When the weather hovered in the high-70s on Christmas Eve, my family headed to a newly opened section of greenway for some exercise before filling up on holiday libations and rich foods. East Fork Mine Creek is a 2.5 mile north-south paved trail that runs along Mine Creek near Lynn Rd to the north side of Strickland Rd. We drove to one of the entrances of the trail near the intersection of Newton Rd and Sandy Creek Rd and parked in the shopping center across the street (note: take note of “no parking” signs; we arrived before the shops opened so we thought we’d be fine with parking in the center).
After crossing Newton Rd and heading north on the trail we quickly passed mile marker 1. With the recent rains the paved trail was pretty wet with debris and the nearby Mine Creek flowed quickly. This section of the trail runs behind a residential area of houses and apartments. We also passed by a large section of tall bamboo on the side of the trail opposite the creek.
We continued north on the trail until we came to Old Deer Trail, a neighborhood street in the Summerfield subdivision. We crossed over Old Deer Trail and followed the Capital Area Greenway signs as we winded our way through this cute, low-traffic neighborhood. We passed a few other bikers and walkers along the way before coming to Strickland Rd. We crossed Running Cedar Trail, heading east on Strickland Rd where we also passed West Millbrook Middle School and mile marker 2.5, the end of East Fork Mine Creek Rd. At this point of the trail there is a well marked pedestrian crossing area designated for crossing over busy Strickland Rd. My aunt and I opted to head back to the car while the rest of the group crossed Strickland Rd to extend their run on the connecting Honeycutt Creek Trail (more on this hilly trail in a future post).
A morning run on this section of East Fork Mine Creek was the perfect pre-Christmas exercise to involve all ages. This section of the trail is pretty flat and offers lots of creek views, houses and people for little ones to view.
Thumbs up: flat trail, creek/residential views, safety, well-marked pedestrian crossing at Strickland Rd
Thumbs down: designated trail parking near Newton Rd
Before Christmas we headed to the newly opened Abbotts Creek Park, which is adjacent to Abbotts Creek Community Center and Abbotts Creek Elementary School. Abbotts Creek Park is located in northeast Raleigh at 
Outside the playground is a large concrete area with a large painted circle (presumably for playground games), four 100-yd dash lanes, a large grassy area, and rear access to the community center and elementary school play areas around the corner. The outside spaces have lots of room to hopefully add picnic tables in the future.
Over Thanksgiving we headed back to Western Regional Park in Howard County, MD to explore the playground that was under construction the 
Back in November we took advantage of my aunt visiting and went on a greenway biking day date! We biked along Crabtree Creek Trail from milepost 0 to 4.75, completing the final segment of this greenway that we had left to explore. We parked at Anderson Point Park and biked past the traffic circle near the park’s main entrance to the Crabtree Creek Trail greenway entrance and headed west (note: there are also signs for Neuse River Trail).
We biked until about mile marker 4.75 where we turned around at an abandoned commercial building with a gantry crane to ensure we returned to the park before sunset (note: just past this spot is 
NC Parks
One Sunday morning at the end of October I took the girls to the newly opened Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve. The park is located at 
After parking in the main parking lot, we headed toward the large pavilion and then to the large open space to run and kick the ball around. Down from the large pavilion is an old red farm house and white picket fence leading to a rustic barn, all perfect for an outdoor photo op (which we witnessed while there). In looking at future phases, the farm house looks to be used for the education/art center.
After our walk we rested under the pavilion with snacks and water and then used the compost restroom facilities before heading home. I look forward to coming back to this park over the years to see new developments and to hopefully better time the changing of the colors of the leaves. Check out their list of 
In mid-October we headed to Richmond to celebrate our old college roommates surviving the first year as new parents and their sweet daughter’s first birthday. On the morning of the party we met up with several college friends and all our kids at the 
Beyond the tot playground is another playground area built into the side of a hill with rocks and tree stumps for steps and slides for sliding down the hill. There’s also a small play house, two large disc swings (which were the crowd favorite), bench swings, water tables, musical instruments, and a wheelchair-accessible tree house nearby. The littlest ones in the group loved making music with their hands and mallets while the older ones loved running and exploring the tree house. A paved walking trail leads to basketball courts and other fitness equipment behind the main building.
After some tree house play, the kiddos gathered throughout the largest playground, which features several long ramps connecting the smaller-age play structures with the taller ones. The big kids ran up ramps, flew down slides, and climbed up nets and walls while the younger ones crawled between stumps and held on to nets. Everyone also made time for the cool sensory wall featuring brightly colored mirrors, shiny rocks, spinning wheels and more. Claire and I also took time to walk through the small flower garden area. She loved climbing on the benches and stopping to smell the flowers.
In September we took advantage of a cool, clear Sunday morning to explore Blue Jay Point County Park again with friends. Instead of the hiking and playground time we did during our 
After getting out of the car we walked along the paved trail where we saw the first Natural Play Area sign. We walked a short while and then arrived at the play space, which is opposite from a large open space field. The play space is in a wooded area and features several play areas: sand box with wooden blocks, stumps with hula hoops, bamboo poles with large nylon pieces, and picnic tables. The girls spent time in each area, but thoroughly enjoyed hopping along the stumps and building a hut with the bamboo poles and nylon. We collected more sticks from the nearby woods and pretended to build a fire inside our hut while using the nylon pieces to create roofs, siding and doors. This pretend play has extended to our own backyard where we currently have a large branch collection and old trash bags for building outdoor areas.
Believe it or not, Nags Head has hills and I’m not talking about the sand dunes near the beach or at 
So, we set off on the trail and before you knew it we were in a dense forest just minutes from the beach. The unpaved trail is covered in pine needles, but well marked; Ashley was even able to follow the trail markings to stay on the path. After heading straight for awhile, we climbed steps up a steep hill to what felt like the ridge of a mountain – the trees were shorter and all of a sudden we were walking down a sandy hill. I quickly learned that kids love sand unless they have to hike through it. After several moments of juggling kids on shoulders and in carriers and distractions of the colorful flowers, berries, and butterflies, the sandy trail base was replaced with the preferred compact pine needle trail. We took a right to stay onto the looped portion of the trail. Along the way we passed by several swamps (complete with croaking frogs), more steep hills with steps, spooky Charleston-like trees, and several different plant communities. Halfway around the trail loop is access to Trail #3 (Blueberry Ridge), but we decided to save that trail for another time.
Before summer came to an end we headed back up to VA for a final party at my mom’s house before turning it over to new owners. To counteract the bushel of crabs (and beers) we were going to eat that weekend, we headed into downtown Fredericksburg on Saturday morning for a run and some playground time.
The Canal Path is a paved 1.8 mile trail that parallels the canal until Princess Anne St where it then connects back with the Heritage Trail making a loop through downtown. The Canal Path is mostly shaded, making it a great way to escape the summer heat. We passed behind Mary Washington Hospital, ran under Route 1 again, ran by the Wetlands at Gayles Pond, and passed the 
