Christmas Eve in Charlotte, NC (December 24, 2011)

Took a motorcycle ride (some more photos on on my "Racing with the Wind" Blog) to Charlotte, NC. Second ride in two days, it was a much cooler, and more overcast day, but bundled up I rode to one of my favorite cities. On this Christmas Eve, the Panthers were playing Tampa Bay at Bank of America Stadium seen at left. I did not attend this game (though I have been to many games in the past)  but enjoyed being around "football people"-they are always a very interesting and lively crowd. Not a huge crowd on hand for this game so close to the big day coming up tomorrow.

 Charlotte has many museums, in that it is common to Richmond, and like Richmond many of them are new. At left is the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture. Outside of the building is based on "quilt designs from the Underground Railroad era and woven textile patterns from West Africa", I just think its cool. In the background to the right in the photo is the Westin Hotel, which is also a very interesting building. Many of the museums (but not all) are centered in this area of Tryon Street -so there is a lot to see centered in this area.   

 Also near the museums is "The Green". Places to eat range from upscale to more modest fare. Some really interesting art can be seen there,  in the 1.5 acre park such as these fish at left. Lots of fun and funny stuff. I can hands down suggest eating at Matt's Chicago Dog..its cheap, and I am of the opinion that the best hot dogs are made in Chicago, though I am sure many will disagree with me (and that is fine...never met a hot dog that I did not like!). Also near the park is the new Wells Fargo Museum where you can see an actual period stagecoach, and some other cool stuff free, which is neat. 

Uptown Charlotte is pretty cool. Heading back down Tryon Street I saw some really cool buildings. While most of Charlotte is shiny and new there are (especially on this street) some buildings dating to the 1920s. There are also some very old churches going back even earlier than that. While Charlotte does tend to bulldoze the past, it does like to keep its old churches intact. There are some very interesting areas in and around the city. I love to explore Charlotte and being gone so often, it is remarkable to see the changes that happen-for this city if nothing else does not stay still.
I have read this week that North Carolina remains the #2 state for new arrivals in the US; many people continue to move here for the great climate, and the growth that has come here. Though things have slowed down the last few years and the unemployment rate is certainly nothing that Richmond would smile at, better days will be coming soon, and hopefully very soon.  

Final photo at left is of "Firebird" which is a sculpture by Niki de Saint Phalle. The sculpture is 17 feet tall and covered in mirrored and colored glass. It stands in front of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art which has a large collection of art (1,400 works) by artists including Warhol, Picasso, Calder and many others. As it was a private collection, only a handful of the art has ever been on public display.
Also in the area is the Mint Museum of Craft +Design, quite a few performing arts centers on Tyron Street and also the very fine Discovery Place Science Center. The NASCAR Hall of Fame is just a few blocks over as well.
I enjoyed my visit to Charlotte and hope you have enjoyed these photos, as well as from Richmond as well. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and the best one ever this 2011. In my next post will be showing a few sights from Louisville, Kentucky, will be visiting my hometown right after Christmas for a few days, and that is a most interesting city as well with a lot in common with Richmond, Va in my opinion. Be looking for that in the next few days!   

 

Christmas Lights in Concord and Kannapolis (December 23, 2011)

 Got out with my wife Patty last night to see some of the sights in Kannapolis and Concord, NC. Like this house in Concord, NC on Union Street with the balls suspended in the air. Union Street is always a neat street to check out, lots of sights and some of the old elegant houses do a remarkable job of putting lights out as well as other decorations. Many of the houses are decorated much like those in Richmond's Monument Avenue area. Union Street is one of the oldest streets in Concord, many of the founders of the city lived there back in the early days of this city. 

This is one of the displays at Village Park in Kannapolis, NC. I liked this display, it changed to the music and put on quite the light show (it is seen here "at rest"). Kannapolis once was a huge mill town, it was the home to Cannon Mills and employed many thousands. That was still going when I first got to North Carolina, but it soon went out of business and those massive buildings were torn down. It is now the home to the NC Research Center which is quite impressive but is so far not the job generator that everyone was hoping for. Still, who knows what the future will bring.   

 Patty and I took the small train ride around Village Park to see the many light displays. It was really neat and we enjoyed it a great deal. The park is very nice as is often a center of events in Kannapolis from concerts to firework displays and to other events of interest. Kannapolis is a nice little town, and is most famous as the hometown of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Nice area to explore with a lot of interesting sights.
Many of the houses in the downtown area are mill houses, which were built for the workers in the mills and later sold to the workers. 

This is Cannon Village (or what was called Cannon Village)-once a sort of outlet mall area, now some stores remain, and some offices for the NC Research Center which starts at the end of this road.
I have enjoyed the Christmas lights in this area and also once again this year the fantastic lights in the Richmond, VA area. I enjoy the sights and sounds of the season, and this has been a most remarkable one for me, and I hope also for all of you.
Best wishes to all for a very Merry Christmas and a season of joy and peace!

