Me: Soooo am I coming up to the city for NYE or are you coming to DC?
KB: Dude. Work has been so stressful that I haven’t had a chance to think about my plans, let alone buy my ticket home. I wasn’t planning on coming back to New York for New Year’s Eve though.
Me: Maybe we should go camping
KB: DUDE that’s not a bad idea!! or…what would it be to get a little cabin in Shennandoah? Just for that day/night? Seriously. We could bring wine.
Me: I’ll investigate.
I soon discovered that Librarian Skills (TM) and Travel Agent Skills are pretty much the exact same, so I blew up KB’s email within half an hour with links to Killahevlin Bed and Breakfast just outside Shennandoah National Park.
our sweet digs.
Me: check your email. Dude I’m getting kinda pumped tbh
KB: about going to the woods??
Me: we can’t stay in the park but the B&B I just sent you looks choice
KB: I’m just worried about being frozen in a tent…
Me: It has a private Irish pub. It’s so us.
KB: Uh…THIS LOOKS AWESOME. it has 5 stars on yelp, bedandbreakfast.com AND trip advisor
the pub in question.
Me: Right? it’s not that expensive either, you can just buy us dinner hahaha
KB: and we can go on a hike on the 31st AND the first!
Me: they have free beer and wine in their “pub”
Me: I’m dyin
Me: it’s on homie
KB: Dude, let’s freaking do it.
KB: Can we please talk about how excited I am for NYE now?
Me: I’m crazy stoked. I talked about it all day at work. I’m beyond excited. Those egg waffles!
Me: Looks like there might not be snow in the park so we can start the new year right with a post-brunch hike
KB: YES
Was it awesome? It was awesome.
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- a drive for all seasons
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- my best friend <3
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- the trail to Compton Peak – New Year’s Eve hike
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- view from Compton Peak
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- chilling at the top of Compton Peak
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- KB tribute shot – post-hike, New Year’s Day
for some reason K and I have never gotten a cute picture together – this is close.
I have to give props to our innkeepers at Killahevlin for some solid dinner recommendations. We went to Osteria 510 for dinner because the prix fixe at Apartment 2G was out of our budget (hey, future boyfriends, I want to eat there). The main course was underwhelming, but we had some pretty good fried oysters and the tiramisu was legit.
In the bar, I discovered this wonderful book by Sue Eisenfeld. I agree with the reviews stating that anyone visiting the park will experience it in a new way – when we went back the next day, I realized that all the trails were probably named after families. I talked with Kristen about what a great travel piece a story about the book would make, and the Post ran the exact story I pictured not even a week later. (How did no one scoop me up when I was applying for journalism jobs?)
Pro tip: don’t ever go on vacation with me. I will spend the entire time reading.
(Case in point: me, ca. 23:00, 12/31/2014)
We picked out a trail that goes by a cemetery because of Sue’s book:
thrice the sun done salutation to the dawn
also spotted on the trail:
– some gravel that had somehow risen a few millimeters above the rest of the soil, held together by an ice matrix like some sort of lattice. the trail was frozen and crunched every step but we had never seen frost hold up rocks above the rest of the earth
– fallen berries covered with dew.
Last year was the best year of my life so far, I hope this one will be even better!