Day 10: Charlotte, NC

We took Hwy 85 and it was less than 4 hours’ drive to Charlotte.  While nearing the city, we saw directions for US National Whitewater Center so wanted to take a look at the facility. It features the world’s largest and most complex recirculating artificial whitewater river and is an official Olympic Training Site for whitewater racing. The 400 acre property was large enough for anyone to get lost and there were many teams active in rock climbing, kayaking and rafting. We just sat there watching others and Tara too entertained us running on the grounds and asking things.

It was lunch time and there was a good outdoor restaurant in the facility –Rivers Edge Bar & Grill- where we tried some sandwiches. To my surprise, they had several local craft beers on tap. The local brews were well balanced with good Carolina character (whatever that means). Sunny warm weather and when we sat down to eat in the patio, a visiting guitarist started singing some country songs. We were happy about our ‘wise’ choice to stop over to see how Carolinians unwind!

Downtown Charlotte walk on Monday around five o’clock was probably a good idea to get a good feel of a regular day. The down town is quite a good size with many high-rise buildings of Wachovia, Bank of America and Duke Energy. Many people suggested this city in the past when we were looking to move out of Des Moines because of the jobs and low property values. After a long walk, we got into a Starbucks in the middle of the downtown and people, probably working late at office, kept flowing in an out of Starbucks at 6:30 pm. Surely the place is quite vibrant and the dinner places are quite filled with after office crowd.

We wanted to check out Old Mecklenburg brewery (OMB) near downtown but it was closed on Monday. Sheena’s friends from Cincinnati –Siva and Vicky-invited us for dinner at their place so rest of the night we spent with them catching up with old stories. They had surprise gifts for Tara and with all that pampering she did not even want to go back to the hotel.