A Very Lion Engagement

In which the author finds family under African skies

We awake to the colossal, bone-shaking roar of 35 lions bellowing in concert. Tucked into our bed, zipped up in a tent, we find each other’s gaze in the dim moonlight — raised eyebrows melt into wide-eyed glee. The nearest beast, a 22-year old lioness named Simba, lies 15 feet from our heads. She, however, saves her snarls for the sun and currently enjoys a deep, guttural snore. We laugh. We have been engaged for eight hours. Continue reading →

Hot Times

Endless overcast days and damp cold just aren’t sexy. And we’ve got how many months of the same to look forward to?  There is, however, something romantic about soaking in a geothermal spring on the edge of a verdant forest while deer browse in a snow-covered field next to a mountain creek in high spate. It’s almost cliché. And even better after dark in a rock-lined pool with only your partner for company and a private cabin in the woods close by. Continue reading →

Head East to Go West

“For their anniversary I got my parents a room for a couple nights at the hotel in Prairie City,” my friend James told me last summer. I thought he was kidding. “Oh, so they are going to stay at the ‘Little Hotel on the Prairie’?” I joked. Continue reading →