Visiting the Carolinas and Washington DC with Gordon

At the Capital Mall.

Shelly and I took a recently took a 10 day trip back east to visit Gordon in his new home in Charlotte, NC. Flying out was uneventful, we did use Uber for the first time, that went well.

We arrived in the early evening so we had time to stroll into a neighborhood not far from Gordon's  condo and have some dinner. Gordon lives in a nice area a little out of "Uptown" Charlotte. There are planty of cafes and bars and clubs and such.

First night's dinner.

After a few days seeing the sights around Charlotte we drove up to Washington D.C. This was our very first visit to this city. Gordon had visited it several times so he acted as our guide. We stayed in a hotel in Alexandria that was right next to the Metro line, and took the Metro into town. That first evening we visited the Capital Mall and were stricken by the scale of it! The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial were so impressive.

Washington Monument as viewed from the Lincoln Memorial.

Caught a glimpse of the Jefferson Memorial.

The weather that first night had been wonderful, but rain came in the next couple of days. Not heavy enough to ruin any of our plans since most of our next days' activities were indoor tours. We visited the Supreme Court building the next day, followed by a visit to our Representative's office for a tour of the Capital the day after that. Our rep wasn't in at the time of our visit, (no biggie since I've never voted for the guy!), but we did manage to visit a friend's son who is an aide for a Southern California Representative. It was really fun to visit with him and hear of some of his takes on his job!

There is just too much to see in this town to cover it in just 3 or 4 days, we will have to come back.

Back in north Carolina we spent a day visiting some of the many breweries in town. No shortage of craft beer here! Good food, too, especially the BBQ. We took day to go trap shooting and a hike on a trail at Crowders Mountain State Park, a popular hiking and climbing location outside of Charlotte. Shooting was a lot of fun!

At the trap range.

On Crowder Mtn, that's Gordon's GF, Cathryn behind me.

 The trail climbs up to the top of the peak and affords a wonderful view of the country with Charlotte just visible in the distance.

The view from the top.

Shortly after returning to Charlotte, we were on the road again, this time heading south to Charleston S.C. Charleston is the quintessential antebellum city with a large number of old and historic homes and buildings in it's old town.The BBQ is even better in Charleston than it is in Charlotte!

Lots of Civil War history around here as well. Strolling around town we came across a full sized replica of the CSS Hunley, a very early submarine. Unfortunately for the crews of the Hunley, the little vessel proved to be deadlier to the Confederates that to the Federal Navy, it sank 3 time, killing 3 different crews who are all now buried in Charleston!

Me and the Hunley.

Speaking of the Civil War, Fort Sumter is also in Charleston Harbor, and we took a cruise to visit the old fort. The fort was actually in use up through the end of WWII, and there is a large section that was added after the Civil War, still, there's a bit of the old fort left and it's a pretty interesting place to visit.

Finally, with Hurricane Watches issued and voluntary evacuation orders posted, it was a good time to head back to Charlotte!

Time to go!

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF OUR TRIP!

After an interesting drive back to Charlotte, we spent our last days with Gordon, doing a little furniture shopping with him to make his place a little more comfortable. It was great to visit with Gordon, hope we see him again soon!