Charlotte Day or Weekend Trips

Another advantage of living in Charlotte is the proximity to many recreational areas close enough for a day trip or a weekend getaway. We're near the mountains and not that far from the beach. Here is a small sample of what's nearby.

Within 4 hours:
Myrtle Beach - Great for kids with lots of things to do around the beach.
Charleston - History, fine dining, romance.
Hilton Head - Golf, golf, golf, beach, golf.
Savannah - A taste of the Old South with great restaurants, tours of historic homes and plenty of hospitality.
Atlanta - Culture, sports, history, traffic. Go catch a Braves or watch the Panthers beat the Falcons.
Asheville - Funky mountain town, home to the Biltmore Estate. Don't miss the galleries and restaurants in town too.
Grandfather Mountain - There are lots of great places to visit in the mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway. This will get you started.
Gatlinburg, TN - Spectacular Smoky Mountain scenery, and the home to Dollywood.

A Bit Further Out:
The Outer Banks - Closer to 6 hours out of Charlotte, but worth the drive. Beautiful scenery and beaches, with lots of outdoor activities.
Nashville - Music City is home to more than just the Grand Ole Opry. Also about 6 hours by car.
Colonial Williamsburg - History galore and Busch Gardens too.

Mooresville

When we first moved here and I was looking for an IT job, an opportunity came up in Mooresville. I looked at the map and it didn't look all that far away, so I set up an interview and drove up. It's about 20 miles north of Charlotte, and situated right on Lake Norman. As it turns out, I took the job and have been commuting up there every day for two and a half years.

Mooresville is in Iredell (eye-err-dell) County, and is known as Race City USA because of it's association with motor sports. As I mentioned in a previous post, many race teams have their headquarters in Mooresville, including Dale Earnhardt Inc., Robert Yates Racing, and others.
The town is bisected by I-77, and the western side of town is the lake side. There are some very expensive homes on the lake, and the associated marinas, restaurants and recreation areas. Housing is more affordable on the eastern side of the highway, which is still close enough to the lake to take advantage of what is has to offer.

The area is booming. Highway 150 (Exit 36 off of I-77) is the main commercial/retail thoroughfare in the area, and is getting quite congested with all of the new people moving in, and new businesses opening up. In general, housing and taxes are more affordable than Mecklenburg County, and because of that, a lot of transplants are settling there. (I go to a dentist in Mooresville and the hygienist is from Long Island. She told me her whole development was filled with Yankees).

Culturally, it's a little different than Charlotte, especially South Charlotte. There are more natives there and you can really get a better feel for North Carolina living than you do in, say, Ballantyne. But even this is changing as progress is driving the suburbs farther north. I have a reverse commute, and when I'm heading up I-77 in the mornings, the traffic heading south from the lake into Charlotte looks pretty bad to me.

If you go to Mooresville to check it out, stop for a bite at Lancaster's BBQ or, if you want something a bit fancier, try Jeffrey's. You won't leave either place hungry.

Provisions (Or Where to Find Mozzarella)

There's no shortage of food shopping choices in Charlotte. There are still some specific items that aren't available, or not of the same quality we were used to, but for the most part you can find what you need.

The supermarket scene is dominated by Harris Teeter ("the Teeter"). Down on the south side, between Ballantyne and Matthews, it seems like there's a Teeter every few blocks. Personally, I think they are solid stores, with good prices and selection. Some (like the one on Providence at Ardrey Kell) are open 24 hours a day. The one downside, for us, is the meat and fish selection. This is just personal opinion, but the beef isn't very good. Oddly, their house brand roast beef in the deli section is very good.

Lowe's Foods is another nice supermarket in the area. It's slightly more upscale compared to the Teeter, and has an excellent wine selection. They also seem to have a better seafood selection than the Teeter. They aren't as common however, and are a bit more pricey.

Other choices are Food Lion and Bi Lo, depending on where you are located. Both are fine, with a smaller selection and cheaper prices.As for smaller, specialty markets, there are a number in the area worth checking out. I'm sure there are others that we haven't discovered yet, but these can be vouched for!

The Fresh Market has a few locations in Charlotte including the one we visit on Pineville-Matthews Road. They have a good bakery section, as well as sandwiches, meats and seafood. They carry some harder-to-get items like Spainish chorizo, an array of cheeses and coffee beans. It's not cheap, but everything is of a high quality.

