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!