Halfway through the semester, my stress was at its highest. I was halfway done with midterm season, a biochemistry exam was the only one awaiting me after fall break. Usually, during fall break, I use the two days to catch up on homework and sleep, but this time around I took a camping trip with three of my sisters from my sorority.

Sunday started with packing my Prius with all of our camping gear. I was honestly impressed that we were able to do it; however, we did have to leave our camping chairs behind. We arrived at our campsite which was in Cottonwood, Arizona at Deadhorse Ranch State Park at around 3:30 pm. It had a super cute set up with flat ground for the tent, a picnic table, and a fire pit. We spent the night taking pictures and chatting around the campfire eating dinner and smores.

Photo by Autumn Childers

The next morning we packed up and headed to Sedona, Arizona. There, we sipped on iced americanos with a beautiful view. We also stopped at many gift shops, constantly shouting "this is cute" at all of the t-shirts, stickers, and knick-knacks they were selling. We finished our trip with a four-mile round trip hike to Devil's Bridge which was absolutely amazing to see with my own eyes.

Photo by Autumn Childers

During this overnight trip, I realized it is important to spend quality time with friends. Not only is it an amazing stress reliever, but it also makes you appreciate life a lot more. There is nothing more amazing than spending time with people you love in nature, disconnected from the rest of the world. From now on, I plan to take more day trips like this and intentionally making memories with my friends.