Charlotte Rocks

The last week in Charlotte has been a lot of fun.  Kory and Jennifer welcomed me with open arms and were incredible and excellent hosts.  The Charlotte area is great.  The population is pretty young and active.  For most of my stay, I was a bit concerned about heading into downtown Charlotte because of the traffic.  Finally, on Friday, I braved the traffic to go into downtown Charlotte, only to find that there was almost no traffic.  Once I was able to get onto I-77 (a story for another time), getting downtown and finding a parking space was easier than in any other city.

For those of you who have never been, downtown Charlotte has a lot to offer, with markers denoting historical events, beautiful churches, sculptures and open areas scattered liberally throughout.

There were a lot of police standing around at street corners yesterday morning.  I learned later that it was because of the CIAA basketball tournament going on this weekend. 

I grabbed lunch at a very interesting place called Cowbell.  I was drawn inside by the late 90s/early 2000s rock music blaring out into the street.  The inside décor made it clear that this was not your typical burger joint.  The bartender, Lindsey, greeted me like a long-lost friend, even though she had never met me before.  She suggested a great burger to me.  It had deep fried jalapenos, Guinness cheese, and pulled pork, in addition to the all beef patty.  If beef is not to your taste, there are also other meat selections available.  The side dish was mac & cheese.  Along with a Guinness to drink, it was pretty awesome.  That's right, I was able to have a beer at lunch, since I had no where that I had to be afterwards.  (The two chef figurines are actually the salt and pepper shakers.)

For my last night in Charlotte, Kory, Jennifer, Millie, Leah, and I all went to Fahrenheit, a restaurant/bar overlooking downtown Charlotte.  This was the view accompanying our dinner and drinks.

Here's all of us after appetizers and drinks.

It was definitely sad to leave Charlotte this time, and I'm coming back.  It's on the Princeton, West Virginia now for more time with family and friends.  As a final thought, I thought I'd leave you with a picture of a palm tree dusted with snow, one of the first things I saw in Charlotte, thanks to Kory.