Week 3 - Charlotte (The City of Churches)

Hello Family and Friends,

We are getting better at this. We arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina mid-afternoon as compared to bedtime, which was much better for checking into our Airbnb and feeling a little more rested. We had some time to drive around Uptown, a neighborhood of Charlotte we are staying in, and I think this city has a thing about graveyards. The largest green space in the city is a graveyard where people walk their dogs. They have dog clean up stations throughout the graveyard. We got out the car at another smaller park that we thought was free of headstoned to let Bruce do his business and didn't realize the park was an old graveyard until we read the rules that said don't rub the headstones as this causes wear. Brett found one head stone that was dated all the way back to 1854. Come to find out that families were usually buried together and that most of the headstones were Irish settlers who first came to Charlotte. A little bit of a spooky beginning, but lots of points for character.

Cemetery/Park located in Uptown in Charlotte

Uptown is essentially Charlotte's downtown. They have at least 5 professional/semi-professional teams in this city: MLS, AHL, MiLB, NFL, NBA. We arrived in Charlotte on a Sunday, Super Bowl LIX Sunday to be exact. Now all of you know that these McKinneys are clueless about professional sports, but of course we went to a Super Bowl housewarming party. The fried chicken; Excellent! And on our way home, Brett was telling me stats about the game.

Danielle: "You don't watch football"

Brett: "I like numbers"

I really did try to get some good photos, but these Eagles fans were doing the most and wouldn't sit still. We left at half time and I'm not sure KC knew they were playing a game at all (sorry KC fans).

Eagle fans doing their ritual winged dance

Brett showing Atlas the train outside of our Airbnb

As we continued to spend more time in Uptown, it felt like there was nobody there. I mean we were in the middle of the city with all these high rise apartments around us and there were no people on the street or even in the restaurants. We ate at this one pub immediately off the main drag and we were the only ones in the pub. It was so strange. In fact Brett and I were feeling like maybe we would only need one week to explore Charlotte. But then....the rain came. Literally, I mean the rain. Because it was raining I looked online for things to do indoors. As I was googling, I come to found out that there are 24 different neighborhoods within Charlotte. Oh my gosh!! I went from being bored to completely overwhelmed by the possibilities.

Brett and I were able to eliminate some neighborhoods by only looking for ones that are within the 485 (the 485 is an interstate that makes a fairly large circle around Charlotte). Then, we started driving. Our first stop was Target. It seems no matter how much you pack, you always need that one more thing. While at Target we met Campbell (another Target shopper who is a huge fan of Charlotte). She was on her lunch break and gave us some insights into some of the neighborhoods around Charlotte. We even exchanged numbers (more on that to come). She let us know about the Sugar Creek Greenway, which is a walking trail running through various neighborhoods in Charlotte (I love a good walking trail!). She also gave us some insight into why Uptown seemed so empty. She told us that before the pandemic, Uptown was a very desirable area. However, during the pandemic people moved out and have not moved back. Mostly people commute to Uptown for work, but live elsewhere. Armed with more information we start looking outward.

Midtown:

We started in midtown because that is where the Target was (I promise they are not a sponsor of this trip, but maybe they should be). Midtown checked all the boxes with walking distance to park, grocery store and depending on the housing, the greenway would literally be in our backyard. A potential for sure!

Noda:

A neighborhood that used to be a textile industry and now has turned into a really artsy place. Had a great vibe, park, grocery store and the homes were beautiful. However, the schools were rated below average. But there is a Montessori school that is rated very high and could be a possibility, so we will keep this on on the list.

A random house in Noda with knights and a dragon

Dilworth:

This is where our Target buddy, Campbell, lives. We stopped at this super cool tea/coffee shop (I hadn't had loose leaf tea since leaving Atlanta and needed a pick-me-up). Inside there was writing all over the walls. We left our own little mark on the wall.

Backyard Brew in Dilworth

We marked Atlas' height and wrote: " We were here as a part of our sabbatical. Nathaniel, we love you and miss you. We wish you could be here with us."

While checking out homes near the elementary school we stopped a neighbor who was walking her daughter home from school. We gained some insights into the neighborhood and the school such as: the current school was reopened in 2018 after decades of being shuttered and students had to go to a school 3 towns over; the houses sell as quickly as they are put on the market; and the big one, by the time Atlas starts elementary school, the school will have moved to its new location about a mile in the opposite direction. Just goes to show the importance of talking to locals.

Dilworth is adjacent to another neighborhood, South End. We would want to live in Dilworth and play in South End as that is where all the eateries are located, but no single family homes. And after hotels and Airbnb (this should be another sponsor of our travels) I am not going to apartment living. I really did think I could, but there is still a little too much suburbia in me for communal living to be permanent. After thoroughly exploring Dilworth, my step count was over 17,000. The only person not spent was Atlas, as he had a really comfortable seat in the stroller.

Now, there are some neighborhoods that we went through that just didn't hit the mark. Camp North End is literally just an outdoor eat play live hipster mall with one set of apartments. The neighborhood around it has a grocery store with bars on the windows. It just felt really unfinished. Wesley Heights is just a housing neighborhood. A nice neighborhood, but there is nothing else around it. I slept right through University City. Brett described it as the quiescently suburban sprawl, which is not our style.

So were you keeping count; that was how many neighborhoods? Seven, plus we eliminated eight at the beginning. So that leaves us with nine-ish more to go (some are right on top of each other). So many more places to see!