Ain't no mountain high enough.

I had another fantastic weekend in the great state of Oregon. After all the rain and gloom we’ve had in the past month, who knew I would be able to get a really bad sunburn on a 3 hour hiking trip in slightly overcast weather?

This past weekend, I went camping with one of my sorority sisters who is currently interning in the greater Portland area as well. Oddly enough, she is from Michigan but attends Penn State and is a member of the 10-year-old Phi Sigma Rho chapter there. We had never met before but early last week she invited me to go camping with her and her family, and I thought “why not?” She picked me up in the afternoon on Friday and we drove for four hours across the mountains. It turns out, we have similar likes/dislikes, ambitions, ideas, and from what we can observe our boyfriends are even that similar, too. I guess that’s just what happens when you meet sisters from other chapters. :)

Anyway, this weekend really rekindled my absolute LOVE for camping. There’s just something about cooking food over a fire, star gazing into the late hours of the night, and breathing fresh air for 24 hours a day that gets me. My ENTIRE extended family goes camping every summer, and it’s always something I look forward to months in advance. Unfortunately, due to my location and limited time for travel, I won’t be able to attend our tenth anniversary camping trip this summer :( I’m hoping I’ll be able to video call them so I can see all of my Kentucky family though!

I was also able to say I did a lot of “firsts” this weekend! I:

• Went hiking for the first time

Saw a mountain in real life for the first time

Went minimalist camping for the first time
(sorry, no photo for this!)

Went to the highest elevation above sea level I’ve ever been at (6,000+ ft)

It was such a SPECTACULAR weekend! I really hope that my sister and I will be able to go camping more often this summer and see all the beauty of Oregon!