Badin Lake (December 23, 2011)

 After a few days of rain, finally sunshine broke out and got in a motorcycle ride with my friend Phil (seen at left on his Star Motorcycle). Phil used to be my boss when I worked here in Concord-now we just ride when I am in town. We are at Badin Lake which is in the town of Badin, NC.
Badin is a very small town, founded in 1913. Alcoa took over a factory there, and ran it until 2007. The remains of the factory (looks like it may be in the process of being torn down) still dominate the small town. I believe the population may be something on the order of 2000 people, give or take a few. 

 This is me, on my Kawasaki Vulcan 1500...I often mention it, but don't often have photos of it on this site (or of me for that matter). I have had this motorcycle since 2005, and have been on a number of great rides and adventures on it. Planning to take it to Charlotte tomorrow in fact, love riding around the city, there is a lot to see and do there. With Christmas shopping in full swing, and of course the traffic from everyone getting off work today, we thought it a good idea to stick to the two lane backroads. There are many small towns in this area, and its also really scenic riding in the Badin/Albemarle area.

Here at Badin Lake, there are a number of seagulls. Local lore is that they really made it here in great numbers on the winds of Hurricane Hugo a few years ago. Funny birds, who will put on a real air show for you if you toss some chips into the air-soon you will have quite a gathering circling you. Sans chips these birds seemed content to let me take their photo.
Badin Lake was made by Alcoa in 1917. It has 115 miles of shoreline. The water system has long been a moneymaker for Alcoa, but the company and the State of North Carolina are currently in conflict over the water rights and that is a big subject in the state.  

Tacky (and Not so Tacky Lights) Part 3

Another weekend in Richmond, another visit to see the Tacky Lights Tour. This is the third night out, and again some remarkable Tacky (and not so Tacky) lights to check out and gaze at in wonder. This house at left was at 9716 Wendhurst and was a blaze of color and light. It is remarkable the work and effort that goes into these houses. There was a steady stream of cars and people to check it out, and I was among them, though parked the car and walked up to it. Sure enjoy the many sights to be seen, and grateful for Richmond.com which has the guide on line where you can check the houses out before heading out.

 As I have mentioned in a previous post, there are some amazing looking trees in Richmond this time of year, and they are unlike any I have seen in my other cities that I have lived in-or live in part of the time. This tree was just off Cary Street. Cary Street has some very fine old houses, and while they are hardly Tacky, they do have some fantastic decorations to check out as you drive along the street. In fact tonight made my second visit to the area, I just like to see all the places decorated for the Christmas season and I like that old style of decorating. Some lights but also wreaths and candles which makes for some very elegant sights.

This was on Monument Avenue, and I thought it was very cool. I had just read about it and thought it would be hard to find, but it was very easy. Nice Caddy with a carload of toys off to a Christmas adventure. Monument Avenue made the Tacky Light Tour list, and this was my first year to drive down and see the sights along it. I was glad that I did because it was very neat...not the blaze of lights at so many places, but again as with Cary Street some very elegant houses with a touch of the eclectic as well. Plus, it was neat to see the big monuments all lit up at night too-not seasonable but certainly very cool.

This was in the front yard of a Monument Avenue house, and while there is no snow (yet) made for a good wintertime display. I liked this a great deal. I would drive a little bit, get out and walk, and then drive down a little bit more to see some of the houses.
They say that Monument Avenue is one of the most beautiful streets in America, and I have to say that I agree with that statement. Lots of unique houses, and many have a long history. In fact that area has a lot of things to offer with many nearby museums and other places of interest.

Finally, another Monument Avenue house which shows what I am talking about as far as a bit more elegant decoration. I really enjoyed all the sights today and in the past few weeks to be seen around the city, and hope you have enjoyed seeing some of them with me here.
I will be bringing a few more from places near and far as the Christmas season rolls along. So far it has been very good weather wise and otherwise too, and I hope it is the same for you and yours as the day gets closer. Thanks for visiting my page and hope you can come back again soon! 

Lights and Sights in Carolina

 Patty and I took a tour of the Concord and Kannapolis area in the car on a cold December 10 night. After a stop at Starbucks for some coffee and with Christmas music playing on the radio, we checked out some of the local houses. This one is a favorite of ours, it is on Union Street in Concord, NC. That is one of the oldest streets in the city and was once the home of many of the regions movers and shakers. I love to see this house, and look forward to it being lit up every year. There are many fine houses on the street-not quite tacky lights tour as in Richmond, but a great Christmas display.   

 A very fine house is seen here in Kannapolis, NC. The owner did a good job of lighting it up for the holiday, and I enjoyed the house here. Kannapolis has a good light display in the area formerly known as "Cannon Village" and also in a park downtown which has a lot of nice light displays. In fact they had a nighttime Christmas parade which we did not go to-so will bring some of those sights in a future post this month. The houses though in the area have some really nice displays-if a bit lower in wattage than those to be found in the Richmond area. I plan to see some more of those in the RVA this weekend.  

