Before kids, we would do a yearly camping trip with some family friends of ours that we always looked forward to. Newborn daughters in both families and a pandemic put a short pause to that, but in October 2021, we resumed the tradition, but slightly transformed.

We rented a beautiful cottage instead of pitching tents, but still got some hiking in at the top of the Grayson Highlands State Park, where wild ponies roam.

The kids and grown-ups (and even our dog) loved the ponies, and the view from this grazing area up in the mountains was incredible, hands-down the most beautiful spot I’ve found in my home state of Virginia.

This was one of my first trips after picking up landscape photography as a hobby, and I’m eager to do a weekend trip back at some point to shoot the region again.

Family Activities: Playing music on pots and pans in our rental cottage, lots of hiking, checking out the local horses