Wild and Wonderful..

West Virginia.

Matt and I hit Harper's Ferry on Saturday to immerse ourselves in nature, do some outdoor activities and enjoy our wild and wonderful neighboring state.

I made some quick reservations at a local favorite hotel called the Hilltop Hotel. The exterior was questionable but the place was swarming with tourists, especially due to the amazing view. We figured the place must be great (note the foreshadowing). We didn't check-in but parked, unloaded our bikes, and picked up the nearby C&O canal bike trail.
It was a perfect sunny summer day with low humidity, and we followed the trail all the way to Shepherdstown. We grabbed lunch, did some wine tasting and window shopping before turning back to Harper's Ferry.

Please note that Matt is too cool to wear a helmet.

Matt's favorite part of the day...resting. After our long 30 miles, we took a nap on these rocks in the middle of the beautiful Shenandoah river.

Once we got back to the car, we were anxious to check-in, shower and grab some dinner at a local restaurant. The woman working the desk indicated that she was giving us a 'good' room. I guess in West VA, 'good' means holes in the wall, stains on the furniture, and dorm room beds. We spent about 10 minutes trying to come up with a story to get out of staying there since we had already paid. After deciding against the emergency story and the bug story (even though I'm SURE there were bugs in that room), Matt laid it on thick about how it was our anniversary and we were expecting something else. That seemed to do the trick and the woman completely understood and gave us a full refund!

We drove back to DC through Leesburg and ate at a cute restaurant (recommended by Leesburg alum, Coletrain). We changed out of our bike gear in the parking lot and tried to make ourselves as presentable as possible. It was the perfect wrap-up to our day of adventure on the rivah.