Harpers Ferry Recap: Day 1

Hey there!

I did it again. I sort of disappeared for a few days without really giving any notice. Actually, now that I look back, I realize that I haven’t been on here since last Wednesday. My bad. I was going to blog on Thursday, but I didn’t really have too much to say and I was out and about running errands, meeting my brand new baby cousin, getting lunch with Christine (!!! I miss her) and working. So that brings us to now, Tuesday, after an incredible little vacation with my family and Russ.

We woke up bright and early Friday morning to get bags into the car, make pb&j sandwiches, set up the bike rack and induce a little pre-vacation stress before heading off to Harpers Ferry, for a four day weekend of hiking, white water tubing, history learning, sight seeing, eating, relaxing and time together.My family is notorious for getting out the door 2-3 hours later than anticipated for any vacation, and true to form, this little vacay was no different. After getting most of the before vacation to-dos done, Russ and my dad spent a good 45 minutes trying to get a borrowed bike rack onto our car so that we could bike the Appalachian trails. Eventually, we all realized that the chance of our bikes flying off the back of the car and bouncing down 95, while shattering into a billion pieces and causing a 10 car pile up were greater than 25%, we decided to chalk the bikes and head out without them. Almost 11 am, we said our goodbyes to Toby and Misu and we were off!

It should have taken +/- 3.5 hours, but it was a little longer since we hit some major traffic and we had to make a few potty breaks since small bladders is another trait of ours. We eventually arrived and while my mom checked in, Russ, Leland and I explored out new stomping grounds. We stayed at the Teahorse Hostel, a quaint little place with so many interesting people! Hikers and bikers on long trips, like Cheryl in the book Wild. Some of the people we met even said they were inspired by her to complete their own journey along the Appalachian Trail. It’s really cool and I think it would be amazing to do that one day, but I don’t know that I would ever have the guts to do it alone.Once we put our stuff down in our room, we started our adventures! We took a walk down to the town (as in DOWN this huge hill) and briefly visited the Harpers Ferry museum. If you’re in the dark about why Harpers Ferry is a historical place, here’s a little snippet of information: On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown and several followers seized the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The actions of Brown’s men brought national attention to the emotional divisions concerning slavery. (Source)History has never been my thing, so after a half hour or so, we did the fun stuff! We went on a short hike along the Potomac River. From that first picture, to the second in a split second. The second describes our relationship PERFECTLY.

It was incredibly beautiful- both the scenery and the weather. There were mountains all around, no traffic and water slowly passing through. Sometimes I forget that small towns still exist. This sure is one of them! Since we got there a little later than we hoped, we didn’t hike for too long and decided to get some dinner at The Secret Six Tavern, a restaurant that was recommended to us. The inside of the restaurant was like a cozy cottage, but since it was so nice out, we snagged a table on the deck that overlooked the Amtrak Train station, mountains… And a parking lot. You win some, you lose some. They were laughing about The Weiner Scandal.

I ordered their vegetarian burger with plans to split half and half for Russ’ cheeseburger, but when he tasted his cheeseburger, he backed out. Mean, right?! My veggie burger looked better than it tasted and after trying everyone’s cheeseburger, I wished I had gone the same route. At least dinner was fun and the beers were refreshing!

Russ and I raced up the HUGE hill, which was at least a half mile long and I beat him (because he was tired)! Yay! It was the hardest run, ever, so we slowly made our way back to the hostel while I took pictures of every pretty flower I came across. There were lots!
Vacation always means ice cream, but with five people and over $3 for a small scoop, we decided to go to the supermarket and get a big container. Excellent choice. Vanilla topped with Nutella, banana and crushed pretzels, while Russ and my dad tried to teach me chess. I learned a little, but quit early so that Russ and I could go for a walk together. We didn’t go far, but it was nice to walk around such a quiet place. After I went to bed, Russ stayed up talking with two guys that had biked there from Washington, DC and even went to get a beer with them. He was quite intrigued by their journey!