Thursday
Jun252009
North Carolina Adventures
Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 10:41AM
Addendum to yesterday's Recession Family Travel Tips:
We family road-tripped to Concord/Charlotte, NC just after school got out in May with three primary missions:
1) Gem mining in Hiddenite, NC - for our 8yo ADHD Phenom, who is an extreme rockhound and avid collector (of rocks)(in our 6th floor condo).
2) Geocaching in the NC outback - for our 14yo Puberty Angst Boy, who is an expert-level geocacher and lives to go search out the hidden treasures stashed all over the place by the high-tech scavenger hunt crowd.
3) Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC - for our 43yo NASCAR Enthusiast.
Not only did we get to visit and tour the racetrack (and gift shop!) in our continuing quest to visit (someday!) all of the active NASCAR Sprint Cup Racetracks (and bring home the tshirts!)...the Charlotte area is the cradle of NASCAR: 80% of Sprint Cup drivers call the area home, and most of the major teams have their shops within an hour's drive of Lowe's Motor Speedway, which is actually in Concord/Cabarrus County. We stopped by the Hendrick Motorsports Complex (drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Mark Martin!) and drove The Dale Trail (stomping grounds of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.) in nearby Kannapolis.
As far as the girls, 11yo Drama Queen and myself, we enjoyed the gem mining, the geocaching and Daddy's continuing NASCAR obsession. We also enjoyed the Discover Mills Mall, near the hotel, home to a NASCAR Speedpark - "the home of full-throttle fun for everyone!" While the boys raced go-carts and mini-cars, we got our ears pierced...and no, while I was tempted in the cradle of NASCAR, with all of this going on, I did not get the NASCAR earrings, not #14, not #19, not #55. How could I possibly decide and commit to just one of my favorite drivers?!
We family road-tripped to Concord/Charlotte, NC just after school got out in May with three primary missions:
1) Gem mining in Hiddenite, NC - for our 8yo ADHD Phenom, who is an extreme rockhound and avid collector (of rocks)(in our 6th floor condo).
2) Geocaching in the NC outback - for our 14yo Puberty Angst Boy, who is an expert-level geocacher and lives to go search out the hidden treasures stashed all over the place by the high-tech scavenger hunt crowd.
3) Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC - for our 43yo NASCAR Enthusiast.
Not only did we get to visit and tour the racetrack (and gift shop!) in our continuing quest to visit (someday!) all of the active NASCAR Sprint Cup Racetracks (and bring home the tshirts!)...the Charlotte area is the cradle of NASCAR: 80% of Sprint Cup drivers call the area home, and most of the major teams have their shops within an hour's drive of Lowe's Motor Speedway, which is actually in Concord/Cabarrus County. We stopped by the Hendrick Motorsports Complex (drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Mark Martin!) and drove The Dale Trail (stomping grounds of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.) in nearby Kannapolis.
As far as the girls, 11yo Drama Queen and myself, we enjoyed the gem mining, the geocaching and Daddy's continuing NASCAR obsession. We also enjoyed the Discover Mills Mall, near the hotel, home to a NASCAR Speedpark - "the home of full-throttle fun for everyone!" While the boys raced go-carts and mini-cars, we got our ears pierced...and no, while I was tempted in the cradle of NASCAR, with all of this going on, I did not get the NASCAR earrings, not #14, not #19, not #55. How could I possibly decide and commit to just one of my favorite drivers?!
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