I discovered a new trail!

So, long story short, I’ve been thinking about starting a gym membership just so I can go walking. You might be asking why I can’t just go around our neighborhood. Well, I could, but 85% of my day is with the kids and I can’t really WALK with them (I could meander—which is better than nothing—but not what I’d prefer). So a friend of mine kept urging me to go, with the incentive that they offer childcare (for an additional monthly fee, of course, but still a great option).

So today was the day I had decided I was going to go down and check it out. So I got dressed for walking, got my shoes and socks on, and then…just sat there. I didn’t want to go. I am just NOT a gym person—never have been, doubt I ever will be—and the thought of paying someone upwards of $65/mo just to WALK just annoys me. So I told Katie we were going to go to the playground. That would at least be a bit of a walk, and we’d go up and down the side streets to add some more steps. (Oh, yeah, I got a FitBit a few days ago to count my steps. I have a daily goal of about 5,000 steps which is just over two miles.)

So we went down the first side street and I happened to look up and—what? what did I see?—I saw something that looked like a map next to what looked like a trail entrance. So up we went. Well, the sign was completely washed out, but you could tell there were trails back there:

So off we went, into the woods. It was peaceful and quiet and cool (though the day was actually a bit cooler than it had been, so it was perfect for walking).

That trail was quite short, but it merged into a bigger trail. I picked a direction—turning on my phone’s GPS so I could track how far and where we were walking—and off we went. Much to my surprise, this was the view:

Who knew all that nature was behind us?! I looked on Google maps to see if they had any info—and it did show the trail!

We started at the end of the unnamed road and where the blue dot is was about 1/4 mile from where the trails merged (and you can see where our house is in the bottom right corner). I determined that was far enough for the first trip (considering it was trail walking—a bit rocky and uneven—and Katie didn’t have on the best shoes). But she was a champ! She LOVED it! I told her she was doing SUCH a great job and she’d say “Thank you, mama!” She loved walking through the “tunnels” (where the trees came together over the trail) and spent most of her time babbling about anything and everything, though a favorite refrain was “I love mama and daddy and Owen.” I asked if she loved anyone else and she repeated mama and daddy and Owen. I asked if she loved Gramma Jean and she said “Yes! I love Gramma Jean and Grandpa David. I love Papa and Grannie. I love Grandma Marsh and Uncle Rob!” Sooooo cute.

Another view of the trail.

So after that neat experience, I determined that I wasn’t going to get a gym membership because I could take the kids on that walk a few times a week. And I said we’d try to walk the whole thing when daddy was with us. (I need to see if I can find out just how far it is, otherwise I’ll send Tom out on a reconnaissance run first!)