swampfox43

I think it would make more sense to provide a mini bus to Carolina Place Mall from the the I-485 station, especially on weekends and/or during the Christmas shopping season.

I think a cheaper alternative to Light Rail for getting to places like South Park, the hospitals, etc would be electric streetcar like the one that just opened in Seattle. Here is a great little video showing it's inaugural run. I could easily see one of these going up East Blvd and up East Trade to Elizabeth and Presby Hospital.

One of the biggest improvements IMO, is the fact they are moving the rental cars and returns into the new decks in front of the terminal. No more shuttle from the terminal to the rental car lots. I always enjoy flying into Port Columbus because of this convenient setup and always thought Charlotte should do that. Speaking of parking decks. Orr says they are going to disguise the construction as best possible to keep the area looking as pleasant as possible. I'll be anxious to see how they do that when they demolish the 2 decks in front of the terminal and replace them with 4 story decks. It's going to be very nice when all this is done. One thing I didn't see on the list was a new entrance off I-485. They did say "improved" entrance road upgrades but that was pretty vague. All in all, I am looking forward to the finished product. I've flown around to many airports and always thought Charlotte has one of the nicest. These improvements will definitely keep it high on my list. Now if we can just get Light Rail to the airport......

Andyc I will pm you for sure on the coaster stuff. To answer your question, no, you do not pay per trip around. The fee has actually increased to $37 on weekends (was $33) and $35 on weekdays. I think the number of trips around may depend on your guide. Our guide was willing to take us around more than 6 times but we all pooped out after the 6th run. It is a real workout on the body. So, each guide may vary on what he/she does for their group but you will definitely go around each course more than once. The rental fees for the mountain bikes are separate though. I can't recall the price but I suppose if you had your own bike, it would be free to use the trail.

I can really relate to that. I have been a hardcore roller coaster enthusiasts for almost 20 years. Myself and a few friends would often seek out the newest, highest, fastest coasters traveling the US and abroad, and sometimes we would hit the smaller not so thrilling coasters. I think the hard core whitewater enthusiasts will check it out at least once and hopefully more. I mentioned in a post back in July (same thread) that I met some people from New Zealand and Finland who had specifically added USNWC to their itinerary. I was pretty amazed to hear that.

I am completely sold on the Whitewater park after my experience back in August. Mad_park, you asked why someone in Asheville or Boone would trek down to Charlotte for this experience when they live closer to the real deal. I am sure there are a lot of people in those areas that would feel safer in a man-made controlled enviroment to start off. Once they gain a little confidence, then they may be more likely to run the Nantahala. One may look at an aerial photo (see below) and wonder just how you can get your $35 worth on a 1 mile course. It's actually 2 different courses. I color coded the 2 courses blue and yellow to show the ones not familiar exactly what you get. The purple dots are where I noticed rafters fell out the most. First of all, you have to attend a 30 minute seminar on safety and procedures. You also sign a waiver. Then you get with your appointed guide and head to the loading area which I color coded in bright green. From there, we went on the blue run. This is basically a warm up for the yellow coded run. The blue run is quite fun though. Every trip around is a different experience since you don't follow the exact path each time. Plus, you may actually go down backwards (if you're lucky). We took 3 trips around the blue run and 3 trips around the yellow class 4 run. This is where most people fall out. I think the guide told us they can change them to class 5 if needed. After our 6 trips around, which took over 2 hours, it was getting dark and the lights were coming on. Wow! It really looks nice with the lights. Our guide asked us if we wanted to go around again but we were all beat. It's really a work out so we decided to call it a night. It's well worth the money, regardless of where you live. And The Eddy restaurant is great for a meal or a drink afterwards.

Wonderful photos Dave. I just rode by there today on the way to Target and was able to get a quick glimpse of the greenway construction. My friend, who was driving, wasn't able to take his eyes off the road long enough to see what I was ohhing and ahhing about so now I can just show him your photos. I am curious what the large dirt mounds are for on the Kings Dr section (near the Dunkin Donuts). Is that to be hauled away or are they going to create a new terrain with small hilly burns to block traffic noise.

Andy, what beautiful photos! I have yet to see this particular vantage point. Great job. I am just dying to ride Lynx! I couldn't get on opening day so I am going to try tomorrow night to meet some friends at Jillians. I live about a mile from the 485 station so that should be a nice ride.

I actually found a You Tube clip of Lynx opening day.

On a whim, me and a friend decided to chance getting a ride from the Bland St station. Nada! Every train, north & south, was packed to the gills. I still loved being there watching the trains rolling by. Has anyone else noticed the small crowns at the tops of the light poles? What a nice touch! Here's a small video clip I took today while at the Bland St Station. The quality is not that great (taken from an old digital camera) but you can get a good sense of the train sounds. VIDEO CLIP - Opening day from Bland St Station Sadly, there are the scums that feel they must leave their mark wherever they roam. Not to mention the left over food, even though a trash can was less than 5 feet away.

Yes, it was called Final Approach - The Crash of Eastern 212, by William Stockton. To bring this thread semi-back on topic, just minutes before the crash, the pilot was recorded as pointing out "the new Carowinds theme park" to the co-pilot. It was, if I remember correctly approx 2 minutes after that statement that they crashed.

Another tidbit. Comedian Stephen Colbert's father and 2 brothers were 3 of the casualties of that plane crash. I have a book that I bought off ebay several years ago about the crash of this flight. Can't remember the books name (I'm at work), but it tells the whole story of passengers, survivors, etc. I remember hearing the sirens that day at school and wondered what was happening. My next door neighbor was a nurse and she told us some horrible stories.

