A Trip To Charlotte + Celine Dion

Mazen and I drove south for two days for a trip to Charlotte, NC so I could go to the Celine Dion concert with my sister! He was out of school so it made sense for us to go together so he could play with his cousins. We left Birch at home with our sitter and his father because he hates car trips. And let me tell you the five-hour trip was looooong with me driving the whole way. I was so stiff when I got out of the car I could barely walk!

We arrived on Monday evening and after a quick visit with Larbs and Matt, we went to sleep.

The Charlotte Discovery Place Museum

On Tuesday morning Emerson had preschool, so Uncle Matt dropped us off at the Discovery Place Museum where we spent a few hours exploring.

Discovery place museum charlotte nc

All Kinds of Science Exhibits

We loved the rainforest, the aquarium, the “bed of nails” and the IMAX! Our IMAX show was about rescue dogs, and it was so moving! We would definitely recommend the museum if you’re traveling with kids on a trip to Charlotte.

Discovery place museum charlotte nc rainforest net bridge Discovery place museum charlotte nc air chair Discovery place museum charlotte nc Discovery place museum IMAX charlotte nc

Lunch at Optimist Hall

Larbs, Matt, and Avery picked us up and we headed to Optimist Hall for lunch. It was a super cool food hall with a ton of different food options and common seating – great for a group!

I had half a pizza and a kale salad!

Play Time + Quiet Time

After lunch the cousins played for a bit until Emerson’s nap, and then we all had some quiet time. It was nice to recharge a bit before going on a walk and getting ready for the concert.

Dinner at The Crunkleton

We headed to dinner at The Crunkleton which specializes in wood-fired cooking and amazing cocktails. A lot of the Charlotte restaurants have turned over since my last trip to Charlotte (and when I lived there). This spot used to be one of my favorite salad places called Crisp!

We met a few blog friends there and had a great time chatting it up! 😉 We shared mushrooms, brussels, mussels, salad, fries, and wings. Totally delicious food!!!

Celine Dion

This concert was a long-time in the making. Really 25 years in the making from when we used to put on Celine concerts in the living room, but rewind back to this summer when Matt (my sister’s husband) asked me if I would want to be her plus one if he surprised her with tickets for her birthday. I said absolutely and we started to make plains. But plans came to a halt when he saw she already had something in the calendar for this week. He decided to give her a card with a choice: see Oprah speak the week before or move her plans to go to Celine. On her birthday, I got a text during dinner that read: “I CHOOSE CELINE!” Needless to say I was thrilled.

We had great seats that were on the side of the stage but second row. When Celine came over to our side, we were 10 feet away from her! She played all of our favorite songs. The whole arena was singing along!  Celine also looks amazing! Her voice sounded like we were back in 1997 walking out of the movie Titanic. It was an amazing show!

Breakfast

We had eggs and toast and fruit for breakfast before Mazen and I hit the road.

A Visit to Davidson College

We took the western route home so we could swing by Davidson College! I gave Mazen the quick version of a tour around campus, and we walked to the Union for lunch!

The Best Quesadillas

I couldn’t find the little notepads we used to place our lunch order until I realized you now order digitally on a computer. “Remember the days when we used golf pencils to order wraps and quesadillas?!” Mazen was thrilled that I raved about the late-night quesadillas, so that’s what we got! We shared one, and I had a side of veggies. I told the woman checking us out that I was class of 2005 and came back to the union just for a quesadilla. She said that’s what everyone comes back for!! Too funny. Mazen fit right in with the college kids in his hoodie. He asked some good questions about what college is like. It’s never too early to start thinking about it! (Right now he wants to go to UVA!)

We ran into Steph Curry

We wrapped up our visit at the store where Mazen got a pullover and we bought Birch a toddler ball cap. Look who we ran into! Then we hit the road for the long trek home.

We missed our little Birchie!

Thomas sent me a pic of them playing at the park <3

And we had a cozy time catching up.

It was a quick trip to Charlotte and back, but we packed a lot in! I do not miss the traffic one bit, but it seems like it’s gotten a lot cooler since I left.

Have you been to Charlotte? What’s your favorite part?

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