The Trip.

Casey’s secret trip was awesome!  He took me to Shenandoah National Park for an amazing hike and then camping overnight.  It was completely unexpected, but we had such a great time!

The first part of the trip was the hike.  We got up early yesterday morning to get there and get it completed before it got too hot.  The hike was at White Oak Canyon.

We did the short loop, which is 7.9 miles and covers part of White Oak Trail on the way up and descends down Cedar Run Trail.  Casey picked this because the mileage and time frame seemed reasonable for our first hike together ever.  He neglected, however, to check out the difficulty level, which was a 4 out of 5!  Fortunately, we’re in pretty good shape and we did just fine!

There are a bunch of waterfalls along the trail, which is why he chose this particular hike.  The one below is the main falls and overlook.

On the way back down, we cooled off in an awesome pool at the bottom of Halfmile Cliff.  It was incredibly refreshing.

After the hike, we headed to the campground to get set up.  He chose the Loft Mountain Campground, which is right off Skyline Drive.  Below is our site all ready for the night.

We ate dinner at the Log Cabin Barbecue (he just can’t get enough BBQ) and then headed back up to the site to enjoy some games at the picnic table before nightfall and the campfire.

Today we slept in before getting up to pack the car and head north on Skyline Drive to get home.  We made lots of pit stops at the overlooks and took plenty of pictures, including the one of us below at the Little Devils Stairs Overlook.

I am so thankful to have a husband who is thoughtful enough to plan a trip like this, when he could have just booked a hotel room at the beach for the night.  It was so fun to mix it up with him and do something new together that we’d never done before, both the hike together and camping just the two of us!  I can’t wait for more trips like it in the future!