Skydiving & Whitewater Rafting: A Weekend Trip with my Dad!

A weekend trip to West Virginia with my dad in September, 2018! I went through a break up that previous summer, so I was ready to get away and go on a trip. And my dad - being the best dad ever - was the first to say he'd go with me. We're both very adventurous and have the desire to travel the world, so we had a hard time actually deciding where we wanted to go.

But then he suggested white water rafting. And I was like... sure! And then we thought... Let's go skydiving, too? In the same weekend? Okay, yeah, sure! These were two things on our bucket lists that we always kind of talked about whether we would actually do or not. So once we booked it, there was no turning back!

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We took Thursday and Friday off work to make it a long weekend. On Thursday, drove 2.5 hours to Marietta, OH just to stay somewhere new for the night to split up the drive time. This was halfway to our destination in West Virginia.

My dad insisted we stay in The Lafayette Hotel - A Historic Grand Riverboat Era Hotel. Pretty sure this place was haunted!! But it was cool because it wasn't a typical hotel stay, and it was located right on the river in the little town of Marietta, also within walking distance of their local bars - which of course we hopped around at.

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On Friday, we got breakfast, stumbled upon a big thrift store in town, and then headed the remainjng 2 more hours south to Fayetteville, WV.

When my dad told me he was booking a "Jimmy-Buffet-themed camper" in an RV park for us to stay in- I knew it was going to be good. Sure enough, when we rolled into the park and first saw the camper from a distance... we just laughed.

They've since given it a new paint job and replaced the rainbow fringe around the bottom LOL -- Link to the Airbnb listing here! This was also the first airstream camper I had ever stayed in.

It's because of my dad, and this trip, that I now try to find weird and unique places to stay at.

My dad - being the best dad ever, again - packed everything we needed to make the most of our experience at this goofy camper. Including our own string lights to hang and paper umbrellas to put in our drinks to go along with the theme. Haha! After settling in, we spent the day hiking a trail around the New River Gorge Bridge, and then stumbled upon Charlie's Pub. Of course because the name was so fitting, we had to make a stop in to let them know that the real Charlie was in town! That night, we had a campfire along with some hot dogs and snackies. :)

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Saturday morning, we got up early for our 9:30am reservation for white water rafting! We booked our trip through Adventures on the Gorge - the Lower Gauley River. We got suited with our gear, hopped on a school bus with 50 other people, got dropped off at the river, and had no idea what to expect!

The Lower part of the Gauley River was a 13 mile trip consisting of Class III - IV rapids! This was such an awesome experience but WOW I remember paddling for DEAR LIFE. (No, I didn't fall out!) Lunch was included at the halfway point on the river, and when our group piled back onto the school bus for the ride back, everyone was SO amped up after conquering the rapids that handfuls of Bud Lights were somehow passed back to everyone from the front of the bus - Haha!

The camp had the bar open and videos rolling on the big screen when we returned our gear. Of course we had to purchase a few photos and a new T-shirt for souvenirs! If you or someone you know is considering white water rafting, I would 100% recommend booking with Adventures on the Gorge in West Virginia.

After the day's excitement, we freshened up and were on the hunt for somewhere to have dinner in Fayetteville. We found a restaurant in town called The Grove, where they had a band come out to play some folky, acoustic music in the evening. It was the perfect end to the day.

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On Sunday morning, we packed up our things to drive back home to Ohio - with a pitstop to go skydiving along the way. We stopped at some breakfast place for food, but I think we were both too nervous to even eat anything.

We booked our skydiving through AerOhio Skydiving in Ashland, Ohio. OMG I still get nervous jitters just thinking about it! We got there in the early afternoon and had a little bit of a wait before take-off. The weather couldn't have been better. This is the part where I literally can't even put this experience into words. We were crammed into a tiny airplane, I looked out the window, and I remember thinking - okay, this is high enough, we can stop now - but we just kept going higher!!! My dad and I looked at each other, and I just knew we were both terrified like-- OMG it's happening. I will literally NEVER forget that moment where I sat dangling on the edge of the airplane before falling towards the earth. AHHHH!!

After casually falling out of a plane that afternoon, we returned home safely and then shared all of our stories and pictures from the weekend with my mom!

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10/10 would recommend going white water rafting and skydiving. And in the same weekend. Did I mention my dad is the best dad ever?

XO, Erin