EarthFare has a more organic bent to it, but is a full-size market in the Ballantyne area on Johnston Rd., just north of 485.

Trader Joe's just opened two stores in Charlotte, including a store on Rea Rd., just south of Highway 51. It's been a madhouse there with long lines on the weekends, but if you like their stuff you know why! The chocolate ganache cake is great, as are their chocolate covered pretzels. Their frozen foods are quite tasty considering they are, well, frozen. There is parking in the back that no one seems to no about.

Dean and Deluca has two shops in Charlotte. One in Stonecrest and the other at Phillips Place.

Ferrucci's Italian Market is an oasis for those on the north side of town. Located off Exit 28 on I-77 in the Shops on the Green. It is a bit of a drive, but well worth it. They have a fresh meat section, prepared Italian delicacies, fresh mozzarella, sausages, pasta and cannoli, among other items. They also make excellent sandwiches and cater.

Pasta & Provisions on Providence Road has fresh pasta and deli meats, along with prepared meals and other Italian type fare. The food is good, but it has a reputation as being snooty and expensive. It's a place where the ritzy Dilworth crowd seem to go.

For the more adventurous types, some of the best meat we've found in the area is at a gas station. Seriously. Well, okay, it's a market attached to a gas station. The Peach Stand, in Fort Mill, SC, just over the state line on Highway 160, has an excellent butcher counter, along with fresh produce, pies and preserves. Until we found the place mentioned below, this is where we would go to get steaks to cook on the grill. Ask them to season them for you before they wrap 'em up. As they name implies, they also sell fresh peaches, preserves and pies too.

For the really adventurous meat-lover, there is a wholesale butcher shop in Waxhaw where you can get anything you want. Except veal cutlets, which are apparently not a very southern thing to eat because they are really hard to find here. (The Teeter recently started carrying them, but, they don't look too good and are often stringy.) Anyway, Frontier Meats is at 8303 Lancaster Highway. They're closed Sundays and Mondays, and cut meat from 7AM to 2PM on all other days. You can pick up strange cuts of meats here, such as ox tail, rabbit and tongue along with the usual stuff. The NY strip steaks are good, and the filet mignon is buttery and only $11 per pound. Everything here is very cheap, but quality. It doesn't hurt if you can speak some Spanish, as all the meat cutters are hispanic and very friendly. It gets very busy on Saturday, but is definitely worth a trip out in the country.

Bring a cooler and some ice and stock up!

Bon appetite!

That's Racin'! NASCAR in Charlotte.

Some of you may have noticed that in my previous entry on the sports scene in Charlotte, I conspicuously omitted discussion of NASCAR. That's because it's so big down here it needs its own post!

I was never much of a racing fan when we lived up north. It seemed boring to me--cars going round and round for hours. But since I've been down here I've started to follow NASCAR more (it's hard to avoid) and I'm starting to like it. I'm still not ready to commit four hours on a Sunday afternoon to watch a whole race, but I definitely flip over to check out what's going on, and I usually try to catch the last 25 laps if I can.

If you're not that familiar with it, NASCAR has its roots here in the South, and the Charlotte area is home to many race teams. Some of the larger tourist draws to Charlotte are the tours of the race shops. You'll find a lot of shops up in the Mooresville area, and also down towards Concord, near the Lowes Motor Speedway.

The Speedway hosts two major NASCAR races every year. The Coca-Cola 600 in May, and the Bank of America 500 in October. The All-Star race also runs at the Speedway the week before the Coca-Cola 600, and that creates a festival of motor sports called Race Week. People come from all over the country to spend the week here, many of them traveling in motor homes and camping at the Speedway for the week. If you're a fan of Jeff Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy you have an idea of what that week is like!

Besides the major races, you'll find things going on at the Speedway all year. Car shows, truck races, even school bus races! The fact that the track sits right across I-85 from the Concord Mills Mall doesn't hurt either. The mall is actually the largest tourist attraction in the whole state of NC (which is a little sad if you ask me.)

Charlotte was recently chosen to be the home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and construction of the site is underway in Uptown. It will supposedly be a spectacular facility when it's finished in late 2009 or early 2010, and will be a big boost to the economy of the city.

