We had a picnic at sunrise at Oatlands Plantation as our third task yesterday morning. Being that it was so ungodly early, we decided to make it a light picnic, with fresh fruit, yogurt, and tea. Our plan was to leave my apartment at 6am, make it to the site in time for sunrise at 6:35am, and then head to work following our delightful breakfast.
In actuality, we didn’t leave my house until close to 6:30am, but we were able to justify successful completion of the task because it was gloomy, so the sun never visibly rose anyways. At least that’s what were telling ourselves.
Notable Moment: Oatlands Plantation does not open to visitors until around 9am, so we parked outside the locked gate, squeezed through the fence, and hiked down the long driveway to the plantation’s gardens. On our walk, however, we encountered a man riding a lawn mower down the driveway. We immediately debated whether or not to veer off into the fields to hide, but realized that he had almost certainly seen us already. Instead, we chose to continue walking boldly towards him, and smiled and waved jovially as we passed. It worked; he continued driving his mower as if girls strolling along at 6:50am were a perfectly normal occurrence.
At another point, we practically bumped into a woman mowing the grass in the plantation’s extensive, elaborate gardens. Caitlin, fearing for her life, sprinted towards the nearest escape and scrambled desperately over a stone wall to safety. I opted to use the doorway.
We also found an attractive man in the gardens, with buns of steel and rock-hard abs. Caitlin got a little frisky with him, but he seemed apathetic to her amorous advances.
Conclusion: Sunrise picnics are always more fun when the sun is actually out. However, it was a nice start to our day, and the whole trespassing element made strawberries and green tea in the garden seem so much more thrilling. If the sun would only rise at a more reasonable hour, say around 9:30am, I’d do this every day.