Time to get your Halloween on...

Halloween in Charlotte

Halloween in NoDa is really something to see. Everyone does up their neighborhoods to make it fun with street parties, 5K's and everything in between.

I love Halloween but haven't celebrated it in the last few years. I got inspired by my new friends Stephen and Dina and decided to do it up right this year as Beatlejuice.

Here are a few pics to get your Halloween on.

My impression of Lauren Boebert

Beatlejuice cane

Celebrating with the Riddler, Wednesday and Candy Floss at the Cork Vault

NC road trip...kind of

It had been sooo loooong since I had a break, I was really looking forward to taking the last week off before the long Labor Day weekend. I decided I would to outside my comfort zone and rent a car for a road trip to see some of North Carolina. 

I’ve lived in Charlotte for almost 9 months and really haven’t seen anything else of the state. I decided I would go to Asheville and then drive across the state to Wilmington. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out the way I planned.

After a shaky start learning to drive a car again…I took off for Asheville, Located in the blue ridge mountains, the drive from Charlotte was really pretty and reminded me of my youth in Colorado for our family treks through the Rocky Mountains. Although not nearly as high as the Rockies, the Blue Ridge is quite lovely. I was hoping for cooler weather, but it was still very hot!

Asheville

I stayed in downtown Asheville, a mixture of art community with college town feel. UNC Asheville is very close to downtown. In between the college town bars are quaint bistros and shops, there are several art galleries, circling down to the French Broad River to the River Arts district, filled with small artist studios. 

Momentum Gallery

Many buildings had murals

Even the city hall buildings had a very artsy feel

River Arts District

There are several sections in the district combining studios and galleries; from Riverside Studios to Urban Art, Wedge and Roberts Studios closer to town, next to the Depot Studios followed around to Riverview Station on the way to the famous Biltmore Village.

After several hours of walking I was glad to get back to the hotel and relax. I started watching the news and realized Wilmington was being hit with a storm and then the hurricane from Florida was going to hit during my stay. At that point I decided to cancel Wilmington leg of the trip. Needless to say, I was disappointed, but didn’t want to get caught in bad weather, so back to Charlotte the following day.

River rafting on the French Broad

Rosie's Garden

Great place to have an ice tea or glass of wine

I’d heard about Rosie's Garden and wanted to check it out, so here are some photos of this beautiful place in the heart of Charlotte. Not Wilmington and the beach, but I’ll get there someday.

 

North Carolina Wine Tour

Haze Gray Winery

Now, I’m not a wine connoisseur by any means, but I have done my fair share of wine tasing and drinking over the years, most recently in Portugal. 

Portuguese wine is really good and delivered all over the world. North Carolina wine on the other hand is fairly new by vineyards standards. In the 90’s when people finally came to the reality that smoking was bad for you, many of the tobacco farms in North Carolina switched to vineyards. Today there are over 400 vineyards in North Carolina and over 200 tasting rooms. Most grapes in North Carolina are not ready for picking for three years and at one of the tastings we were told the vines are only viable for about 7 years. However, there was some discussion later on the bus, that this isn’t true, so who knows.

On this tour, we (me, four friends and 30 others) travelled to four wineries in the Yadkin Valley north of Charlotte near Lake Norman. I was amazed at how green and lush the valley is and quite rural with small to very large homes on acres and acres of land. I don’t know why this was such as surprise to me, but it was.

Haze Gray Winery

The Haze Gray Winery story is heart felt (as it is with most wineries). People don’t start vineyards in North Carolina to make money. This isn’t Napa. Wine making is costly and you must have more than just a passion to be in this business.

The Haze was started by a former Navy pilot (Ted) and his wife (Betty). As such they run a pretty tight ship. When the bus arrived we were shuttled into their wine tasting room where the wine was already poured into small plastic cups with a logo wine glass (we were notified later we could keep the glass). Oddly enough, Betty started with a wine that was a mistake! They didn’t check their filter and the Pinot Grigio they were making ended up with bubbles (not normal). It didn’t taste very good and I thought it was an unusual choice to start with, but Betty was being transparent I guess. One person on our tour actually bought a bottle. He seemed to like it. I really didn’t find any of Haze Gray wines to my liking, but my friend bought a glass of rose to share with us and was really pretty good.

