I mentioned the many adventures that Brent lets us be a part of in my last post. Saturday one week ago, we had one of those adventures! As we were driving back from Natural Bridge in the rain, I made the comment that I bet it was going to be beautiful when the clouds cleared out. For those of you learning about photography as I am, generally after a storm clears out or a cold front moves through, there could be awesome clouds left over that make a good picture a GREAT picture. Consider that your photography tip for the day! Of course, I learned that from my photographer husband.
I then asked Brent if he thought it would be a pretty sunrise. He said yes and then said he had thought about driving to Dolly Sods for sunrise. The next thing he said was "but if we do that, we will have to get up about 2:30 AM so we can leave by 3:00AM!!
After I looked at him twice to make sure he wasn't joking, I began to consider the idea. Yes, I know that is the middle of the night and yes, I know that most children don't get to go hiking for sunrise.
I also knew that my girls would sleep in the car on the way (think of it like when parents drive overnight on a trip to Disney World so their kids will travel better) and they did. Rachel did stay awake about the last 45 mins of the trip because she was so excited. I choose to take the girls times like these because they will only be in our home such a short time making memories with us like these before they are grown and in their own homes making memories with their future families. I also choose to take them because God has created a beautiful marvelous creation that gives us just a glimmer of how beautiful and awesome HE is and I want them to know sometimes it is worth the extra effort to enjoy and appreciate what God has shared with us!
So let me tell you a little about where we went. Dolly Sods is the the Potomac Highlands region of West Virginia, which is actually a less than 3 hours from where we live now. However, we had to get up so much earlier because it is a short hike to be in place for when the sun rises. You may ask what is the world is Dolly Sods? According to Wikipedia, apparently the Dahle family farmed it in the 18th century which became "Dolly" and a "Sods" is a open mountain meadow. It is located in the Monongahela National Wilderness (try saying that 3 times fast) in West Virginia. The area we went to is called Bear Rocks and is an area of large boulders surrounded by blueberry bushes. The trees that you do see are similar to what would be seen in a Canadian forest.
So to get to Dolly Sods, we drive over the mountains into West Virginia. Then a few mountain roads, finally turning onto a gravel road for the last about 45 minutes. If this sounds remote to you, it is a National Wilderness Area. However, when we arrived 20 minutes before sunrise, there were at least 40-50 other people there, including photographers taking workshops, waiting to photograph the sunrise!
So we headed further down to trails to look for a spot that would be good for capturing a picture. As I mentioned above, along with the giant boulders, blueberry bushes cover the area. These bushes turn a beautiful crimson red all along the rocks. There are little tiny trails all through the bushes. Rachel hiked the entire 1.5 miles on these trails. When we found a good spot, I brought out the blanket and settled the girls down for a Early morning snack. As soon as she was finished, Rebekah wanted me to pick her up. We spent the entire two hours we were up there with me carrying her all along the trails. She did not want me to sit and hold her. She wanted me to stand and walk her around and she looked all around the whole time we walked! So she, Rachel and I explored the trails while Brent took his pictures.
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| Blueberry trails |
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| Brent capturing the sunrise |
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| Catching a little rest |
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| Our favorite bear at Bear Rocks |
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| Our sweet girls enjoying Bear Rocks |
I mentioned there were a lot of photographers at this location. Several of these were actually Brent's flickr contacts. Flickr is a photo sharing website and Brent's pictures can be seen on it at
www.flickr.com/photos/brentmcguirt
So we met up with several of them to go to a nearby waterfall. The girls and I went to within view of the waterfall but along a broader area of the path and the photographers headed closer down to the river to get their shots.
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| Happy Bekah |
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| Technology everywhere. Thanks to Ms. Jozette for sharing her phone for game playing while the girls waited at the waterfall. |
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| Brent and the girls at Douglas Falls, WV |
We actually had to head back to Lexington mid-afternoon because we had a church event at suppertime. FaithBASE is our monthly small group Bible study time. We meet for a meal followed by about an hour of prayer and praise and worship time including singing and encouragement. We had an awesome meal at Darrell and Louanne's home this month and then spent our time in worship. We look forward to this time each month and always come away blessed and encouraged. It is such a blessing to see Rachel especially (and I am sure Rebekah as she gets older) learning songs of praise and worship to Jesus and wanting her own song sheets to be a part of this time as well!
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| Rebekah thoroughly enjoying her supper |
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| Our FaithBASE meal |
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| Mr. Calvin coloring with the girls |
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| Our family at Bear Rocks, September 29, 2012 |
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It was a extremely full day, filled with lots of great memories! Praising God for the beauty of His creation and that our family got to experience it together.
" The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world."
Psalm 19:1-4
loved this account and the photo diary
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