NASCAR is a huge part of the culture here and you'll see plenty of hats and bumper stickers with 3 (the late Dale Earnhardt), 88 (Dale Jr.) and others all over the place.

It'll grow on y'all!

The Charlotte Food Scene

Charlotte does not lay claim to a particular food item, like Philly does with the cheese steak, or Chicago with the hot dog and the deep dish pizza. We're not on the water, so fresh seafood is not abundant. We don't have the quantity or variety of restaurants that you'll find in NYC or San Francisco. We're not even the epicenter of our most famous food, BBQ (try Texas or Memphis.) Still, you won't starve here, that's for sure, and there are plenty of tasty options available.

Restaurants: More and more are opening each month, and the upscale places are spreading south with the housing boom. Johnson and Wales culinary school opened a campus in uptown and a lot of their graduating chefs are staying in the area to work, and opening interesting restaurants. From uptown to the South End, all the way down to the Ballantyne area you can find some great places to eat, in all price ranges. There is still a shortage of quality ethnic restaurants (Indian and Cuban come to mind,) but you'll find great sushi (try Nikko's in Ballantyne) and decent Thai food among the hordes of steakhouses. One of our favorite places for American food with a Southern flair is Sugar Magnolia's in the Blakeney shopping center. It's a bit pricey, but the food is excellent. We've found pretty good pizza (Tony's) and Chinese food, but you have to try a bunch before you find what you like.

Regional treats: Though not specific to Charlotte, you'll find some southern delicacies here you just don't see much up north. Fried okra, when done right, is amazing. Also, you'll find fried pickle chips on some menus here. TRY THEM. Fried green tomatoes are also common. Notice a theme here? My aunt always says "You can fry a piece of shoe leather and it would taste good." Another item that was new to me is pimiento cheese. It's kind of a spread, or sometimes a dip. Not my favorite, but worth a try. They also have a locally bottled cherry soda here called Cheerwine that is everything I always wanted Dr. Pepper to be.

BBQ: Pork rules here, but you'll find beef brisket and chicken too. Be aware, however, that the style of BBQ predominantly served is "eastern style" which means the sauce is vinegar-based, rather than tomato-based. Not my preference, but it's all good. On Saturday's it's common to see people on the roadside or in a parking lot with their smokers, selling home-made BBQ. Definitely worth a try. Down Highway 521 just across the South Carolina border is Southern Spirits--a liquor store where one of these pork purveyors sets up shop. He only sells whole cooked pork shoulders. You have to trim it and shred it yourself at home, but it is unbelievably good. I think we ate 3 meals from the one we bought.

Now, if we could only find good Italian bread and fresh mozzarella cheese everywhere, we'd be all set...[check Ferrucci's Old Tyme Italian Market in Cornelius for that].

What About the Yankees?

No, not "yankees" as in all of us carpet-bagging northerners flocking here--the real Yankees. The Bronx Bombers. The greatest, most successful sports team that ever was.

I lived my entire life, including my college years, within 60 miles of Yankee Stadium. It was very comforting. So when we decided to head south, one of the things I knew I'd miss the most was going to the stadium. I figured I could get the YES network on satellite though, so I'd at least get to watch the games on TV. Well, I was wrong. The evil HOA where we first lived didn't allow satellite dishes. Seriously. They were deemed "unsightly." Now, those rules were probably written in the '80s when a satellite dish took up your whole yard and looked like something you bought from a NASA garage sale, but I was stuck.

As an alternative, I signed up for the MLB internet package, which let me watch the Yankees on my laptop. Not ideal, but at least I got to see the games. Most of them, anyway. Except the 19 - 20 games the Yanks play against Baltimore every season. You see, the Baltimore Orioles are the local American League baseball market in Charlotte. It doesn't matter that they are 440 miles away. They are the closest American league team and thus blacked out by MLB rules from the internet package. Ok, well, if they're the local team they must be on TV somewhere, right? Wrong. They were the first year we got here, but Time Warner Cable no longer carries MASN, the Orioles network, so I don't get those games at all. On the plus side, the Mets aren't on TV here either....

