We have been married officially ONE YEAR and one week 🙂 After all of the moving mess we knew that for our one year anniversary we wanted to do something low key. We wanted to be able to come home and sleep here but also have an adventure. So we decided to do something we both really love – explore a new place and be outside! We decided to take the Saturday and head down to Harper’s Ferry for the day so we could explore the town and then hike!
That morning we woke up – dropped our dogs off at my parents and headed down to Harper’s Ferry. It is an precious little town! So precious in fact that you have to park pretty far away and take a bus in because there is so little parking downtown – which honestly I think is really cute! The bus is free and even plays bluegrass music and tells you about the park and the town. We walked up and down the main street, visiting each quaint store and then had lunch. We ate at Almost Heaven which was filled with West Virginia gear everywhere! For a down home place it was kind of pricey but we did really like beer cheese fries and tasting local West Virginia beers. While in town we picked up our first ever “National Park Passport”. It lays out all of the national parks and historical sites in each region of the United States and then as you visit each place you collect stamps. We are officially determined to see as many places as possible and make it (at least) a yearly tradition to explore the great outdoors!
After lunch it was off to our hike. We crossed the river on an old rustic train bridge that has a walking path on the side. This bridge is actually part of the Appalachian Trial which was pretty cool! Once we got to the other side we decided to do the Maryland Height’s Overlook because it’s the highest point that overlooks both rivers and the town. It’s a five mile hike round trip and we had just enough time to do it.
The trial was awesome! Very well kept, wide and not too steep which I really liked. I really don’t like heights so I was a little nervous to get to the top. The nice thing about this particular overlook though is that you can’t see the edge of the cliff or the drop off unless you go to the edge. So I got to comfortable enjoy the sites without being terrified the whole time.
The hike took us about 2 hours round trip and it POURED in the middle! Fortunately we were under a great canopy of trees so while we did get wet, we didn’t get nearly as soaked as those in town did.
What was so nice about our one year anniversary was getting time to just be together, uninterrupted by social media. We spent the whole day just exploring and talking and it was a perfect slow down to the otherwise crazy fast paced summer. Our first year of marriage may not have been especially glamorous but it was just perfect. We spent a lot of time with great friends, traveled some, enjoyed being with our families and found a stronger connection with God. We found a church that we fell in love with, took on new adventures and dreamt up great big plans for our future. We took chances, cried a lot (mostly me), laughed more and now are leaning on each other more than ever. Our journey together has never been perfect but it’s taught us a lot about what true love really looks like (at least for us).
Sterling – You are more than just my best friend, you’re the love of my life and my favorite human. Thank you for walking this journey with me – even when I ugly cry and blow bubbles to calm down… You’re my biggest fan and my greatest role model of what being a good christian, friend and family person looks like. I know you’ll be just as goofy, fun, sincere, and lovely when we’re 80 as you are now, which is why I’m glad you’re mine. 🙂
