36 Hours in the Queen City of North Carolina

As season ticket holders, we try to go to one away Atlanta United game per season. So far we've been to games in New York/Newark, Cincinnati, Seattle, Montreal, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Chicago. This season, our schedule has been a little hectic so we settled on a close match in nearby Charlotte, North Carolina over Labor Day weekend. This was a quick trip, we left on a Friday afternoon and returned on Sunday afternoon. We had all day on Saturday in Charlotte to explore before the 7:30 pm kick-off time. To add to the fun, David's work-friend Suraiya and her husband Jacob joined us for the match! They're Charlotte FC fans (which we didn't hold against them).

On our way to Charlotte, we took the scenic route to see some small towns and counties we haven't visited before. This added about an hour and a half to the trip, but overall Charlotte isn't a long trip from Atlanta.

An 1826 farmhouse house near Honea Path, South Carolina. 

Ware Shoals on the Saluda River in South Carolina.

Before rolling into Charlotte around the time it got dark, we ran into a massive thunderstorm. Luckily traffic wasn't bad, because it was pouring buckets. We checked-in at our hotel near Uptown Charlotte, and wanted to walk around but that was out of the question with the weather. Instead we drove to the nearby Optimist Food Hall for a late dinner. It was a little hard to get there, as roads around uptown were flooded and some were even closed due to the rain. The food hall itself was pretty nice, it was similar to some we have in Atlanta: a trendy urban food hall in a former industrial building. In this case it was a textile mill that was once the largest producer of gingham fabric (there was a big fabric industry in Charlotte in the early 20th century). There were several familiar names in the hall (Honeysuckle Gelato, Bottiwalla, etc) as there is a lot of overlap in regional food concepts between Charlotte and Atlanta. We got some BBQ, dumplings, an empanada, and a half pastrami sandwich to try out. Everything was good and we'd recommend this place overall. We went back to the hotel after dinner to rest up for the full day of exploring Charlotte on Saturday before the game.

Inside the Optimist Hall.

Food time!

David with his very expensive half sandwich.

The rain let up a bit by the time we were leaving.

The next morning Paul snuck off before David got up for some coffee at Summit Coffee, a short drive away in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood. After, we decided to go down to the South End to walk along the Rail Trail and see some of that neighborhood. This area is just south of Uptown, and is rapidly developing along the light rail line. There were, again, many similar restaurants and concepts that we see in Atlanta (like Superica), and a fun farmer's market along the trail. 

Morning coffee break!

Choo Choo!

South End reminded us of West Midtown in Atlanta.

A little market.

After wandering around in the hot sun for an hour or so, we decided to go grab some lunch at an Italian place called Little Mama's in the South Park neighborhood. This is a bit of an urban area popping up around a suburban style mall, south of the city. Pretty similar to some places in metro Atlanta. The food and service here were good, definitely an Italian-American red sauce joint, but they make some of their own cheese and pasta fresh.

After lunch we headed off to the Mint Museum Randolph location to check out their collection of mostly ceramics (and some paintings) from around the world. A pretty small museum, overall, it still housed some nice exhibits and is worth a short visit if you're into this sort of thing.

Lunch at Little Mama's.

Ummmm - what's going on in this vase!?

A cool pineapple teapot.

Neat art.

The artist has definitely seen a dog and cat before.

Likewise, those are totally the proportions of human children.

From the Mint Museum Randolph, we headed back to the hotel for a break from the heat. We then had enough time to walk around Uptown to the other Mint Museum (more modern building and modern art) since our ticket was good for both locations. This is definitely worth a stop if you're into modern art, it had some neat exhibits in an expansive space. We then took a lyft and met up with Suraiya and Jacob at Growler's Pourhouse in the  NODA neighborhood. This was another cute neighborhood with lots of lively folks wandering around and what seemed like a flea market in the main commercial drag.

We walked by the NASCAR hall of fame, which has been somewhat of a failure in terms of visitor numbers.

Uptown Charlotte is sorta like a mix between Midtown and Buckhead Atlanta.

Exhibit at the mint museum.

They had a roller coaster carved out of marble!

Civil rights painting.

The NODA neighborhood.

From Growler's, we caught a ride with Suraiya and Jacob to the Bank of America stadium back in Uptown to watch the Atlanta/Charlotte match. The stadium is also next door to a small baseball field and there was a game going on there too (minor league), so the area was very busy and lively.

Heading into the stadium.

Lots of blue, but there were also plenty of Atlanta people around!

Huddle before the game.

The main Atlanta fan section.

We had great seats for this game, and the stadium felt a bit more intimate than the massive Mercedes Benz in Atlanta - even though it's a similar size, the lack of a dome and the uncovered empty upper decks caused this effect. Overall it was a great experience and Atlanta pulled out a surprise upset win! I think our only complaint would be that it was pretty hot at the start of the game. Most people around us were very sweaty and we got a bit dehydrated because we're dumb and didn't buy any water. After the game, we said our farewells to our friends and started the trek back to the hotel. On the way, we passed a Whole Foods and ran in for bevies and a sweet treat to take back to the hotel. A good end to a fun day in Charlotte!

We also walked by the ACC headquarters.

And caught the end of the Notre Dame season opener win on TV at the hotel.

The next morning we slept in a bit, then started the trek back to Atlanta. We (again) took a more scenic route through some rural South Carolina and Georgia cities. We stopped for lunch in Thomson at a fun pizza/Italian place called Fernanda's Grill and Pizzeria (not sure why we did double Italian this weekend). We also stopped in Covington to walk around a bit in their cute downtown.

Paul with a huge plate of zeppole!

Thomson has painted guitars around downtown.

We stopped by what is supposedly the oldest surviving stone house in Georgia.

Big mural in downtown Covington.

We've been to Charlotte a few times now. It's a fun town with a lot of potential. It has a small, fairly urban core and lots of development seeming to improve its urbanity overall, especially along its light rail line. Overall, it does feel less diverse and colorful than Atlanta. There is so much overlap in architectural style, developers, food concepts and overall vibe between the two cities in some places, but Charlotte lacks Atlanta's civil rights history and hiphop culture. We'll definitely be back, and are looking forward to hanging out in more neighborhoods in this rapidly growing southern "little sister" of Atlanta.