My parents came to visit Charlotte this weekend. Other than my dad having a quick business trip a year ago where he didn’t even escape his airport hotel, they’d never been here before. This was their chance to come and visit me and my new home as well to get away from Tidewater for a few days. Unfortunately, they happened to pick the coldest weekend in Charlotte in four years!
They arrived Friday around noon and got to do a little walking around Uptown and in South End while I finished the work day. I put them up in the Westin, which is pretty much the nicest hotel in town. It’s right across from the Convention Center which unfortunately was hosting the Spirit of Hope National Cheerleading Championship this weekend, so the hotel was packed with (presumably the richest) cheerleaders from across America. Mom and Dad reported that they were predictably chatty and hyper, but otherwise well behaved. We always had to stay at dumps when I traveled for something in High School, so I’m admittedly jealous that these kids got to stay in $200-$400/night rooms.
After I finished work, I picked up my parents and we went to Greek Isles for dinner. This is a large, open place with traditional Greek fare, lively service, and great ambiance in South End. A delicious meal was had by all. We then went to my townhouse for them to see where I live and to visit with Laney, who had been in her crate all day. We got some good pictures, but they are on Mom and Dad’s camera, so I’ll have to wait to post them.
After that, we went to Whisky River, which is Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s bar in the Epicentre, a new Uptown Charlotte activity center. Some of my friends were enjoying their Friday night there. We all had a few drinks and watched people ride the mechanical bull, then my parents walked back to their hotel and I stayed for a while with my friends.
Saturday morning, Janice met me in Dilworth and we picked up my parents, who had led a failed expedition to find breakfast and were at the corner of Trade & Tryon, freezing and watching preparation for the MLK Parade. We drove to Einstein Bros. Bagels for coffee and assorted breakfast items. Then we headed up to Concord to take the Lowe’s Motor Speedway tour, which at $5 each was an incredible bargain! We got to ride a lap around the track, pose in the Winner’s Circle, and drag down their new 4 lane drag strip.
Git 'r Done!
After that, we stopped by the National Whitewater Center so I could show them the facility. Dad used to do a lot of whitewater canoeing, so I thought he would appreciate one of the world’s finest facilities. Unfortunately the water was shut off (probably due to the extreme cold), but they were still in awe at the place.
From there, we drove to Steele Creek and showed them Cory-Bret Lane, which is of significance to our family since my two younger brothers are named Cory and Bret, both spelled the same way as the sign. Following that, we had a nice lunch at City Tavern in River Gate, which is where Janice and I had our first date back in August.
Our final ‘tourist’ destination was the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, which is on the other side of Lake Wylie. While the cold kept us from enjoying much of the outdoor part, the indoor terrarium-like building was holding an incredible display of orchids from around the world. It was truly amazing to see that these flowers of widely varying shapes, sizes, and colors were all of the same plant family. The correlation between that and our melting pot country was not lost on me with Tuesday’s Obama inauguration dominating the news.
Fauna Occluding Flora
From there, we headed back to my townhouse, where Janice left to return to her place and my parents and I bailed on a plan to go to the new Brazilian Steakhouse due to lack of extreme hunger. We instead ate at Brixx Pizza in Dilworth and called it a night.
Sunday morning, we went to Janice’s townhouse for a cup of coffee, then ate at the Waldhorn, a German place in Pineville with an enormous, meat-filled Sunday brunch spread. Andy and Kevin met us there and much sausage and various other pork product was consumed. After that, I took my parents back to their hotel, where they left to return home. Having never seen the city and not knowing much about it, they were impressed by the city and all the places we took them. Before getting in their car, my mom said tearily, “I’m finally satisfied that you’re happy here.” How true!
I got Laney and drove down to Janice’s, where we watched the Cardinals and Steelers win their respective Conference Championship games en route to their clash in Super Bowl XLIII. All in all a great weekend even as the bitter cold tried to put the kibosh on it!
Oh yeah, today I turn 33. I worked out this morning and even got to work early (on a Monday!).
For those of you looking for an update on the Circuit City fiasco, it’s still in progress. I’ll post something when I know more.
Edit: Holy crap, they are calling for 3-5 in of snow here tonight!
