Holy cow... summer is officially over. It always amazes me how the season flies by and before I know it I've got a backpack on and am walking back into high school. Now that I have entered junior year, I am able to reflect on the past three months and I am so grateful for my adventures and the people I have met along the way. This summer I decided to film two seconds of video daily and edit it together as a sort of video diary. What started as a pet project I began on a whim ended up turning into something much more emotional and meaningful for me: documenting all of those moments that made this summer so wonderful. I cherished every single coffee date with my friends, every inside joke, every hike, and watching this video makes me all the more grateful. It made me realize where all of that time I thought just disappeared went. What was often lost in past years to Netflix or staying home was found this summer in taking risks and getting outside of my comfort zone. If you want to see the video I made, I will have it below. Thank you so much to everyone who made this past season unforgettable.
Hello loves! As my summer comes to an end, my trip out west does too. It's so wild to think about how quickly it has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was frantically packing all of my clothes and jumping into our car at 3 am, half asleep and wholly excited for the adventure ahead. Now, as I am back home in the NC mountains, I am so thankful for the opportunity I had. We spent the second week of our travels camping in Rocky Mountain National Park with little to no phone service the entire time. I must say, prying myself from my phone was difficult but it was so worth it. You don't realize how much you rely on technology until you don't have it anymore!
Without social media and outside influences on my life, I was able to admire and immerse myself in the beauty of the area. Our first night, we camped at Aspenglen, a more remote campground with few people around us. Possibly the highlight of the trip was stargazing this night, as there was little to no light pollution and I saw my first shooting star! I am a huge space nerd, so having such clarity in the night sky was an amazing experience for me. Another highlight of the trip was a hike we took up to Emerald Lake. We woke up at the crack of dawn and seeing the mountains shadowed in the dawn's faint blue light was incredibly beautiful. Not only did we get to see the Rockies in this quiet and early light, the hike was insanely stunning. I have travelled across the US many times and this was by far one of the most stunning hikes I have ever walked. I fell in love with the alpine forests during our stay here and trekking through one was such a lovely experience. The lakes were incredible as well! We passed four lakes on our way up to Emerald Lake and since we were up so early, we were mostly alone for our hike up!
My phone died halfway into the hike and I was forced to stop taking pictures and just take in the beauty of the mountains. I am so blessed to have gotten to experience this trip and I can't wait to return. I am so glad to be home though! After two weeks of constantly moving hotels and campsites, and a week of no showers and no cell service, home is a welcomed break from my adventures.
Please enjoy these few snapshots from my second week out west! I also made a short little video about my trip. You can find it at the bottom of this post!
