It's a Family affair...

I've taken a couple trips recently and as usual most involve visits with family. What's nice is that now that I'm "retired" I didn't have to ask for time off, or worry about how long I could be gone. It was great!!!
John had taken a couple of small trips early in the year and I was feeling like I wanted to do something...I just didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I'm not the best traveler...I don't do much by myself...for whatever reason, I just don't. My sister Elizabeth had suggested more than once that the two of us should meet up sometime in Charlotte, NC; where my niece lives. I was in Charlotte once, I think, maybe 40 years ago hahaha. Well, Elizabeth made a plan with Meredith and then we looked to see if it would work out for me and my brother-in-law and nephew as well. After several conversations...we came up with a plan that worked for all of us.
There is a direct flight right to Charlotte from Melbourne....so that was a big plus. e all planned to arrive in town on or around the same date. Elizabeth picked me up on the Thursday that I arrived and we headed out from there.

First stop we went to eat at a local spot

... and after that a concert in the park at the U.S. National Whitewater Center  The park offers all sorts of water activities...kayaking, paddle boarding, whitewater rafting, etc, there are also  zip lines, rope courses, hiking trails, bike trails, rock climbing
...it's pretty awesome. And...concerts in the park. Upstate from New York. (according to my sister from upstate NY...the town they're from wouldn't really be considered upstate by people actually from upstate NY...but we doubted anyone present would know that..hahaha

The night we were there it was a band called
Friday we spent the morning relaxing and visiting a local art museum; 

while we waited for my niece to get off work. (coincidentally...it happened to be her 1/2 day Friday) We all enjoyed the collections.

Elizabeth told me I needed to have my picture taken  because my dress matched the chair

We had some delicious fish tacos , etc for a late lunch after Meredith got off work.
That evening we went to watch the Charlotte Knights.

 It was a lovely evening...a little warm but not terrible and no rain around...so all was well.

Charlotte skyline

panoramic view of downtown Charlotte from the ballpark

 It turned out to be an exciting game. The home team took an early lead...but the visitors (Louisville Bats) came back and tied the score. In the 9th inning...a player hit a homerun with the bases loaded to win the game....just around the time we though the game might be going into extra innings. That was a fun turn of events. We had thought we might grab a bite to eat after the game...but by the time the game and the fireworks

 afterwards it was pretty late. The few places that were open were packed...no one was going to get anything without waiting for it...so we decided to just  grab a snack at the hotel and call it a night.
Saturday we had plans to drive over to Asheville for the day/night to visit the town and (Elizabeth's son) Ryan. 
We got up and had a delicious waffle

 at a spot right near Meredith and Adam's place. Waffle with whipped cream and berries...YUM YUM! Then we hit the road. We drove through some rain along the way and hoped we wouldn't have to tote around umbrellas all day...but we had them, just in case.
A few hours later we arrived and got to check out Ryan's place. Nice apartment close to downtown. 

Very convenient. We got the "tour" of the town with Ryan and found a spot for lunch that didn't have a long waiting line. In spite of the rain...there were a lot of people walking around downtown.

. and happily by the time we finished lunch, it was letting up. We stopped into a couple of local shops and then went to check out the house we had rented for the night. (Meredith found it  in on Airbnb or VRBO). The house was a little out of town...in a nice area. It was a 100 year old house

...that had been updated over the years. Plenty of room to relax and perfect for what we needed. (My nephew Shane did decide to stay with his cousin Ryan for the night when he realized his sleeping options were an air mattress or the sofa...hahaha)

 There was a great swing in a  huge Maple tree out front. Of course we /I had to check that out.

 We had a glass of wine/champagne/whatever, listened to some music and then we all headed to the Grove Park Inn for dinner. 
The last time I was at the Grove Park Inn was back in the 90's. We stopped there after a visit to TN. I wanted to check it out and there were all sorts of holiday things going on at the time...including a big Gingerbread House (BIG houses!) display. We had stayed just for one night in the old original hotel. 

Now it has a whole new area and it is owned by OMNI Hotels

Anne, Liz, Shane, Meredith,Ryan and Rob

. It was fun to walk around and see all the old stonework and the huge fireplace in the lobby. The view was beautiful and Elizabeth had made us a reservation at the Edison Craft Ales + Kitchen

 out on the terrace...right in time for sunset.

someone took our picture...the rest of the group was off exploring

down near where the spa was located and the pool

 It was a nice evening; a little cooler after the earlier rain. I got a club sandwich...and it was delicious!
Nothing fancy...but it really was good!
Sunday morning we met up with Ryan and Shane and we all had brunch at The Corner Restaurant.

view down a side street-GREEN trees!

 Everything was tasty. We had some time afterwards...so we all decided  to walk around and explore the town for a couple of hours before we had to head back to Charlotte.
Meredith and Adam made dinner for everyone and they surprised Elizabeth with an early birthday cake. We played Chameleon. We had fun and had some good laughs because we took turns screwing up...(mostly me) which made it more entertaining. We said goodbye so that Meredith and Adam could get organized for Monday morning...also my flight home was in the morning (although not too early!). It was a good trip...a bit of a whirlwind...Elizabeth kept us busy! But...she also organized pretty much everything...or coordinated with Meredith and Adam to schedule things, make reservations, get tickets and DROVE us around the whole time...so what's not to like!
I got home Monday afternoon and then started getting things together for our trip to TN 10 days later.
Next time I'll tell you about our impromptu visit with some of John's family and our trip to TN for the 4th of July.