way!! We practically sprinted up the side of the mountain, and let me tell ya, we were both huffing and puffing!!! We found the spot and started searching the area around the rock he fell on. Then I hear Lex as he is looking over the cliff, "Hey, is that it?" as he points into a small crevice in the side of the mountain about 20 feet down. We look closer and sitting in a small puddle is a round shiny wedding band. YEAH...we found it!!! Now, the only problem is getting it back! Lex pondered going over the fence himself and shimmering down the slick rock onto the cliffs edge himself...but I said Heck No!!! It's not worth your life!! So we called down to the Park Ranger's office & they sent a professional rock climber up for us! Travis, the mountain man, slapped on a harness, tied up his rope, and stuck in a cigarette to help calm his nerves... I guess :o) Then he hopped the fence and slowly crawled down the cliff that dropped at least 300 feet straight down!! He showed no fear as I took pictures of his heroic act. He grabbed the ring and the crowd that had gathered around us cheered!! It was a good day! What are the chances though, that off a 300 ft. drop off, his ring would be caught by the one small crevice in the rock to save it and make it back on his finger for many years to come!!