Charlotte


1. Downtown Charlotte. 2. Welcome sign- see the crown? 3. Convention Center is on the map! 4. Upclose- some tall buildings! 5. Time Warner? 6. Nascar Hall of Fame and 7. Empty Streets!

The week up to our vacation/business trip to Charlotte created a hectic schedule and extra work. Scheduling, planning, cleaning, organizing, packing. I felt like a crazy lady! The kids were feeling it too, but we all survived and the day came for us to leave.

HERE'S THE HIGHLIGHTS!

Saturday:

We boarded an early flight from IF to SLCand I bought the first of about 19,563 hot chocolates. It was cold. And it only got colder as we headed eastward. Our flight from SLC took us to the Minneapolis airport. Another hot chocolate and then we boarded a flight to Charlotte. It wasn't very exciting. The HOT CHOCOLATE was the most exciting part about it. Other than the anticipation of getting away with Kyle!

We were welcomed by signs and greenery everywhere, and crowns on every street sign and road, I swear. "Nicknamed the Queen City, Charlotte and its resident county are named in honor of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had become queen consort of British King George III the year before the city's founding. It also has a nickname for being the "Hornet's Nest" derived from a British commanders written description of the area during the American Revolutionary War.

Anyway, we headed down town, and found the streets of Charlotte to be bare. Not a soul around. I tried to get a shot, but we were in a hurry, starving and it was getting colder and dark. I'd expected a buzz about the downtown, and was sorely disappointed.

Sunday:
The weather was awful. We didn't see the sun until our last day there, and the temp never went over 65*, I swear. The massive thunder storm through the night didn't compete with the one we had here a while back, but it woke us up during the night.

Cold, damp and humid, we started the day out.

Missing General Conference the whole time was a bummer too, but what can you do? We headed to the Conference Center first thing that morning as Kyle had most of his classes and such all day. Picture me with the extra hotel blanket, laptop and yes, another hot chocolate sitting in a corner of this expansive building that has NO HEAT for near to six hours. Worse still- there are NO OUTLETS to be found anywhere. I finally found ONE, and I'm not kidding! UNO. ONE. And I only found it after I asked a janitorial lady where they would plug in for vacuuming when no one else had been able to tell me where I could plug in. I had to get on my belly, reach over a hand railing to one suspended in the air 40 feet up to get power. It was weird. If you dont' believe me, ask Kyle.

I spent the morning trying to stay warm and reading my own novel. Let's just say: I have room for much improvement.

By evening time we had friend from Rigby join us. Tina and Brad Youngstrum were attending the same conference, and we met up for dinner. It was great to have them along- they are so funny and great to talk with. We had lots of good laughs and too much cheesecake!

Monday:
Weather was still sad, but classes were much shorter so we hit the U.S. National Whitewater Center. Go ahead. You should take a moment now to view the site and watch the virtual tour of the place. Words can barely describe it's awesomecrazyscaryfunextremesportyness. I wish we could have rafted, but it was just too cold and we didn't have the time. Next time? The zip lines and ropes courses were seriously wicked. Scary. Thrilling. I broke a sweat due to fear, I promise. It doesn't look that bad, until you're 40-50 feet up there.

Don't judge me. It scared Kyle a few times too.

And Tina and Brad.

It was cold enough I had ~~another~~ two more hot chocolates with lunch. With extra cream, because they make their HC so watery thin.... How does that happen? People who specialize in making creamy, rich, frothy coffee fail epically at HC.... Drove me crazy.

We were beat from the day, and crashed.

Tuesday:

Nearly a repeat: Kyle in classes, me reading and writing and drinking Hot Chocolate. The fun started after all that.... and we ate out at The Melting Pot. We really had such an enjoyable time, it was criminal. We need this restaurant here in IF. It was perfection for chilling out while eating a laid back, delicious dinner.

Wednesday:
Repeat, except we slept in a bit, skipped the last class, and went for the Keynote speaker and to see the Expo. Well Kyle did. I did what I had been doing since Sunday- perched in my corner with my headphones and laptop- reading my own book. I finished it, by the way. I have now officially read my own book, and am on the re-writing side of writing. It's messy. It's fun. It's so much work!

We grabbed gifts for the kids and hit the airport to get home. Kyle and I were separated by the aisle on the flight from Atlanta to SLC, which TOTALLY SUCKS! I got a smoothie, WEIRD, I KNOW! But my throat was hurting a bit, and it sounded good.

By the time we were to fly to SLC, I was ready to be home. Things improved as we got to spend the final hour of our trip in the company of a good friend. Owen Hamilton was on his way home too. He's fun to talk with, and brought on a wave of happiness about being around friends we know and love.

Our kids were sound asleep and the house was tidy and Swagger was still alive when we pulled in at near midnight. Jessica and Tavann went over board and did a fabulous job watching the kids, even with a SUPER SICK Brooklyn all week. Props to them.

A Dozen Side Notes:

1. The guy I sat by on the way home was from India, and very kind and even helped fix my laptop up a bit to make it more efficient for me to write.
2. The hotel staff was super nice. The one gal even hugged me goodbye.
3. I accidentally left the laptop in the rental car at the Charlotte airport. You know, I got through security and sat down and realized it, and nearly fell apart. But with quick [hone calls and helpful employees at Budget, they rushed it to us, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude. When we told Owen, who's laptop it really is, he was so sweet about it, expressing his greatest loss in that would have been my loosing the document and not the laptop. While I believe the lap top is of little worth to him, as it's older, the fact that he cared about my novel an inkling was encouraging.

4. The trip started out with a broken suitcase. But everything else went nearly perfect, except the weather and the near loss of the laptop.

5. I hate the layout of Charlotte. Where the people are on a Saturday night, I'll never know. I was expecting the 'alive' feeling of Phoenix or Omaha or even SLC.

6. The shopping was nice. Lots of great malls.
7. The homes are Ah.Maze.Ing.
8. We met the LDS NCCM President. Brandon Ray, my cousin will be serving there in a month or so, so we tracked the mission president down with ease. Only Utah plates we saw were parked at his house. That was fun!
9. There are no sidewalks in lots of areas where the homes are, and it reminded us both of our missions.
10. We tried to bust into a gated community. That's all Kyle's doing.
11. We couldn't get over the way the foliage obscures everything, in the most beautiful and creepy and magical way.
12. I'd never put it on my list of places to visit, but Kyle would.

@ The Melting Pot with Tina and Brad.

1. Pink windows. For reals. 2. This building looks like it's only 5 feet thick, until you corner around it and it's a triangle. It was pretty cool. 3. The streets are lined with trees, everywhere. And they're massive. 4. USWC