Brian and I celebrated three wonderful years of marriage on Sept. 12.  The day of was quiet. It was a Wednesday, which meant Landon had occupational therapy after work. A Greek Orthodox church next door to Brian’s work was having a Greek food festival, so Brian brought home delicious Greek food and we enjoyed a late dinner, then after Landon went to bed we opened our anniversary bourbon — Blanton’s.

When Brian and I were dating we toured the Buffalo Trace distillery, which makes not only Buffalo Trace, but also Ancient Age, Eagle Rare, a few others and Blanton’s, which is a premium bourbon. I gifted Brian a bottle of Blanton’s for our wedding and we sip it only on Sept. 12. We expect the bottle to last a long while.

We frequently say how we fell in love with each other on the trails. We spent a lot of time in the outdoors while dating and based our New England honeymoon around where we could hike. (Maine > Vermont.) For our first anniversary, we took a three-day, two-night kayaking/camping trip down the Allegheny River. For our second anniversary, we intended to do a similar kayak/camp trip but got rained out. For our third anniversary, my parents generously offered to keep Landon overnight so Brian and I could try our feet at backpacking for a night. Destination: Oil Creek State Park.

Thanks to three hip surgeries (all me), one pregnancy and one super baby, we haven’t been truly hiking in a long time outside of a few two or three mile treks where I don’t even bother to carry water. This time we had our packs, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camp stove and pot, dehydrated meals, lights, clothes for the cold night and a few other necessities. (We stayed in an adirondack shelter, eliminating the need to pack our tent.) Although much of our gear is lightweight, it still added up to carrying around a lot more weight than I ever have before while hiking. I was thankful to have hiking poles with me to take some of the impact off of my lower joints. I also was thankful Brian ran back to the car to get my poles when I realized 1/4 mile into our hike I had left them in the car.

We had planned about 10 miles for the first day and 4 or so for the second day. After a slightly late start leaving home, however, and my car leaking oil and needing to stop to add more, we opted to do a shorter first day, which we thought would be 5 or 6 miles to the campsite, then we could take off a bit from there. Mismarked maps and a few wrong turns turned it into a 10-mile day for us, complete with extremely steep uphill switchbacks at the end, leading to a scenic overlook.

After we quite literally slide back down the hill, we backtracked and eventually found the shelter site, but not before going up another hill. What a relief to finally hobble into our campsite with only an hour of daylight to spare!

The shelters were surprisingly lovely — three-sided adirondacks with a stone fireplace in each one for ambiance, light and warmth. The park also had a healthy supply of split firewood at our disposal, of which we burned through plenty.

We have our own dehydrator and made a few meals that each contained a meat item; kale, peppers and other veggies; and a carb — either brown rice or spinach noodles. After we rehydrate a meal in our stove, we add olive oil for some fat and garlic powder and creole seasoning for an extra flavor boost. In the mornings we do multi-grain quick oats and stir in peanut butter, cranberries, unsweetened coconut flakes, chia seeds and nuts. Food is fuel and we don’t do boring food if we can help it!

We joke that we took advantage of our first night without Landon since he came home from West Penn and chose to go sleep in the woods rather than find a plush B&B with a huge soft bed and a warm breakfast awaiting us the next morning. But … that’s how we roll and we really wouldn’t have it any other way! (I mean, a real bed would’ve been nice…)

After a rather restless night, we took a 6 1/2-mile hike back to our car, most of which was uphill. Given how sore we already were from the previous day’s shenanigans, it was 6 1/2 miles of pain.

Oil Creek State Park also has some unique history around it. For example, we walked through a graveyard from the early 1800s. From what I researched, it’s the remnants of the now ghost town of Petroleum City.

Exhausting though the trip was, it was exhilarating and wonderful and I’d love to do some more backpacking, but perhaps with a shorter first day and with an opportunity for more exercise in the months leading up to it. Carrying Landon around is great for my arms, but my legs certainly felt the effects of not being intentionally exercised as of late!