The Camping Trip That Was, and a Flurry of Interviews

Around the time of the solstice, Evan and I kind of spontaneously went camping in Shenandoah National Park. I say "kind of" because Evan had been planning the trip for about a week and a half, but I had somehow missed the memo. Much scrambling to pack ensued as a result, but I managed not to forget anything major.

We got on the road right after work and--in spite of a pit stop for s'mores makings--found ourselves on Skyline Drive in time for the sunset, which was about as picturesque as it sounds.

Slightly less picturesque was our dinner that evening: canned soup eaten by the light from our headlamps. (By the time we got the tent set up, it was dark dark dark.)

It was pretty chilly up on the mountain, so we slept pretty well. So well, in fact, that we were unable to wrest ourselves from our sleeping bags until almost 9:00am. So much for getting an early start on our day of hiking. Since our early start was already shot entirely to heck, we decided we might as well linger over breakfast.

Breakfast of hiking champions.

We finally left the campsite around 10:30. After a brief stop to get a map from the ranger station--no cell service *gasp!*--we were on our way to Old Rag Mountain, one of my all-time favorite hikes. Thanks to my killer navigational skills, we made it there without any wrong turns or stopping to ask for directions.

Fresh-faced at the start of the hike!

Since it was a Thursday, we had the mountain pretty much to ourselves, aside from a family with several kids, one of whom swore up and down he'd seen a black bear. (In a disappointing turn of events, we saw no such bear. This will go down in history as the only time that I have visited Shenandoah without seeing at least one bear.)

As we approached the rock scramble to the summit, we were both dying a little bit (okay, a lot of bit). Apparently walking 10-plus miles around European cities for 4.5 months does not keep one in shape enough to climb a mountain. Who knew?

"Just leave me here."

Nevertheless, we persisted, and made it to the summit.

I'm occasionally capable of taking a decent picture. 

We wound our way back down, and made our triumphant return to the campsite. Evan pulled out all the stops when making dinner that night: crispy salmon with orzo and broccoli. It was one of those meals that I was halfway through before I thought to take a picture, so I'll have to just leave it up to your imagination.

We lounged by the fire after dinner, me making s'more after s'more while Evan made healthy life decisions.

No regrets.

After a little bit of stargazing, we crawled into the tent and were asleep within minutes. Of course, we woke right up a few hours later when the tent threatened to blow away.

It's so much harder to sleep through a tropical storm when there's only a thin layer of fabric between you and it.

We finally gave up trying to sleep around 6:00am, and, after fighting the gale-force winds to pack up the tent, decided that trying to cook breakfast would be more trouble than it was worth. So we put my navigational prowess to use once again, and headed towards home.

Our phones started buzzing shortly before a Wawa came into sight (the first sign of civilization!).

Evan immediately Googled "breakfast near me" and came up with Frost Diner, right across the intersection from the Wawa. The diner didn't look like much, inside or out, but we could tell from the seats packed with locals (even at 9:30am on a work day) that it was going to be good.

We each ordered a #4: three ginormous pancakes, three eggs, a pile of potatoes, and a side of bacon and sausage (both of which went to Evan).

Needless to say, we were stuffed. (Also needless to say, I forgot to take a picture before tearing into it.)

We made it back home before noon, and decided that it was a beautiful day to wash our cars. Of course, by the time Tuesday rolled around, my car was no longer sparkling clean.

What was significant about Tuesday, you ask? Well, that fateful Tuesday was the day that I had three (count 'em) job interviews lined up.

I'm getting really good at bragging about myself.

And now, two weeks (and five interviews) later, I have a full-time teaching job lined up for the fall! I'm going to be signing up for benefits and everything. #adulting

Third grade, here I come!