Fun with Kids in Charlotte, NC

As I mentioned in a previous post, we did a massive road trip this year for our summer vacation.  We're trying to take our kids to see all 50 states before they graduate, mainly because I like a challenge, but also because it keeps us seeing new places!

Two years ago we did this:

We've currently done: Virginia,  West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, California, Florida, New York, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.  That's halfway!! (PS, if any of you own summer homes in Hawaii or Alaska and want to invite us out, we are totally game.)

Do we see everything a particular state has to offer? HECK NO.  That would involve way more money and vacation time than we have.  But we do have a little fun and get the flavor of each state, plus the kids have fun ticking it off a map and doing a little workbook page about each state with its flag, flower, bird, motto, etc.

Anyhow, I thought I'd share a few things from our trip. Like this awesome picture of me imitating a mug:

It's really amazing to me that I'm not more popular. 

The first leg was down to see my cousins in Charlotte, NC.  They're the same age as my kids (second marriage), which is both weird (who wants a bossy adult cousin) and awesome (because they have so much fun with my kids).  Charlotte is a lovely area, and we enjoyed trying out a few things there:

1. Discovery Place Charlotte

We were able to take the LYNX Train to downtown Charlotte, which is about a 3 block walk to the museum.  My kids have ridden the metro enough times to not care one lick that we were taking a train, but my cousins were super duper excited to get to take "the metro".  If you use LYNX, note that tickets are sold in kiosks outside the train and you just keep them with you in case of a spot check. Prices vary for kids and adults, and you'll want to not mess up and click "round trip" on the kids tickets and "one way" on the adults like I did.  #MyBad

It wasn't cheap:

Museum	$15.00	$12.00	FREE	FREE
IMAX Discovery Film	$10.00	$9.00	$5.00	$5.00
Museum + IMAX Discovery Film	$20.00	$17.00	$5.00	$5.00

But the kids had a lot of fun.  If you go, be sure to check out one of the shows, we saw Rat Basketball and a liquid nitrogen show that included a giant ice cloud the kids got to run through.  They were definitely a good time.

PS, I don't understand in any of these kid themed museums why in the heck they charge more for adults.  You know what we're going to do? Sit on a bench and take iphone pictures while our kids do all the fun stuff.  That's what. It should be more for kids and a pittiance of an "observer's fee" for adults.

I digress.  If you are a WIC/EBT recipient, you can get up to six tickets for $1 each.  Bring your card (or whatever you'd use to prove this applies to you).

2. Rock Bottom 

Rock Bottom restaurant was located just across the street from the museum, so we headed over there for lunch.  It was really tasty, I got a side of mac and cheese and a side salad.  

Because I can, people.  Because I can. 

3. Staying with friends and family is great because you can also get in a little freebie/down time.  We enjoyed hanging out at the neighborhood pool, playing games, and the kids tried to get as much time "playing minecraft together" as humanly possible when you need an adult to put a password on your ipod to get to play.  

4. Waldhorn Restaurant

My uncle being something of a foodie, and all of us being part German, he took us to check out the Waldhorn Restaurant.

This was amazing.  My daughter got the cheese spaetzale which was amazing, I had sauerbraten, people had roladen, blaukraut was passed around....noms.

All the noms.

If you don't normally have German food or if you've never tried it before, this would be a good place to start!!

Filial piety compels me to mention that their Black Forest Cake was not anywhere near as good as my mother's.  It's not their fault, they are simply too far away for her to bake for them nightly.

Following our two days in Charlotte, we left for Hotlanta, which will be coming at you next :)