Fly like an eagle, run like an alligator’s nipping at your heels, go somewhere where you might need a — be still my heart — jacket! It’s all on North Carolina’s busy agenda this weekend.
Coast
Flying like a bird: it should be on your life’s to-do list, and since it’s there, why not knock it off this weekend? Kitty Hawk Kites has taught more than 300,000 people to hang glide off the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park, and as far as we know they’ve all landed (though we know of at least one — ahem — who didn’t necessarily land on his feet). It’s surprisingly easy and even more fun than the birds make it look. An hour of classroom instruction, then two on the dunes soaring up to 100 yards and getting as high as 15 feet (it doesn’t sound high until you’re up there). The laws of aerodynamics dictate that you must weigh no less than 75 pounds, no more than 225. $99read more
If we wanted to live on the Sun, we would have moved there. Instead, the Sun apparently has decided to move here. More record-breaking heat is upon us, which would have more more sane people opting to stay indoors. For those of us of hearty, boiling stock, that’s not an option. We just need to play it smart: Instead of going out in the daytime when it’s 102 in the shade, we’ll simply wait until the evening when it cools off to the upper 90s.read more
If you bookmark no other entry from this blog, bookmark this one. It contains links to five resources especially conducive to leading an active lifestyle.
GetGoingNC.com Guide to North Carolina Greenways. Looking to take a run, a walk, a ride on a greenway, either in your town or elsewhere in North Carolina? Our revamped site contains a guide to North Carolina that is the most comprehensive Tarheel greenway guide available — and is becoming more comprehensive by the week. Find maps, detailed trail descriptions, slideshows, trailhead information and general descriptions of the state’s longer greenways as well as info on where to find the smaller ones. You’ll find in in the navigation panel on the upper left of the GGNC home page.read more
It’s something of a conundrum: It’s the weekend, you want to get out, you ache to get out — yet it’s so debilitatingly hot out! (Lordy, I was heading out for a run this morning and it was already 85 by 9 a.m. I’m usually not one to hide in the air conditioning, but … .)read more
We stood in a circle, this group mostly in our 50s, 60s and 70s, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was 8 again, shuffling nervously in a schoolyard playground. Our team leaders were choosing work crews, but it had the unmistakable feel of picking teams for a pickup football game.read more
