Today was the best Saturday I have had in a long time. I taught my two regular morning hot yoga classes and then came home to make lunch and give the house a much needed clean.

This spring is kinda crazy between travel plans, workshops and teacher training stuff so it was a welcome treat to have a completely free Saturday afternoon. The weather in Charlotte was absolutely gorgeous today so I decided to abandon all of the things on my to-do list to get outside and get a break.

As I’ve mentioned over the past few weeks, work is at high-capacity right now. I could have easily spent the whole day in front of the computer but I knew I’d be much more present and productive in the long run if I took a mental health break today. We took the pups for an adventure to Crowders Mountain for a hike. Zoey was super excited about the road trip.

Crowders Mountain State Park is a short 30 minute drive from Charlotte and features some great hiking trails. You can do a super quick up and back direct trail to the summit or wind your way around to make it a longer hike. I prefer to take the longer trails to cover more distance and get away from the crowds. We ended up hiking a little less than 6 miles.

This was Zoey’s first hike and she did a really great job. I was impressed with her behavior and it was such a great training experience for her. The only issue we had was at the very end of the hike. We were maybe a tenth of a mile from the parking lot when we passed a family with their young daughter (probably three or four). She asked if she could pat Zoey and of course we said yes. Well, the next thing I knew, Zoey tackled her, knocked her to the ground and stole her bag of Fritos. Clearly, hiking made Zoey very hungry! I was a little mortified.

The amazing thing was that the parents brushed the little girl off and encouraged her to pat the puppies again, which I absolutely loved. After a minute of coaxing, the little girl asked if she could feed the dogs chips and shared her Fritos with the pups. It was super cute.

Zoey looked like this on the way home. A little different than the before picture, huh?

I was starving post-hike. I’ve been craving fish tacos for the past few weeks so they sounded like the perfect dinner tonight. I’m so glad it’s the warm weather, hiking, being outdoors, fish taco time of year again. I feel really happy! 🙂

Have you been hiking lately?

What did your Saturday look like?