Actually, in an even crueler twist of irony, the date that it crashed was Sept, 11, 1974.

A Flying Biscuit opened at Stonecrest Shopping Center this week. I have yet to eat at one so I might just have to check it out. I did go by Zada Janes today. I had already eaten lunch but at least I know where it's at now.

Has anyone tried "Crisp" at the corner of 7th & Pecan? It's where the former Schlotzsky's was and then some deli was there for a short while. The outside looks very inviting with the bright green canopy and outdoor seating. I would have never thought anyone could get an outdoor patio in front of that place since it is so close to the street but they did and it looks very nice what they did. Just wonder how the food is though.

Me & a friend ate at Rooster's on Morrison Blvd Sat. Love the atmosphere, and if you like the bird Rooster, they have an entire wall dedicated to them. Great menu selection, and a huge wall-o-wine. The place is a tad pricey but we kinda expected that. Incredible salads, and the food was very nice and the service was exceptional (Chad, out waiter).

I've been wondering if all the land clearing along the creek near Park Rd & Selwyn is part of the Greenway project. Anyone know?

If anyone would like an incredibly good deal on a private raft for 6 (or less), PM me. We bought 2 rafts back in August and never used the 2nd one and doesn't look like we will. The date and time can be changed.

For those that like 131 Main on Ardrey Kell, they are opening a new location in the former French restaurant (can't remember the name) on the corner of East Blvd & Kenilworth. I've eaten at 131 Main several times and really like it. Great salads, the best sweet tea and the pork chops were as big as a baby's head! I wonder why the French restaurant didn't make it?

^As well, but I must add that the Charlotte DoT does a downright pitiful job on many of the cities surface streets. Sure, you can go down Queens, Providence and a handful of others all day long and everything is neat & tidy. Try going down S. Blvd (South of Tyvola to I-485) for example, and you can't help notice miles of litter strewn alongside the road right up against our big ole light rail line. Yeh, that's a nice way to advertise a billion dollar boondoggle!! Also, practically every major intersection suffers from the 4 corner debris fields (gravel, car crash debris, etc) syndrome. And while coming back from the Toyota dealer today I noticed 2 bus stops on Sharon Rd West without trash containers and a mountain of garbage just laying on the ground right under the bus stop sign. Pitiful!! And while I'm at it, any stretch of sidewalk not attached to a residence or business is rarely maintained. One of my co-workers had to call the C DoT twice in a year because her children couldn't even walk the sidewalks home from A.G. Middle School down Runnymede Lane. The weeds were 4-6 feet high! It took them 2 weeks to respond and they did a half-ass job of cutting the weeds. Of course, in typical Charlotte fashion, the litter was also chewed up by the mowers making an even bigger mess which is still visible to this day. Disgusting and downright embarrassing!! Let's face it, we are a great city that suffers from one of the worst maintained road systems in the entire USA and there appears to be no relief in sight, ever! Speaking of interstate litter.... The Charlotte Observer has done more than one article in the last year about our disgusting interstate litter problem and said that supposedly in May of this year, the company ICA was to take over the litter maintenance of the area interstates. Here we are 4 months later and they look worse than ever. Did something happen? Did the "deal" fall through with ICA. Maybe they took one drive around 485 and skipped town. I really thought we were on the right track for a while but no progress has been made whatsoever. I apologize for getting on my soapbox here. My rants don't mean I do not love it here in Charlotte. I've been here over 40 years and have seen this sleepy little town explode. It's been fun but it has also been disastrous in other ways. My hope is that one day we will have city leaders that really care about the groundlevel appearance of our city.

I'll ditto that. Charlotte has the worst interstate litter I have seen and I have been to very many mid-size and large cities in the US and abroad. I recently had some guests in from Columbus, OH and Austin, TX. This was their first visit to Charlotte and they really loved it. As we were traveling around on the interstates one of them made the comment "do they every clean the litter here?"....

Seeing how many of the strip clubs have mob ties, they are probably too afraid to protest them. Just my opinion.

Sunday, July 15th, I spent the good part of the day at the incredible Whitewater Center. I met people from Australia, and Finland who said they specifically added this stop on their itinerary of American tourist attractions. I decided to take my little Canon G5 (nuthin' fancy here) and create a "Faces of Whitewater" theme. I wanted to capture facial expressions as best I could although sometimes I just had to zoom and shoot and hope for the best since I couldn't see the display screen clear enough to center the photo. I added a couple non face shots to the mix. This is the starting point where you board your raft. In the photo below, they are actually going backwards and attempting to right the raft. This girl fell out when the raft hit a wave. You actually climb the conveyer lift twice during a single circuit Cresting the top of the conveyer lift. OMG a 200 ft drop!!!

I read in the CBJ today that Bill Diehl, who owns his law firm in the "Trump" block on S. Tryon, isn't interested in selling. He says he has had no face-to-face talks with any of the Trumps and has no interest in moving. Could this be the holdout that stumps the Trump? Let's Make A Diehl, Bill!!

I work with a lady that moved to Charlotte 2 years ago from Los Angeles. She is in her late 40's and has lived in that area most of her life. She wanted to move to the east coast so she and her fiance visited many different cities. I think she mentioned Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, Norfolk, Wilmington and Charlotte. Obviously they opted for Charlotte but said they were convinced long before the move that this was going to be the place they ended up settling in. She said even in LA she new friends that had friends or relatives here and often talked about how much they liked it. She went back to visit her family a few weeks ago and after fighting through "traffic snarls and snobby people" (her quote), she was quickly reminded as to how much more she loved it here.