Kimby Hikes: #OptOutside

For the past few years, we've been participating in the REI #OptOutisde campaign. This campaign encourages everyone to get outdoors on Black Friday instead of being stuck inside malls and stores. They even give their employees the day off so they can be a part of the crowd. I'm so proud to be a REI Co-op member for their dedication to getting people outdoors. The fact they choose to stay closed on the biggest shopping day of the year makes me want to shop there every day (as if I needed another reason).

This year they partnered with Subaru. For each post of your dog with #OptOutside and #MakeADogsDay, Subaru donated money to help homeless animals. They also offered a fleet of Subarus to shuttle homeless dogs so they could participate in #OptOutisde. How sweet is that?

Of course, we had to participate. Lego loved every minute of it. We tried out a semi-new trail close to the house. I had been on a portion of it for a class, but we hiked farther this day. We started at the Falls Lake Dam parking area and walked the Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) for a few miles. We were pleased to see quite a few people out walking (and with their doggos!). This trailhead is quite interesting, in that if you head west along the trail you get what you'd expect, uneven terrain, dirt, roots, rocks. If you head east you walk along the Neuse River Greenway. We've biked this paved greenway many times while training for the MS Bike Ride. I've even put my kayak in here for a (longer than expected) float with a friend. It has only now occurred to me how great of a trailhead this space is. So many options for recreation! The MST is also a long trail that stretches from Clingman's Dome in the Smokies to Kitty Hawk in the Outer Banks. It also has a paddle option as one of the sections!

In 2015, we spent Thanksgiving with my family outside of Bryson City. My nephew loves the Polar Express, so that was our biggest draw to the area. But as we all know, I love that area (only an hour to Joyce Kilmer!). We hiked in 3 different areas that weekend: a waterfall hike in the Smokies, the memorial loop in Joyce Kilmer, and on Black Friday we went SOBO on the AT from the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). It was my brother's first time on the AT, and he tried to explain to my nephew that you could walk the whole trail up to WV if you wanted.

My mom is a fool for walking Lego. She took off ahead of us (constantly stopping with the nephew), and Blake kept up between her and the rest of us. Every now and then we'd joke she was headed to Georgia. A few times the nephew exclaimed, "Mommaw! Don't go to Georgia!" We made it to one of the shelters along the trail and let the nephew crawl around and check out the trail log. Then we headed back to the NOC.