{"id":801,"date":"2025-07-13T10:11:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T10:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/?p=801"},"modified":"2025-07-13T10:11:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T10:11:32","slug":"he-saw-her-in-yellowstone-and-knew-hed-marry-her-and-he-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/?p=801","title":{"rendered":"He Saw Her in Yellowstone and Knew He\u2019d Marry Her \u2014 And He Did"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the summer of 2013, Andrew McGowan, a Utah native on a family trip to Yellowstone, locked eyes with Shallen Yu through a general store window and instantly felt something special. \u201cI saw her and thought, \u2018I\u2019m going to marry that girl,\u2019\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"341\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/179-edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-803\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/179-edited.jpg 341w, https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/179-edited-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shallen, a student from Taiwan working in the park for the summer, was behind the counter. Andrew, smitten, bought a chocolate milk just to speak with her. In broken Mandarin, he asked if she had a boyfriend. She said no. When he asked her to dinner, she countered with a safer offer \u2014 ice cream, in front of the store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They met two days later for that ice cream, bonding quickly over shared interests. Conversation flowed so easily that Andrew later invited Shallen to join his family at their campsite for peach cobbler \u2014 on their first date. She agreed, unknowingly meeting his entire extended family, who instantly adored her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The evening ended with stargazing, and a first date that lasted until 2 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though they assumed it might be a one-time experience, Andrew returned to Yellowstone in August to see Shallen again. This time, she introduced him to her friends. Their connection deepened. Soon after, Shallen visited Utah to meet Andrew\u2019s friends, who were skeptical such a meet-cute could be real \u2014 until they met her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite coming from different cultures and backgrounds, the two stayed in touch and kept seeing each other. That fateful moment in Yellowstone turned into a lasting love story \u2014 just like Andrew had hoped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the summer of 2013, Andrew McGowan, a Utah native on a family trip to Yellowstone, locked eyes with Shallen Yu through a general store window and instantly felt something special. \u201cI saw her and thought, \u2018I\u2019m going to marry that girl,\u2019\u201d he recalls. Shallen, a student from Taiwan working in the park for the&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/?p=801\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;He Saw Her in Yellowstone and Knew He\u2019d Marry Her \u2014 And He Did&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":804,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions\/804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coolxmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}