Let me start off by admitting that I am in no way, shape, or form, a "morning person." During school I avoid 8 am's like the bubonic plague and during the summer I typically fall asleep to the sound of birds chirping outside. As they're ready to greet the day, I'm ready to greet my pillow. Despite all this, the journey I recently made to watch the sunrise during my vacation at Salisbury Beach State Reservation has convinced me that the beauty in nature just might be worth getting up early for.

My journey was not at all intentional and started because I woke up at 4:30 am to go to the bathroom. By the time I had walked from the campsite to the public bathroom and back I was wide awake and that's when it occurred to me, the sunrise! In my 21 years of living I had yet to watch an actual sunrise (sad, but true). I took out my phone and searched, "sunrise July 4th 2016 Salisbury", and it was as simple as that! (Thanks Google.) I had around 20 minutes to kill and decided to go outside and wait for the big moment. It was a bit chilly, but the view I had made it all worthwhile.

This wasn't the first time I had looked at this lake right across from our campsite, yet I felt as if I was truly seeing it for the first time. During the day I had looked at it from a distance, but in the early morning, something about it compelled me to get as close as possible so I could really appreciate what I was looking at. The beauty of the water, and pink- tinted sky that surrounded it made for the picture- perfect scene, and while I love this photo, it doesn't even do it justice.

As the time drew nearer and nearer until the big moment, I realized how easy it was to lose track of time when every view I had was breathtaking. For once, I was greeting the day along with the birds, and I was loving every second of it. Even if I didn't have a picturesque view of the sunrise, just being out in nature this early in the morning had already been a success in my book.

Below is an actual picture I got of a flock of birds welcoming the day, 40 of them to be exact, all in perfect formation. Usually when one sees a natural vision of beauty such as this, it is for a fleeting moment, and then the moment passes, but I had all the time in the world and was lucky enough to snap this graceful formation.

After I took this picture, I started to realize that I wasn't in the opportune spot to watch the sunrise and decided to venture down the road. I may have been wearing my boyfriend's boat shoes that were 4 sizes too big because I couldn't find my sneakers, but I didn't care, the sunrise was worth venturing towards, even if I was flopping down the street looking like a clown, Not too far from the campsite, I came across a small boardwalk I had never seen before, and decided to follow it and see where it led. This boardwalk came equipped with yet another breathtaking view of all the vegetation that surrounded it.

When I reached the end of the boardwalk it brought me in the middle of the woods, but what I thought might have been a dead end, proved to be the opposite, and brought me right to where I was searching for all along

Eureka! The sun! All it took was a few more steps through the woods and I suddenly had the best view of my very first sunrise I could ever hope for.

This sunrise was one of the most breathtaking scenes I had ever witnessed. Not only was it my first sunrise, but it was the first time I had really allowed myself to go out and experience nature at a time where I could truly appreciate it. My Fourth of July this year started in an unexpected way, but truly gave me an appreciation for nature and reminded me that some things are worth getting up early for.