Richmond does a very artistic job with trees, and some of them are really remarkable. This tree in North Carolina (again in Concord) is typical of what you tend to see here. While perhaps not as arty as some I have posted in Richmond, it is nonetheless really impressive and fun to see over the Christmas season.
I hope you have enjoyed these photos, I will be bringing more both from Richmond and from North Carolina in the next few weeks-and perhaps if all goes well even a quick look at Christmas in Louisville, Kentucky. Best wishes to all for a very Merry Christmas! Thanks for visiting! 

Tacky (and Not So Tacky Lights)...Part 2

Took a Sunday drive to see more Tacky Lights, and enjoyed again some of the wonderful lights done by the residents of Richmond and the surrounding areas. This house for instance is very fine, and is not part of the "Official" houses of the Tacky Light Tour, but is typical of many that I came across during my travels this December 4 evening.
Amazes me (I do a bit of decorating myself to my home in North Carolina) to consider the amount of work that does into these houses, not to mention the cost of the materials as well as the monthly payments to Dominion Power that displays like this have to cost.

This house is on the Tacky Light Tour, and is located at 8009 Summerbrooke Ct which is just off Hull Street Road. It is one of my favorites over the years that I have been here, and I always get a smile when I see this place. Many people also came to walk up and stare at wonder at the house. It takes a considerable amount of time to take it all in-there is so much to see! Not just the front yard is covered with lights and light displays, the back yard as you will see in the photo below also has a number of amazing light displays.
As much fun as it is to see the houses, it is often even more fun to see the people looking at them.
As I promised, this is the back yard of the house at 8009 Summerbrooke Ct. The owner of the house came out and informed us that the tree seen here alone has more than 200,000 lights. He said that it takes his family and himself some seven weeks to get it all in place and hooked up. I did not ask him what his electric bill was, but I am sure it would be most impressive.
Blessed with some great weather over the past two days, I have really enjoyed the Tacky Light Tour. I hope before the holiday is over to see even more of it, as it covers most of the city and surrounding areas it would be quite a task to see all of the houses in the area. There are also some other light displays that I would like to see over the holiday-or during holidays to come. After all, I will be in Richmond for a while longer and a few more seasons to come.
Coming up in my next post though, will be some photos and stories of some places in North Carolina-living in two worlds as is my lot, I get to show some different views of what they do in the Charlotte area, and will be bringing that soon. It is a very neat thing to be able to enjoy Christmas from two different cities in two different states.   

Tacky (and Not So Tacky Lights)...Part 1

 Got out after an afternoon of shopping (ugh, but did have good luck out getting gifts) to check out some of the Christmas lights of Richmond. Using the Tacky Lights Tour info at Richmond.com I was able to see some really remarkable sights tonight. This tree is at 7854 Jahnke Road and is really a remarkable sight. You don't see trees done like this in Louisville, Kentucky or Charlotte, NC...this type is (apparently) a unique sort of Richmond take. I have seen a few like this, but this is the best example of the type I have seen over the last few years that I have been in this city. 

 Saw this house from across a lake, so not sure where it is located street wise...but it is very near the amazing houses at 9606 Asbury Court (which will be coming into your view next). I love this house though, for one thing blue is the perfect Christmas color to me (or at least one of my favorites) and I love the way it was reflected off of the lake as well. Tacky Light Tour happens in all sorts of weather, for this December 3 night it could not have been better...clear skies and close to 50 degrees. Good night to get out, wander around and see some amazing houses. I am sure a lot of work went into this one. 

 However for sheer hard work, for maximum impact, for total visual overload-here is Christmas with a sledgehammer! The two houses on Asbury Court, just off of Patterson Avenue (and just in Henrico County) are nothing short of remarkable. Limos, tour buses, and many people who drove by or walked up as I did marveled at the sights of these houses. Fun to just spend a lot of time (and I did) checking out the sights at these side by side houses. You could spend hours checking out all the items that you would find there. A favorite yearly visit to these houses is a major part of my Christmas season in Richmond.

Had to make a stop at The Jefferson Hotel. I posted a photo of this area just a few posts ago (in late November) but this is the Christmas tree there. I am told it is a popular place for Richmond to stop in and check out this area. The Jefferson is certainly a beautiful hotel, and a very old one at that. It was brought back from the dead a few years ago, and it is just a remarkable sight over the holidays.
There was a private party going on, so did not get to see it real close up, but there are a few more weeks till the holiday is over, and sure I will get another chance. The big staircase there is also a remarkable thing to check out, as I noted the place has a lot of history.
Downtown Richmond had a lot of decorations. I am planning to take a drive soon down Monument Avenue, that should be something to see and I am looking forward to checking that out. So much to see and so little time!

  Finally, I did make it out to the James Center. I like that area during the holidays-The Grand Illumination was just Friday night, and like how the buildings are lined out in white (the skyline is striking from I-95) and there are a lot of things to see in the center as well as a really nice tree there, as well as carriage rides, and just a lot of people taking it all in. I also enjoyed a electric train layout-fun to see the trains running in there, nothing reminds me off Christmas past like train sets. If you are a boy you probably had one way back when.
Anyhow, a typically great night of Christmas lights-for it is the season after all, and tomorrow night looks like another good night to get out and check out how Richmond does the holiday season!