Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Carolina

On Friday, June 9th I flew to Charlotte, North Carolina. My friend Alison picked me up at the airport, and after beer and BBQ at Mac's Bar, we went to her beautiful home in Waxhaw, NC where I had my own room (with Internet access) and bathroom! Such opulence... sigh...






On Saturday we went to Linville Falls, and hiked up in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The first photo shows the view from the top, which was more than worth the hike -even in 9o degree (F) heat!

That evening we grilled out, and I enjoyed a local beer, Carolina Blonde.







On Sunday, Alison had work to do (she is a freelance journalist and marketing maven), so I ventured off into the woods in Waxhaw. Later, we toured Waxhaw and Charlotte. We also visited Lake Norman. In the evening, we attended a Tony Awards party given by the North Carolina, Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, in the Booth Playhouse. We watched the Tony Awards, and instead of commercials, two actors cracked jokes and gave away prizes -including theater tickets. There was free food and drinks, and champagne at the end.

Monday we went to Charleston, South Carolina. We took a walking tour of the city and had fish & chips at The Noisy Oyster. The first photo is of me, at Waterfront Park. Notice my dolphin shirt. Do I know fashion or what?




The buildings are incredible, with some being several hundred years old. The beautiful churches had old cemeteries in their yards. I love this next picture I took, as it shows a church built in 1682 (that's almost a million years ago!!!), and the sign in the foreground tells you what you are seeing!

On Tuesday, June 13th, I caught an early flight home, and NWA temporarily lost the luggage of several of us. This is quite a feat on a direct flight! I waited until the last to get in line for a claim, and it paid off. Eventually our luggage found its way down the belt -after most of the other passengers had left with their claim vouchers.

In all, it was a fabulous trip! Carolinians are very nice people, even though I wore my Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Volunteer Staff hat! Just call me a Yankee in the Deep South.

Thanks to Alison for the tour and room, and to Dave for scanning my photos!

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