Uptown!

Well, I've been in Charlotte for three weeks now and decided it was time to venture into the Uptown section of the city. In most cities it would be called downtown, but I guess since the business area of the city with skyscrapers and such are in the northern part of the city, it is called Uptown. So this afternoon I drove over to the light rail station at Woodlawn. Bought my ticket and timing was on my side because a train pulled in as I got my ticket. The light rail is called Lynx and opened in November - so it's new, clean and wasn't crowded. It was a pleasant ride. You buy your ticket at a ticket machine and get on the train. The have police and ticket checkers on some trains and not all. They ask to see your ticket, if you don't have one with the proper date and time on it, then you are issued a $50.00 summons. On the ride Uptown they checked my ticket - on the ride back they didn't. So, I guess it is sort of the honor system - or like Russian Roulette with $50.00 summons instead of bullets - LOL.

I took the Lynx up to the Bobcat's Arena (soon to be the Time Warner Cable Arena) and walked around the main square area of Charlotte. Walked around the Bank of America Center which at 60 stories is the tallest building between Washington and Atlanta. (I forgot my camera today, so I don't have pictures). Strolling around the area it was easy to notice that the streets and sidewalks were clean. There is alot of construction going on of hotels and high-rise condo buildings all around the area. The Square is the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets - all along Trade Street there were tulips around the trees. The tulips were potted but added a nice touch to the look of the street. While walking around (up and down a few hills) my right leg began to cramp up - so I headed back toward the Lynx after a couple of hours of walking around.

Had a nice ride back down to the car and from there went to check my mailbox in the Foxcroft Shopping Center. Deciding I needed some dinner I went to Brixx in the same shopping center. Ordered a pasta dish and then had a choice of 24 beers on tap! I like to try local brews when I can, so I had a pint of Highland Gaelic Ale (it is St. Patrick's Day after all). The ale turned out to be nice - had a sweet second taste to it. The Highland Brewery is in Asheville, North Carolina at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I plan to visit Asheville at some point during my stay in North Carolina - it is about a two hour drive from Charlotte. Deciding to treat myself for dessert I walked across the parking lot to Ben & Jerry's for a large cup of ice cream.

Then it was back to the hotel - leg still somewhat cramped up for a night of watching television in High Def! Good news for the day is that my best buddy from Jersey will be coming down for a visit next week. He'll be arriving on Sunday evening by train from Raleigh and flying back to Newark on Tuesday evening. Yesterday was his birthday and I wasn't able to celebrate with him, so next week we get to! Can't wait!!

Well, working at 7:00 in the morning, so it's time to sign off and get some sleep -- thanks for reading!

Dam, nice - Weather, bad

Had Friday and Saturday off this week. Slept in on Friday - then it was out to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and the bar for a pint or two. Decided on Saturday to explore a little and headed north toward Cowan's Ford to see the dam that was built between 1959 and 1964 across the Catawba River to create Lake Norman, the largest man made lake in North Carolina. The dam is about a 15 mile drive north of Charlotte and is also a hydroelectric plant for Duke Energy providing "peak" power for the Charlotte area. Next to the dam is the McGuire Nuclear Power Plant generating 20% of the power that Duke Energy produces.

Cowan's Ford is also the site of a revolutionary battle between the armies of Lord Cornwallis and General William Lee Davidson who was killed during the battle. There is a monument to the battle which I was not able to make it to today.

My trip to the dam and historic site was cut short as thunder started rolling in and about five minutes after getting into my car and continuing along the highway the storms rolled in. These were the same storms that spurred the tornadoes in Atlanta yesterday. After turning around and heading back toward Charlotte the rain became heavier and bolts of lightening could be seen in the distance. Upon returning to the hotel, the local television stations were on alert due to tornado warnings in northern South Carolina, right over the border from Charlotte. At one point the NBC affiliate down here was reporting the touchdown of tornado about midway between Columbia, South Carolina and Charlotte. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Charlotte for this area, but lifted around 6:00 pm. As I am writing this around 9:00 pm, the Weather Channel still has a tornado warning south and east of Charlotte until 1:00 am Sunday morning and several tornadoes were confirmed across South Carolina. The rain and thunder has subsided in this area - and all totalled at least 1.5 inches of rain fell today. Although every drop helps, it's still not enough to help with the drought in the area.

Tomorrow it is back to work - over 100 check-outs tomorrow as the ACC Basketball Tournament comes to a close. The team the hotel was housing lost in the first round and the the team whose fans were staying in the hotel lost in the second round - so not a good year for our hotel's guests in the tournament. The ACC will not be back in Charlotte for at least another eight or ten years because the Bobcat's Arena is too small for the tournament. Next up in a couple of weeks, Charlotte is hosting the Sweet 16 for the NCAA championships. So March has been a busy time here for college basketball.

That is all for today -- thank you for reading!

The Second Week

Well, I know it's been like a week since I last posted, but I have been busy. Work, socializing, exploring and normal everyday stuff. I worked a couple of AM shifts had a day off then a few PM shifts and a day off.

The weekend was busy at the hotel with the CIAA basketball tournament in town. Hotel was sold out and a lot of activity. We were mostly sold out all week, so it was busy as well. At least this past weekend was a little bit of a rest. So that was the business.

On the personal side, I worked the AM shift over the weekend and had Monday off. Relaxed most of the day and went to another hotel in the area to do my laundry. While the laundry was in the dryer I went back to my hotel to help roll out a new check-in process. Then back to pick up my laundry. I went out a few more times this week - getting to meet a few more people. Worked the PM shift Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Friday off. Relaxed all day on Friday ... it was my first real day off without packing, driving or working in just about 2 weeks - so I slept until almost noon and just hung out until it was time for dinner.

So, a few firsts this week since I've been down here. I needed new dress socks, so it was off to Dillards at the mall. Even though Dillard's is one of the major chains in the US, I've never actually been to one. Staff was nice enough - and I found dress socks 50% off! I think that was Friday night -- then I finally broke down and headed to Burger King for dinner. That was a long stretch - hadn't been to Burger King since I left NJ. Today I ventured out to the nearest supermarket, Harris Teeter. For those back in Jersey and upstate NY - Harris Teeter is like Wegmans. But they have beer and wine too! Was really excited to find Entenmann's at Harris Teeter!! Was even able to find my favorite product.

Had a craving for ice cream and since I was already in the market went to the freezer section and found a local ice cream from High Point, NC. Denali flavors Moose Tracks ice cream. Of course I ate an entire pint of Malted Moose Tracks. Spend Sunday night in ... which brings me to start of my 3rd week in Charlotte.

On the home front in NJ -- still no offers on the co-op and we dropped the price again this week to $149,900. The realtor said that the feedback he is getting doesn't really help ... people don't anything negative to say about it, but also don't have anything positive to say either. UGH!!

Well, it's going to be a busy week this week -- and although this post was probably a bit boring, when something exciting happens, I'll let you know ... until then, Thanks for Reading!