Thursday May 3, 2018 by Lisa McClung
It is so wonderful to be home again. I was actually only gone three days but man what an action packed three days it was. So grab a coffee, diet coke, glass of wine or whatever because this is kind of a longy.
I spent the last three days in Charlotte North Carolina and let me tell you first thing that Charlotte is a beautiful city. I met with several attraction owners and Managers from twenty different attractions throughout the south from Georgia up to Luray Virginia. This organization is called Southern Highlands Attractions. http://www.southernhighlands.org. It is always great to get together and share ideas and visit other attractions and hear how they do their daily operations.
I arrived Sunday evening and stayed at the Hyatt Place Charlotte Downtown. This hotel is a great place to stay, and located close to everything and the service was outstanding.
This was the view from my room day and night. Sorry for the wonky pictures of the city I took them through the window of my room with my cell phone.
The first night I arrived I joined our group for a visit to Top Golf. I have never been a golfer, unless you count putt putt, so I was a little intimidated especially since some of the people in our group were avid golfers.
But no worries Top Golf is for everyone. There are several different levels and several bays located on each level. Eight people can fit in each bay, six people can play per game. Points are calculated sort of like in bowling. It was sooooooo much fun I loved it. http://www.topgolf.com/us/Charlotte/
The next morning after about 3 hours of meetings, and a quick lunch at the hotel, we went by shuttle to the US National Whitewater Center. The Whitewater Center is a locally owned and operated non profit organization. Situated on 1300 acres of woodlands making this a wonderful place for people to come and have fun. They offer a variety of adventure activities including kayaking, zip lining, rock climbing walls and lots more.
Later that night we attended a minor league baseball game The Charlotte Knights against the Gwinnett Stripers at the BB&T Ballpark. The stadium staff really treated us well they gave us a behind the scenes tour of the stadium and took us onto the field. They sat us in their executive lounge for dinner and drinks and gave us the option to watch the game from there. Whenever our Attractions group visits Attractions in other cities they are always the perfect hosts.
The next morning we toured The Bank of America Stadium Home of the Carolina Panthers. Several of the players were in the weight room working out but they wouldn’t let us near that area. Dang it!!! We did get to go onto the field and tour all the behind the scenes rooms where the reporters and commentators stay. A beautiful stadium. It was awesome!!!
http://www.panthers.com/stadium/index.html
Next on our tour we visited the Billy Graham Library. This is such a wonderful and special place. Billy and Ruth Graham had such an unshakable connection with each other. They were married 62 years. I hadn’t thought too much about it before but while Billy was touring world wide preaching the gospel Ruth was at home raising their children. Billy always gave her the credit when someone would tell them how wonderful their children were. They were a very special couple. And so unique in their own ways.
The childhood home place of Billy Graham and the Library, the gravesite of both Billy and Ruth Graham, one of the pulpits used by Billy, and Ruth’s wedding dress.
The day ended with a trip to the NASCAR HALL OF FAME MUSEUM. Even though I am not a huge NASCAR fan I found this to be extremely interesting.
I highly recommend a trip to Charlotte NC
Love your day your way
Southern Patches 