[Charlotte, NC, Oct 12-13, 2023]
With our side trip to the Great Smoky Mountains over, it was time to drive back to Charlotte. Lena and I desperately needed coffee, but the only Starbucks shops in town were in the casinos! Cherokee is the Atlantic City of the South – it has 3 casinos, which is a lot for such a small town. Just like in Biloxi, MS, I almost ran into my friend Toni! She was about to arrive in Cherokee to gamble, but I was already leaving! So close!
We arrived in Charlotte by mid-day and waited for the rest of the girls to arrive. We put our matching cheetah PJs on and had a fabulous stay-at-home bachelorette for Lena!
The next day, she tied the knot at the courthouse. Four out of six running girls are now married!
To celebrate the nuptials, we headed to 131 Main in Ballantyne. And after that, it was onto previously scheduled programming for our girls’ weekend! We left the groom at home to take a funny bus tour of Charlotte. Lena stayed in her wedding dress, while the rest of us donned another set of animal print outfits.I got a lot of flack for spoiling the cheetah theme, but it was supposed to be any animal. Also, there is a tiny bit of cheetah print on my sneakers. 🙂
The funny bus was a great way to see the city! We went through many of the neighborhoods in downtown Charlotte, and I was amazed at how much it had grown. I used to go through Charlotte a lot when I lived in Georgia, so I was somewhat familiar with it. My favorite neighborhood was NoDa. Short for North Davidson, its main street, this was Charlotte’s arts and entertainment district.
Besides the jokes and city fun facts, the bus tour was made even more fun by the fact that we could bring our own alcohol. The host even made a drinking game for us. Every time we passed a church, we were supposed to yell “Church!” and drink! Let me tell you, there are a lot of churches in Charlotte!
We closed this fabulous day out with dinner at Foxcroft wine bar. It was a great day filled with so much joy and laughter!
