My girlfriend and I will be going to Charlotte tues-thurs next week to visit relatives and need some things to do during the day. Her relatives will be at work so we want to get out and do something. Any ideas on cheap/free activities or interesting places to visit?

5/8/2008 12:24:39 PM

National Whitewater Center
Raptor Center at Latta Plantation
Lazy 5 Ranch

5/8/2008 12:28:18 PM

^ good ones

other daytime suggestions:

- Discovery Place
- Mint Museum of Craft + Design
- ride Light Rail train
- Levine Museum of the New South
- lots of great places to eat
- Carowinds
- walk around NoDa (art district) or parks

5/8/2008 12:48:46 PM

Freedom park, Southpark Mall

5/8/2008 12:53:15 PM

the Raptor Center is pretty cool, especially if you find predatory birds interesting.

you could go there and hit up the lake on the plantation and rent a canoe and take it out for the afternoon. There is no boating traffic and its peaceful.

5/8/2008 1:04:01 PM

the down town area is pretty nice, lots of bars n stuff, good night life

5/8/2008 1:44:14 PM

Inner Peaks
Observation Deck at Bank of America Building
Eat at Ra San's and/or the Cajun Queen

5/8/2008 2:36:15 PM

Ru San's is fucking gross^

5/8/2008 5:31:30 PM

Crowders mountain (rock climbing) and Kings Mountain are also quick drives from charlotte. There is also an extensive network of greenways. At the whitewater center, there is rock climbing, and also mountain biking.

Stowe Botanical Gardens is in Belmont (also across the river).



Lots of golf courses (belch)

[Edited on May 8, 2008 at 5:41 PM. Reason : ]

5/8/2008 5:40:08 PM

Thanks for the tips, I'll be checking them out and see how much we can fit in.

5/11/2008 10:04:08 AM

^^ I don't recommend spending all that time driving up to the mountains. Whats the point of going to Charlotte if you are just going to go somewhere else completely?

I grew up in Charlotte and after 20 years living there I can say theres enough shopping/movies/golf/museums to suffice for three days without traveling outside the city limits. Its actually quite like Raleigh, nothing special, just another city.

5/12/2008 1:57:09 AM

i heard the worst parts of charlotte are way worse than the worse parts of raleigh

5/12/2008 2:00:20 AM

^ and the good parts of Charlotte are likewise way better than the good parts of Raleigh

but let's not make this a Charlotte vs. Raleigh debate... it's just a matter of personal opinion and it can go on forever.

5/12/2008 9:14:04 AM

for highlights of that lovely gem of a debate tune into

message_topic.aspx?topic=485568

5/12/2008 9:38:04 AM

aaprior, crowders and kings are half an hour from uptown in western gaston. WTF are you talking about?


Shorter drive from uptown, than going to places like ballantyne.

[Edited on May 12, 2008 at 6:39 PM. Reason : ]

5/12/2008 6:37:45 PM

some parts of Charlotte are nasty.

theres a ton of fucked up strip malls with cracked parking lots and shitty stores.

5/12/2008 9:19:33 PM

There's a Bojangles off of Independence that I went to once at ~5:30 when they first opened up. Needless to say, I was drunk. It was tasty.

Other than that, it just seems like an amped up version of Capital Blvd. in Raleigh.

5/13/2008 12:14:17 AM

Just got back from the Common Market and the Penguin. Drunk and satisfied.

Quote :

"Ru San's is fucking gross^"

I agree. If you want real sushi and real pan asian food go to Taiyo. It's the best asian food in town and there's lots of beer too. Downside is it's out near the university.

[Edited on May 13, 2008 at 12:17 AM. Reason : .]

5/13/2008 12:17:08 AM

I knew this would happen.

5/13/2008 12:38:42 AM

i didnt mean to...please accept my apologies

5/13/2008 12:41:17 AM

Quote :

"Discovery Place"

OMG OMG OMG OMG... i still remember the field trips to this place.

5/13/2008 12:47:06 AM

Quote :

"There's a Bojangles off of Independence that I went to once at ~5:30 when they first opened up. Needless to say, I was drunk. It was tasty. Other than that, it just seems like an amped up version of Capital Blvd. in Raleigh. "

Well obviously you got the big picture of the whole city. ONE FUCKING ROAD one fucking road that most locals stay the fuck away from, unless they want to buy a car or for some god awful reason, you'd want to go from matthews to uptown (and be around the school time zone times (monroe rd. would be a stand still)).

[Edited on May 13, 2008 at 8:46 AM. Reason : ]

5/13/2008 8:44:52 AM

stay away from Beatties Ford Rd south of I-85. Unless you like the feeling of being shot for merely driving through a neighborhood

What's cool in charlotte? Pull-a-part. $1/person to get in.

Victory Lanes Go-Karting
buy races between 5-7pm M-F for buy 2, get 2 free (basically becomes $10/race). races are about 8 mins long. I don't remember how much it is to become a member, though (mandatory).

5/13/2008 9:01:11 AM

Quote :

"cracked parking lots"

OH NOES!!!1

5/13/2008 9:07:28 AM