Perhaps I am being a bit sappy, but I'm filled with nostalgia as I look back on the life of our daughter who reached the ripe old age of 21 today.

According to Wiki she is classified as a millennial. But before gaining that classification, she was just our fun loving kid. I firmly believe there is no better place for kids to test their wings than in the great outdoors, at a Virginia State Park. So this is a story of one millennial fledgling who did just that.

Virginia State Parks played an integral role in her life growing up. Many of you may not know her personally, but you would recognize her in a heartbeat as the girl who loved s'mores. Here forward I will refer to her as "S'mores Girl."

S'mores Girl outside our cabin at Bear Creek Lake State Park

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

Okay, so I loaded the deck, a promise of s'mores was the perfect bait for the hook. But look, it worked. The photos above were taken at our family's first Virginia State Park experience, cabin 4 at Bear Creek Lake State Park. Of course we also let both girls bring a friend, and their cousin who was visiting from Washington State.

Dad says "Lesson learned on that one," after being trapped in a cabin with 6 females for a solid week.

One of the easiest ways to entice a child to go camping is to mention one simple word "S'mores"

Being a kid of the Blog Editor for Virginia State Parks allowed her some fun moments other kids may not have had to endure enjoy. Yes, many photo ops presented themselves when we went on vacation.

For example, what you saw:

You may have seen this photo from Douthat State Park 2012, it was a good teaching moment

What you didn't see:

"This is gross! Do you have to take a photo of me with garbage?" -S'mores Girl

Thoroughly disgusted with Mom taking a photo of her taking out the trash

It wasn't that she was "put off" taking out the trash from cabin 2 at Douthat State Park, because she had plenty of chores at home. In fact she earned the money herself to buy that cool Douthat hoodie she is wearing. But the trouble was that I was documenting it, and might possibly share it. That was the stickler for this teenager.

But it was just a small part of our fun getaway that was filled with hiking, s'mores and exploring the park.

You see from the beginning we tried to teach our girls good stewardship. Take only photographs and leave only footprints, and all that. Well except fairy stones, those are free for the taking. 

Here are a handful of the Virginia State Parks cherished memories that come to mind, thinking back on our 21 year old S'mores Girl:

WESTMORELAND STATE PARK

Funzies playing board games together in a park cabin

The three of us girls, plus good dog Junie B. stayed in a cabin at Westmoreland State Park. When we arrived I soon discovered we forgot to bring napkins or paper towels. Sometimes you are lucky and the cabin has a roll, well this time we weren't so lucky.

After the 7 hour drive to get there, I decided then and there we would take the one cheap fast food napkin I had in my car and conserve it for the three day stay. A seemingly impossible task, one flimsy napkin to be used by three girls over three days. When we broke it into three pieces we really had our work cut out for us.

Sometimes you just have to wing it. It was a good lesson in conservation: use what you have, make it last.

We attempted to make a fire in the wood burning fireplace. We soon gave that up and played board games 'til late in the night. There was no WiFi, so no technology to disrupt our invaluable time together. 

FIRST LANDING STATE PARK

S'mores Girl learning to cook in a cabin at First Landing State Park

There was the summer when we vacationed at First Landing State Park. Less than two hours into our visit her sister was "tragically" stung by a jellyfish, and S'mores Girl tumbled off her bike and bloodied up her knees. She was a trooper, and has the scars to prove it.

But we had heaps of fun, and it was also a great time to learn some cooking skills. We let the girls plan a meal, then cook it in the cabin using the old electric stove. 

HUNGRY MOTHER STATE PARK

Worth the hike for this view at Hungry Mother State Park

You may recall seeing these shoes back in 2010, yes those were S'mores Girl's

Another "Mom and girls only" trip was made to Hungry Mother State Park, where we all had a camera and took photos of the fall mushrooms we found along the park's trails, playing amateur mycologists. Somehow I decided it would be fun to climb to the summit from Molly's Knob Trail (rated difficult and the perfect way to learn endurance), via Molly's Knob Vista Trail.

And yes, it was a great experience, for about a few strenuous miles. We then got lost coming back down and took the long way home, S'mores Girl calculated that our little hike was close to 6 miles in the end.

S'MORE'-GASBOARD OF MEMORIES

I have so many more wonderful memories that I could share. Being a photographer, blogger and part of the Virginia State Parks marketing team it was easy for me to capture valuable moments through my Nikon lens, in my writing and upon my heart.

You see this is why I can boast about the many benefits of spending time in nature by visiting our parks, firsthand, because I'm a Park'r just like you, and the mother of a Millennial Park'r.

Click image to better view this Millennial Park'r collage

All of this to say, if you want your fledglings to flourish, there is no better method than to spend time outside, at a Virginia State Park. Since today is our daughter's birthday, I should probably end with something like "Let them eat cake," but in this case, my final heartfelt words to you shall be:

Let them eat s'mores!

Signed, 

The Mom of a Millennial

 

WHERE IS SHE NOW?

S'mores Girl is now married, and lives in North Carolina at Camp LeJeune with the love of her life who gets to spend plenty of time outside, as a United States Marine. (Photo taken Christmas Day 2017)

#THINKOUTSIDE