I noticed the vineyard has a rose bush at the end of about every row of vines. Our tour guide suggested the reason was because if the rose bush could survive the elements, the vines would too. He (the tour guide) said this was a myth. It doesn’t have anything to do with a vine or row of vines making it or not.

Hidden Vineyard Winery

The second vineyard, Hidden Vineyard, was a great place and even has a VRBO cabin to rent out.  The wines were better than the first stop and I did get a glass of their wine, Chill, a blush merlot. Many of the others were also tasing and our group did purchase several glasses to have with our lunch. The vineyard is filled with outside tables spattered about the two wine tasing rooms. The owners took over the vineyards and turned it into a winery. Hidden Vineyard had their wine shots in a row so the process of tasting was very quick. The owners are two retired teachers. Since this vineyard was established by selling grapes to other wineries it might be less to run, but it still takes so much money. I was surprised teachers could afford to take their passion to the next level, and yet they have done a great job in making it work.

Adagio Vineyards

At the third vineyard we actually saw the winery in action; oak barrels, steel containers, filling bottles and labeling. Mandy, our host was very enthusiastic, it not only takes owners with the passion for wine, but also employees. 

Mandy showed us how she takes the filled wine bottle with wine and then corks and labels it. Along with every wine (up to 8 tastes), she gave us detained information about the wine, pairings, etc. Unfortunately at this point some of the attendees were well pretty buzzed and rowdy. I thought their Cabernet Sauvignon was the best of the group, but their Petit Verdot was also good. Still not thrilled enough to buy a bottle.

This winery is owned by two doctors and musicians. They will have events at the winery such as weddings and concerts (Judy is a violinist). It was mentioned by our tour guide there are some deep pockets at this winery and I suspect the events do offset costs.

Zoom in to see the grapes beginning to bloom

Davesté Vineyards

We were supposed to only have three tastings, but the tour guide decided to make one more stop at a local (closer to Charlotte) winery, Davesté Vineyards in Troutman near Lake Norman. It is more of a high end, rather than boutique wineries we had been visiting. Not sure of ownership or any tastings really. Some in our group bought glasses and then we had our own tasting. The grounds were lovely highlighted by a waterfall. It seems because it is so close to the suburbs of Charlotte, many  people will bring their families and have a picnic while sharing a bottle.

I am so thankful to my new Charlotte friends for inviting me on this wine journey of North Carolina. It was a great way to spend a Saturday even if I don’t ever buy or drink anymore North Carolina wine.

Charlotte Art Scene

 Namaste Art Drop

On my birthday I attended a Namaste Art Drop at NoDa Divine Brewery. The brewery picks a piece of mural art to showcase and then uses the artwork for a new beer in the brewery. Each square piece is from a different artist.

Here are the artists that created the piece.

NoDa Mural Art

NoDa construction is booming and art plans to be a center piece with murals across parking and apartment buildings.

African American Digital Art Studio

I attended the opening of a new digital art studio in the Harvey Gantt African American museum. Several artists talked about how they use digital media to create and showcase art. Here are some of my favorites at the museum...

Art and Earth

St Paddy's Day Parade Charlotte, NC

Okay, I realize coming from Boston my idea of a St Paddy’s Day parade is grand, so I have to say I was taken aback by the lack of interest. In Boston, you’d be straining to see the parade at least an hour before it starts, but in Charlotte, there was very little interest until the parade actually started.

I got a pretty good seat for the parade and people were having a good time. The crowds were low (perhaps people were all at the pub crawl).

The parade started at 11 at 7th street and Tyron and traveled to 3rd Street. 

Some people didn’t get the memo the parade was happening and cars were removed off Tyron Street. 

The usual suspects were in sight; fire fighters, Irish dancers and catholic school floats.

It could be the lack of interest is due to this being the first time since COVID the parade was allowed to take place. It was a nice parade either way.