Soon after they were together, they found out more about each other and considered getting married. Ellen went to Portland to visit William. They went on a road trip along the Oregon Coast, and William thought it was time for him to propose.

Among numerous beaches along the Coast, William followed the recommendation from a guidebook and chose Indian Beach as "the" place. It turned out to be the least attractive place they visited during the entire trip. There were deliberately no flowers (as he thought the purpose for bringing flowers all the way to a beach would be too conspicuous), but two music boxes, and a ring. He took her to a corner and proposed in front of a chaotic heap of fallen trunks. And, she said yes.