As for other sports, we have the Carolina Panthers in the NFL and the Charlotte Bobcats in the NBA right here in uptown (what everyone else would call "downtown") Charlotte, which is cool. The Panthers are huge here. I'm a NY Giants fan, but I have adopted the Panthers too. I know, I know...sports bigamy. But it's fun to go to the games. Because Charlotte is a smallish city, it's very accessible and getting to the stadium and the arena is a breeze. Because Panthers Stadium is right in the city, you don't have a huge parking lot to tailgate in like at Giants Stadium, but the atmosphere is still fun and there's a lot to do in the immediate area before games.

The Bobcats aren't quite as popular yet, for a variety of reasons, but mainly because of a lingering bitterness towards the ownership of the previous NBA franchise here, the Hornets. The Hornets were beloved and their owner took them away. Also, there was a referendum or something on building the new arena, and even though the citizens voted against it, it was green lighted (politics) anyway. So the fans aren't flocking to see the 'Cats yet, which is a shame because they have an exciting young team that should get better this year, and the arena is great.

There is also minor league baseball here with the Charlotte Knights. They currently play in South Carolina, right over the border, but there is a big push under way to move them to Uptown as well.

One thing I wasn't used to up north is the popularity of college sports down here, especially football. It's almost a religion. We're smack in the middle of ACC country and the SEC teams are close too. Charlotte doesn't have a big time college sports program of it's own (the UNC Charlotte basketball team plays in the A-10 conference and is over-shadowed by UNC, NC State and Duke, even though they are 2 hours away). The University of South Carolina and Clemson University are within 90 minutes of Charlotte and have huge followings here as well. Sure, people used to look at me a bit funny when I wore my Rutgers hat, but after we came into Chapel Hill and whipped the Tar Heels last season and went on to national prominence, my alma mater gets a little more respect now.

So, all and all, Charlotte is a pretty good sports town. The fans are a little reserved, especially at Panthers games. The season-ticket holders, especially in the lower-bowl seats are known as the "wine and cheese" crowd and have a reputation for leaving at half-time if the game isn't close. But I think my yelling and screaming GOTTA SUPPORT THE TEAM!!!!! may catch on just yet....

-Matt

You've Moved Here, Now What? Part II

Ok, it's my turn. First, a disclaimer: I love living here. Pros v. cons isn't a contest. The weather is great, the people are courteous and friendly, the cost of living is fantastic compared to the northeast, and there is a lot to do.

That being said... there are two things that I'm disappointed about:

First, I miss people with balls, pardon my language, but there's no other way to say it. I'm not sure if it's a vestige of "southern hospitality" or an innate reservedness, but people here seem incredibly reluctant to speak their minds. I'm not used to that. At first I thought it was charming, but after a while I started to find it annoying. Not a whole lot of "characters" around here.....

Second, and more important: Drivers. Now, what I don't get is that there aren't many native Charlotteans here. There are a LOT of transplants from all over the country, and that sort of rules out a cultural or geographic reason for bad driving, but the drivers around here are awful. Really, really awful. For example, when pulling out from a street onto a road with two lanes of traffic in their direction, they will wait until both lanes are free and clear, not just the lane they will merge into. I repeat, BOTH LANES have to be clear. Of course, this can take a while. And, since no one here knows what the automobile horn was designed for, it can take a long while.
The passing lane on a highway? It's not that well known here. Apparently that lane is for the guy in the pickup truck with his arm resting on the windowsill, doing 5 mph below the speed limit.
But the most egregious example by far are the rubberneckers. It's an art form here. Not content to merely glance over at the unfortunate person who got into an accident or is getting a ticket..not merely content to slow down a bit for a better look...no, this seems to require an almost complete stop--even on the highway, no matter how many cars are queuing up behind them. It's a freakin' epidemic.

On top of the drivers, the people in charge of naming the roads in the early days around here must have had some powerful peyote. In the older areas of town it's quite common to have multiple roads with the same name. Just north of Highway 51 near Matthews, you'll find yourself on the corner of Sardis Rd. and Sardis Rd. Further uptown you'll find the confusing intersection of Providence Rd. and Queens Rd. which doesn't behave at all like expected. These are just two examples of many.

But these are things you get used to and learn to live with, and part of the fun of discovering your new home.

-Matt