Venturing out on my own

Sorry for this post being late, but I did go out for some nightlife last night and got back late. . .

Another 60 degree day here - a little rain in the morning, but that's a good thing since the Southeast is in a drought situation. After work today I ventured out on my own to get a mailbox to start forwarding my mail down here. Having your mail forwarded to the hotel would seem like the easier thing to do, but it is very had to forward your mail from a commercial address to a residential address, so I felt this would be the easier thing to do. I mapped out the route from the hotel to the Foxcroft Shopping center and found it very easily. I bought a mailbox for six months at a UPS Store. I found my way from the UPS Store to the South Park Mall and found the Bath & Body Works so I could buy some hand soap for my room (not a fan of washing my hands with bar soap). Then I found my way back to the hotel! I am already starting to learn street names.

Since I didn't have to report for work until 1:00 pm on Wednesday, I decided that it would be a good night to go out and get the lay of the land for one of the bars. North Carolina liquor laws require bars to be "private clubs" and in order to go to the bar you need to be a member or be the guest of a member. I had applied for my membership on line before I came down because there is a three day waiting period between filling out your application and getting your membership card. It was a quiet night at the bar - being mid-week - but about 20 people maybe. Met the owner of the bar and chatted with him a little bit. He came to Charlotte about 12 years ago from Chicago and I learned a lot about the scene in Charlotte and where certain groups hang out and that the bars & clubs in this city are facing the same challenges as bars around the country. On tap was Blue Moon, Ice House and Yuengling - I've been suprised to see Yuengling a lot down here and I always thought it was a Pennsylvania & New Jersey thing! It was weird to smell cigarette smoke again in a bar!! I'm sure it will take a long time for smoking to be outlawed in NC - with it still being a big tobacco state - there weren't a lot of people smoking anyway. The bars close at 2:00 am and I think I left shortly before that time.

Well, time to get ready for work -- and thanks for reading!