Bleary-eyed, because I couldn't immediately find my glasses, I started to pack up my bedding, half-entertaining the idea I tell Liz to go on without me, that I'd lock the door when I left. My fat pants laid mockingly over my bag, and I resolved to solider on.
Mason jar full of tea in hand, the warm pre-dawn air hit me, enveloped me, and again, I longed for a vertical surface and a cuddle pillow. Or cuddle-man. Either would work. But breezing down a dark and empty I-64 with the cold mountain air streaming in and Stateless crooning prophetically that I "still had miles to go before I sleep/still listening to the chainless wind sing" was not the worst way to wake up.
We pulled into the first overlook just off exit 99, right after the sign welcoming cars onto the Blue Ridge Parkway, we were greeted with streaks of pink sky.
Silently, we shared the tea and some banana bread, and waited for the sun to peer around the corner of the eastern hills.
And as quick as the bread was gone, we hopped back into our cars, and raced up to the parking lot for Humpback Rocks.
"It's less than a mile," she said.
"You can do it," she said.
"We're almost there," she said.
Friend or not, I cursed her young, fit, bubbly spirit as she bounced up the mountain, while I wheezed for dear life, telling myself there's no shame in quitting...
A complete uphill battle, a summit elevation of 3,080 feet over 0.8 miles, with the upper part almost being a rock scramble. Conveniently located across from the visitors' center, we were the only ones on the trail, which was good and bad: no witnesses to my slow death, but no one to help Liz bring my body down.
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| Humpback Rock |
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| Liz on top of the world |
What can I say, I'm a sucker for vistas and breath-taking moments. Worth waking up for. Now, to get back down in one piece....
*1 10 oz pour of Three Notch'd Pale Ale
*1/2 bottle of Jefferson Vineyards Chardonnay '16
*1 mint/gin cocktail at dinner
*1/2 glass of Silk and Spice red blend
(All over the course of 7 hours, FYI, and I was completely sober before driving after the cocktail, and had the sip of wine once my bed was made)
