Virginia
Let’s Talk Travel
I have always had a love of travel. Seeing new places and having new experiences. My algorithm is filled with pages about travel and remote places that I started to get ads with the same theme. That’s how I found Serengetee. I ended up purchasing one of their maps. A scratch off map of the United States. Once I had gotten it, I became obsessed with scratching off the states on this map.
I have visited 17 of the 50 states.
Ohio
Illinois
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Vermont
Maine
Washington
California
Texas
Florida
South Carolina
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
New York
Most I had visited because of family vacations or because of school. It wasn’t until my trip to Ohio that I visited a state simply to scratch it off. It was also the longest trip I had been on. Ohio is about 10 hours from where I live in Massachusetts. This was also the first time my dog, Ritz, was going to be with me for a long distance drive. I was nervous but once we got going it was perfectly fine. All I had to do was add a few stops for bathroom and water breaks. Ritz made the journey with no problem. Since this trip had gone so well I started to feel more confident about our ability to drive long distances. That original passion I had when I got the map started to resurface. I was getting the itch to travel again. So, I went back to the map and looked at the states that were left. I wanted to stay as northeast as I could. I will be moving to Texas at the end of the year so I know I will have the opportunity to get to southern states later down the road. The options were; Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, or Virginia. I eventually landed in Virginia. I almost got to visit a few times but something always happened that kept me away. I had already done some research and I had a few spots in mind I wanted to visit. The furthest one was 16 hours away. Decision was final, I was going on a road trip to Virginia.
I had three spots in mind I wanted to see. Breaks Interstate, Natural Bridge Park, and High Bridge Trail. Three of the top rated hiking spots. Of course a hiking trip (come on guys do you even know me). My thought was to drive to the furthest park and then make all my stops on the way back up. That meant Breaks Interstate was first.
I started my trek at midnight so that I would hit New York around 3am. Hopefully missing a lot of the traffic. I sailed through Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. At the 4 hour mark it was time to pull over.
I could’ve kept driving but Ritz desperately needed a rest. This poor dude huffs and puffs the entire time the car's motor is on. We could be perfectly still and just have the car on for the A/C and this dude acts like he’s dying. The rest stop was just a simple patch of grass and some bathrooms. It was a little after 5am so I thought this would be a good place to have some breakfast. I got out my trusty cooler and started making some coffee. I brought along some cold brew and sweet cream. Used some of the ice from inside the cooler and my morning coffee was made. Ritz has some kibble and broth. I scarfed down my granola bar and we were back on the road. I wanted to make it through Pennsylvania and get at least half way through West Virginia. We ended up stopping another 3 times for lunch and breaks. At hour 14, I started to get over the drive and wanted it to end. We were about an hour from Breaks but instead of doing the last hour completely exhausted, I decided to pull over and sleep for a few hours. We slept till about 4am and then finished the last hour. Ritz desperately needed to get out of the car and stretch. So, once I found the trailhead we got out, grabbed a few snacks and we were off. The trail was called Two Towers Overlook. It was about 6 miles out and back and at the end was this beautiful overlook. It was west facing so although we weren't there at sunset I knew they were incredible at this spot. It took us about 2 hours to get out to the overlook so we had to hustle a little to get back to the car. The next stop, the natural bridge, was a 4 hour drive so there wasn't much time to waste. I made a quick lunch of dehydrated pasta, then we hit the road again.
The drive to the bridge was absolutely beautiful! The sun was still rising a little and the trees were so tall it felt like driving through a tree tunnel. We made really good time and arrived at the natural bridge at 4pm. The sun was still pretty high in the sky and there was still plenty of time to hike a few miles.There are three great hikes near the bridge. One goes through the center of the park and the other two surround the park on each side. The longest trek here was only 3 miles so it was absolutely family friendly, and of course, dog friendly. Once you go down the park stairs the bridge is on your right hand side. Only a few yards from the entrance the walkway wraps around the natural walls and when you look up the bridge stands tall in front of you. This was my favorite stop on the trip. I sat and looked at the bridge for at least an hour. The bats at the top had made homes in the cracks and even with the sun still shining they were flying in and out. A few birds had made the bridge their home as well. Sitting in this spot gave me a sense of relief. For a few moments, while I watched the bats and the birds, all my problems melted away. It was just Ritz and I sitting watching the sunset, this was one of my happiest moments.
After the sunset. I wasn't as tired as the night before so I decided to drive the hour to the next park and find our campsite. There are a ton of free campsites all over the country. Some are free and some you have to pay so you have to pay attention to the site you pick. Some of them also require a permit so if you don’t have one make sure you're not going to a site that requires one. These campsites can fill up quickly so it's best to look in the morning bright and early if you can. Once Ritz and I got to our location we ate some dinner and then settled in for the night.
The next morning I really wanted a warm breakfast so I made an exception and drove to the nearest Dunkin. I ordered my bagel with sausage and my iced coffee, and got Ritz some hash browns. This was the last day of the trip and although we weren't in a time crunch I did not want to drive back through New York at a bad time. I wanted to get the hike done, settle down for a while, make some lunch and hit the road. Ritz can take a lot of travel but I can tell when he's over it. Normally I have to ask Ritz a few times to get in the car, but the moment I opened the door to the car, Riz jumped right in and laid down. He was ready to make the drive home.It was still pretty early in the day so we got on the road at a good time. It was going to take about 10 hours to get there and unfortunately we had no choice but to go through New York. To make matters worse we were going to get there during rush hour. I tried my best to avoid it but I couldn't justify adding 3 hours to my drive.It ended up not being as bad. We made it through mostly unscathed and we finally made it home.
This was an important trip for Ritz and I. This was the first trip we took completely alone and it was the furthest we’ve gone. Our trip to Ohio last spring was a 10 hour drive, but we had help. At the time, 10 hours seemed like a lot but after this trip I feel like we could do 10 hours easily! I wanted this trip to go well. I really love to travel and I want Ritz to be able to handle long drives.
Even though the trip went well it wasn't perfect. There are a few things I will change for next time. Although we had plenty of stops, next time I will stop for longer periods of time. Ritz enjoys being outside even if we are just sitting there. Instead of trying to rush down I think it would be better to just take our time and enjoy the journey. I saw multiple signs for attractions or scenic routes and I didn’t take them. My concern for time absolutely destroyed my sense of adventure. I wanted to stop at so many places but didn't because I was so concerned about the destination. That is one thing I will remind myself on the next trip. Relax and enjoy the scenery around me. It’s not really about the destination it's more about the journey.
