At 7:05 on Saturday morning, the parking lot at the whitewater center was already half full of trucks with bike racks, and the attendant took our $10 like it was nothing. That ten dollars was the only admission we paid all weekend. Everything after that was trail, river and shade, and it was free.
We went to Charlotte the last weekend of August, Friday the 28th through Sunday the 30th. It's about two hours west of us, a straight shot on US-74. After the Outer Banks earlier in the month, I wanted a cheap trip to bring the year's average back down, and Charlotte turned out to be a good place for that if you skip the expensive parts.
A cheap hotel out by the airport
Uptown hotels on a late summer weekend wanted $180 and up, plus parking. Out by the airport, where the hotels are built for business travelers who leave on Friday, I found an older chain hotel for $56 a night before tax, $126 for two nights with tax. Free parking, a little breakfast, a pool we didn't use and planes taking off over the trees all evening. It was fine for sleeping.
We packed the cooler with breakfast things and sandwich makings from our regular groceries and didn't buy lunch out once.
Greenways in the morning
Charlotte has a network of greenways, paved paths that follow the creeks through the city, and they're free. Friday afternoon we walked part of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway near uptown, where the creek runs through a park between neighborhoods, with bridges, benches and lots of people out with strollers and dogs. We walked about three miles and turned around before the heat got to us.
It was in the mid-90s both days, so we did our walking early. Saturday morning was the whitewater center on the west side of the city. You can pay for rafting, zip lines and climbing there, and those cost real money. We didn't do any of that. The parking fee gets you onto the grounds, and the trail system through the woods along the Catawba River is free. We hiked about four miles on the trails, watched the rafts come down the man-made rapids and sat on the steps near the water with a thermos of tea. By eleven it was too hot, so we left.
Saturday afternoon we took a long nap in the air conditioning. I'm not ashamed of it. When you live in Robeson County you learn that August has two good walking hours a day, one at sunrise and one right before dark, and the rest belongs to the shade. That evening we drove back toward the creek and walked another mile as the heat broke, with the cicadas loud enough to drown out the traffic. Sunday morning we walked a different greenway near the hotel, another couple of miles, before checking out.
One supper out
We ate supper out once, on Saturday night, at a taco place in an old strip mall that I'd read about. Tacos for two and two drinks were $22. Coffee on Sunday morning was $5.
The round trip from Maxton was about 220 miles, plus about 40 miles of driving around the city. At around 30 miles per gallon in city traffic, that's a little under 9 gallons. We paid $3.05, so gas was $27.
- Hotel near the airport, two nights with tax: $126
- Gas: $27
- Whitewater center parking: $10
- Taco supper: $22
- Coffee: $5
- Greenways and trails: $0
- Total: $190
That's $190 for a three-day weekend in the biggest city in the state. We could have spent four times that if we'd gone to a ballgame, eaten uptown or gone rafting. I'm not against any of those things. But what I'll remember is walking under the trees by the river on a Saturday morning before the heat, and that was free.
We're staying home this weekend. Wes's mother turns 70, and there's a fish fry in Pembroke to help with. The trip account can rest, and so can we.
