A good looking weekend is on tap across North Carolina. Our thoughts on how to make the most of it include a trip to the coast, where some of the best hang gliders around will be circling Jockey’s Ridge; an excursion into the Piedmont, where they’ll be celebrating another milestone for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail; and a visit to the high country where they’re doing what you do when the spring wildflowers start to pop: you go for a hike.
A year ago today, I wrote about all the things I planned to do in my 55th year. 55 things, in fact, all tied to the number 55. My inspiration came in large part from a National Institutes of Health report noting that men generally start dropping weight and, the report added, start falling apart at 55. If that’s the case, I thought, then I need to start working extra hard.
Mother’s Day means time spent with mom — preferably in the great outdoors. Take mom on a coastal hike, unravel the mysteries of Grandfather Mountain, or run with her through a vineyard. Whatever you do, it’s bound to be memorable.
Coast
Nothing says Mother’s Day outing more, to us, than a relaxed ramble through a coastal wetland. Which is no doubt what the folks at Goose Creek State Park outside Washington on the Pamlico Sound had in mind when they scheduled Sunday’s Mallard Creek Hike. “Enjoy a fresh breath of air and experience nature at its best. The hike will be an easy 1.5 miles and taken at a pace which will allow you to relax and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of nature.” Hallmark couldn’t have said it better.
It’s what you’ve been waiting for since September: the first weekend of the year that will feel like summer. Celebrate with a 100-mile bike ride in the coastal plain, a hike under a full moon, or celebrating one of the mountains’ most popular and playful rivers, the French Broad.
A run with romance! A walk/run/bike for a cause, a wild hike for wildflowers highlight the action in North Carolina this weekend.
Coast
Did you know that before Nicholas Sparks was making women and girls misty-eyed with his tales of romance he ran track at Notre Dame? Surprised by that plot twist? That being the case, though, it shouldn’t surprise you that a 5K and 1-mile Fun Run are part of his Nicholas Sparks Celebrity Family Weekend starting Friday in New Bern? The 5K travels through roadkill-flat New Bern and ends on the state-of-the art track Sparks donated to New Bern High School. The 1-mile Fun Run is entirely on the track.