Charlotte NC

Hi Andrea
If you have time and are a little of a history buff, I would suggest a road trip to Ashville to visit the grand Biltmore Estate- tickets run around $50-60 I think for the full day and a allow a full day. I am not sure of the distance or if you will have a car, but if you do certainly worth the time. My husband was on the fence about looking at "another house", but really enjoyed the visit and was in awe of this most wonderful home and gardens.

Andrea

There's not much to know. It's clean. Education, finance, and motor sports are the main industries. It has a few quirky, odd-ball museums which will show up in your book. Also a bunch of half-assed professional teams.

If you're going to the soccer match, the BoA stadium is a congested mess getting into. Plan ahead.

Thanks Andrea and Ed.

The Biltmore Estate sounds like our kind of thing but timing could be our issue. Perhaps I'll see about fitting it in on arrival in Charlotte day.

Yes Ed we are going to the soccer match. We are also going to the one in New York the previous Wednesday so here's our itinerary:

Drive to NY in one day, arrival on a Sunday.
Four nights in NY. Last night is the match.
Next day drive to Fredericksburg (one night).
Next day drive to Charlotte.
Match day in Charlotte
Head home in either one or two days (so far our driving record is Oxford Mississippi to Peterborough in one go [20 hours], don't wish to repeat that!)

Ed, our Charlotte hotel is in a small little triangle of the stadium, hotel and the Charlotte Liverpool Supporters' Bar so we will park upon arrival and not drive again.

Thanks again for your comments.

There are many things to do in Charlotte The Mint Museum, The Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, The NASCAR Hall of Fame,

The brand new downtown Baseball Park. Check the theatre scene as there are several downtown, you might be able to catch a great play.

You could go to Concord and tour the NASCAR track and even get a ride on the track and find out how much the track is banked.
Winston=Salem is about an hour north of Charlotte. You could visit Old Salem and the Renalda House which was the residence of RJ Reynolds and has a wonderful collection of art by American Artists.

Also, the Whitewater Rafting Center...a great place to eat, get your exercise and cool off.

Downtown Charlotte is safe at night. I know I forgot to mention many things, but this is a start.

Charlotte also has two modest-sized private botanical gardens that are very nice, within walking distance of each other. It has a couple of neighborhoods (Meyers Park, Raeburn, etc.) that represent early 20th century planned luxury development, with Tudor, Craftsman, and Georgian mansions. I enjoyed driving around.

North of Charlotte, there is an even more interesting neighborhood of architectural history, Historic Salisbury, which has about 100 small private homes that represent every residential style from 1890 to 1990. They're owner-occupied, so you can't go into them, but they expect to have people on the sidewalks in the daytime. Nearby is the North Carolina Transportation Museum, which has more diesels than steam engines, but is a fascinating survey of the end of the steam era, followed by the decline of railroads in the second half of the 20th century. It's quite a large facility.

I've never been to the amusement park South of Charlotte. Downtown Charlotte has a respectable number of independent, ambitious restaurants that are open in the evening. I think the barbecue joints are out of town, but I didn't learn where the best ones are.

When I went through the airport in Charlotte this summer the thing I remember seeing was a billboard advertising the Billy Graham Museum. That speaks volumes!

Thanks everyone. The botanic gardens sound nice, especially since we are traveling with someone with mobility issues. A stroll is about it for her. We are starting to look forward to it now, since its coming up in a few weeks.