Spontaneous Trip to Cooper’s Rock, West Virginia

I was sitting in the apartment. It was almost 11:00 at night. I get a text from Nathan.

“Wanna go camping tomorrow?”

Absolutely I did! We had been talking about wanting to start taking trips, but never really looked into it much.

And so, I hopped on the computer (it was past midnight at this point), looked around at places to visit in West Virginia, and booked a campsite at Cooper’s Rock.

The next morning, we packed our things, and hit the road. And let me tell you, this trip was just the first of many more to come. It was like, that one thing that finally needed to happen to set others in motion. A domino effect. A catalyst.

We didn’t do much on this two day trip, just camped in our jeep, watched the sunset and sunrise, and went on a beautiful hike up to Raven Rock. But it was such a needed getaway. I’ll put some pictures at the end of this post :)

But more than the trip itself or where we went, it was simply the act of traveling that sparked something new in me.

For the longest time, I had this mindset that “someday, we will be able to travel full-time.” It was a very all-or-nothing way of thinking. For whatever reason, it never really occurred to me that we could start traveling now. Sure, we can’t take long extravagant trips or go all of the places that someday we hope to, but there are places within just a few hours of us that are definitely worth seeing. And there’s something to be said for just getting out and camping, no matter where it is.

As I’m writing this, we have also traveled to Seneca Rocks, Shenandoah National Park, and are planning our next getaway too! I am so glad that we finally took that leap, and just started with what we had. We don’t have any fancy camping equipment. We stopped at the store, grabbed some sleeping bags and snacks, and camped in the back of our Jeep Wrangler. (Since this first trip, we have acquired a bit more gear, but still nothing too fancy). It was seriously the best experience.

I hope that this post will inspire you to take a little trip. It can be just one night, out in nature, in the back of your vehicle, eating snacks, hiking, and waking up to a gorgeous sunrise in the forest. It’s freeing, and I think that once you start, you’ll never go back. There’s something so healing about being out in nature. It’s hard to even think about negative things when you’re outdoors. The distractions go away, the hustle and bustle of “normal life” is nonexistent, and my nervous system can rest.

My life isn’t perfect. It can be incredibly hard at times. Troubles come and go, but being out in God’s beautiful creation with my husband and pup in our Jeep is something that I simply cannot wait to get more of.

So what are you waiting for? Grab a sleeping bag, some snacks, and hit the road.

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