I was fortunate enough to have a bit of work travel this week that brought me to the lovely city of Charlotte, North Carolina.  North Carolina will always have a special place in my heart because I attended college at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (go Tarheels!) and I cannot say enough positive things about the state and the people who live there.  Unfortunately, during the four years that I lived in North Carolina, I didn’t explore too much of the state because I just loved Chapel Hill so much but I did visit Charlotte a few times.  That said, I never spent the night there and I hadn’t visited in about six years so the city felt brand new to me.

As you can imagine, the entire city is buzzing with the pending Democratic National Convention but as frantic as things could have been around town, everyone was just as friendly and relaxed as I remembered.  As a part of my trip for work I took a three-hour tour of the city. We explored the areas of NoDa (a hip arts district), Myers Park (fancy pants area), the 4th ward, Uptown (downtown area), and a ton of other places I can’t remember.  What I can say is that I was so caught up in the fantastic history/current events lesson I was getting from our awesome guide that I did not take as many pictures as I should have.  SAD.

Anyway, have a look at the pictures below! Charlotte is so awesome because it’s really on the bubble of being considered a major city in the America.  It’s already the 16th largest city in the US and the second banking city in America behind New York.  It’s also accessible by  two-hour or less flight from most major cities in the Southeast.  There were so many aspects of Charlotte that reminded me of New York with a dash of Southern charm, that I was ready to pack my bags and find an apartment.  A friend of mine probably described the city in the best way possible: “Charlotte is like a 24-year-old woman, who has spent a year in New York, comes back home down South and is ready to show how cosmopolitan she is to all of her friends.  She’s on the verge of really making a name for herself”. I can’t wait to go back!

P.S. If you’re ever in the market for a tour of Charlotte, book with Copperline Tours! I promise this is not an ad, Scott was just a GREAT guide!

Gorgeous Charlotte skyline

Suburbia!

Mini-mansions in Myers Park

One of the first Catholic churches in the south, located in the Uptown district of Charlotte

Victorian-style homes in the 4th ward

Obligatory cloud shot from the flight home 🙂