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Published: February 21st 2018
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Hotel Lobby
About to head out to Midwood Smoke House! Since we decided not to go on our Myrtle Beach, SC Valentine's getaway this year (the first time in a decade!), we opted instead to go to Charlotte, NC for a weekend away instead. The kids stayed with my in-laws on Friday night and my parents on Saturday night. This is definitely one instance where living close to family pays off, as the two families are only about three miles apart, so transferring the kids was not an issue at all.
I rode down with my husband to work in his office on Friday. He changed jobs about two weeks ago and his new position finds him in Concord, NC every day. Since Concord is only about 30 minutes from downtown Charlotte, we figured it wouldn't make sense for him to drive all the way back home to get me at the end of the day, then turn right back around and go in the same direction as his office. So, I came with him! An entire day to catch up on my technical writing work was a dream! I usually do my work at night when the kids are asleep, from around 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. So I
Vapiano's
Our delicious ravioli and spaghetti supper at Vapiano's in downtown Charlotte. brought my laptop along and set up shop in the conference room, typing away. When the day was done, we headed out for two nights in the big city.
Night One in Charlotte: Wining and Dining After checking in, we learned that our hotel offered a complimentary shuttle to most places around the city. We did a little research and found that there was a local barbecue restaurant, Midwood Smokehouse, that got rave reviews for its smoked meat. It was only five minutes from our hotel, so we called the shuttle and went! After waiting only about 20 minutes, we were seated. I got burnt ends (yummy!) and delicious baked beans. My husband got smoked meatloaf with a side of the restaurant's famed macaroni and cheese. Even though we really wanted to try the banana pudding, we decided against it because we were simply too full!
Instead of calling the shuttle to pick us back up and take us to our hotel, we decided to walk back. We needed to move around a bit after that huge meal! We ended up ducking inside Target to do a little kid-free shopping and to be able to try on clothes by myself was so exciting! Then, we went to the top of a bar called Fahrenheit that my husband's co-workers had told us about. It overlooked the city and was so beautiful. I was glad they had fires going outside because it was a little chilly that high up! Then, we walked around Charlotte's bustling
Epicentre district before calling it a night and heading back to our room.
Day and Night Two: Exploring the City That next morning, we got coffee at a local shop called Central Coffee. Then, we headed to the nearby
NoDa district, on North Davidson Street. It's an artsy little street with tons of vintage shops and local restaurants. I bought a beautiful floral dress at a local thrift shop and we devoured fish tacos from Cabo Fish Taco. Then, we headed to nearby Concord Mills Shopping Center and thought we could waltz right in to see a movie 10 minutes after it started, but all the seats were taken. In fact, all the seats were taken for all the movies that were showing at that time! It was a yucky and rainy day, so I guess everyone had the same idea as we did.
We ended up shopping around for a little bit, then heading back to our hotel. This was the only time I really didn't love the city traffic. I was thankful we had
Chevrolet Protection on our truck, and that my husband is a solid defensive driver. After a delicious ravioli supper at nearby Vapiano's, we went to see the main attraction of the weekend, country music star Walker Hayes! He was playing at Coyote Joe's western bar that night, and we had tickets to go. We bought them on Christmas Eve and had been anxiously awaiting this weekend! He came on around 11:15 p.m. and we enjoyed every second of it! We even got to speak to him when the concert was over, and share how much our whole family loves his music.
That next morning, we grabbed an early lunch again at Vapiano's, then headed back home to be with our babies. It was a whirlwind weekend but very much needed and appreciated. Compared to our little rural hometown, Charlotte felt like New York City! We can't wait to explore everything else it has to offer.
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