Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's! I joined Yerin and Tara this year on a camping/hiking trip to Thornton Gap in Shenandoah National Park. Sure, I had no other plans and therefore no real reason to decline the invitation... but I was really only in it for the promise of greasy diner food following this crazy early AM hike.

So the plan was to meet and "camp" out in our cars, then start our hike at 5 AM to make it to the top for the first sunrise of the year! Sounds easy enough.

What actually happened: 

11:00 PM - We arrive and realize it's really dark in nature. Like, really dark. And there are deer everywhere. We google "Will deer eat people?"

11:05 PM - I start layering and top it all of with fleece footie pajamas. Car camping is going to be super-easy.

11:30 PM - Tara arrives and brings light with her. And toilet paper. She is a pro.

11:58 PM - Swigs of New Year's Eve whiskey and realizing we're old now and usually in bed by 10 PM, so we're tired.

12 AM - We're asleep.

4:15 AM - I hear a noise but choose to ignore it.

4:20 AM - I realize it's really REALLY cold and that I'm sleeping in a car and not in bed and that that noise is probably something I should be concerned about.

4:22 AM - The noise is Tara trying to wake everyone up because we're behind schedule. I tell them to go on without me because I'm cold, sleepy, and it's still dark out.

4:23 AM - I'm up, I'm up. I'm layering some more and step outside. It's really cold, really dark, and I'm already hungry.

5:15 AM - We start hiking!

6:30 AM - We make it to the top about an hour too early. It's still dark and a huge group of Koreans equipped with headlamps are not far behind us. We are scared and it is windy. (Apparently being on top of a mountain or by the sea is a Korean thing to do for New Year's.)

 Like really windy. The struggle was real.

7:15 AM - We realize it's way to cloudy to see the sun rise, so we give up because breakfast is the only thing we care about anymore.

9 AM - BREAKFAST at Hawksbill Diner. We order everything.

Yerin had the pancakes, Tara got I think three different entrees, and I went with the Country Ham Omelet. This is my kind of breakfast. You can't keep a Virginia girl away from her super-salty Virginia ham!

We survived! 

And I'll probably (eye roll) be back for more next year. Note to self: Bring more blankets. Pack all of the blankets you have, and then go buy some more... or just sleep in your nice warm bed and drive out early in the AM to meet your crazy friends who would prefer to sleep in cars.

Happy 2016!!!