24 Hours in Charlotte, NC

My husband and I went on a short road trip to Charlotte, NC last weekend. One thing that I like about the Carolinas, and the East Coast in general, is the amount of trees! The drive up there is pretty much trees, trees, a town/city, and then more trees. It's quite nice, though I guess the scenery is a bit repetitive. I took many photos during the drive to and from and it all pretty much resembles that first picture. Pretty though!

When I first caught a glimpse of Charlotte, my first thought was, "What a cute city!" It really is! It is completely different than Charleston. Charleston is very historical and is sort of a small city with a small town feel. At least that's how I would describe it. Charlotte is more of a modern, big city, but it was also quiet and not as busy as I expected (though we were there on a Saturday and Sunday versus a weekday). To be honest, the drivers in NC were a lot more courteous and friendly than the drivers in SC (who are aggressive and dangerous). It is amazing how different drivers are between states! And Charlotte is right on the border of NC and SC.

We visited the Discovery Place which is a hands-on science center with exhibits that help people/kids better understand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in a fun way! I thought it was AMAAAZING. I think that this place is geared more towards kids, but my husband and I still spent hours there and had a blast. They had cool things like fiber optics, a thermal imaging camera, gyroscopes, pulleys, a bed made out of NAILS, a hydrogen ping-pong ball launcher (it was so loud that it made me scream!), frogs, mechanical dinosaurs, a mini rainforest, a small aquarium section (love fish!), and so much more. If you're ever in Charlotte, I totally recommend checking this place out (especially if you like science and/or have kids)!

We also discovered that there was a BBQ competition happening that weekend: The 12th Annual Q-City Charlotte BBQ Championship! Y'all, it smelled HEAVENLY. Unfortunately, Saturday was the last day and we had already ate lunch and had (expensive) plans for dinner later. So, we didn't get to try anything. I loved Charlotte so much though, I hope to come back next year and check it out! BBQ FOREVER!!!!!

For dinner, we had dinner on a yacht on Lake Norman which is about 45-50 minutes north of Charlotte. It was pretty awesome! Being on a lake is completely different than being at sea, but the good thing about it was that I didn't get sea sick! :) We once went on a dinner cruise in Kauai in December (which means stronger surf on North facing shores) and I was sick the entire time! It was absolutely devastating for me because the food smelled so good and they had bottomless drinks. And there were humpback whales breaching from the water (whales are my favorite animal!!! SERIOUSLY). Moral of the story is don't buy cheap sea sickness pills. Anyway, I digress (a lot). I'm so glad that I was able to enjoy dinner on a boat with my husband without barfing. ;)

On Sunday, we just slept in late. After we checked out, we went to IKEA! Holy moly. SO. MUCH. STUFF. We ate meatballs for brunch and went shopping! I sort of went overboard with kitchen stuff. And I also bought a bedside table for me because I used to just put my phone on the window sill next to my bed. A bedside table is way more convenient! I even put it together myself! It's like adult legos. Except not as fun and more practical? (But we love legos in this house!)

The drive back home was uneventful, thank God!

And this is my cat asking us where we were. You should have seen him waiting for us at the door! He was glaring out the window the whole time. Poor kitty. We left out a lot of dry food for him, but he's such a brat and he's totally accustomed to eating wet food. I like to call him a "fancy boy" because he goes nuts for Fancy Feast. Hahaha.

Anyway, I really liked Charlotte and I hope to go back one day! We do have a bunch of other cities that we want to visit as well though! Perhaps next trip will be to Nashville, TN? (I saw that Sam Smith is performing there in the future, though I'm sure tickets are sold out by now!)