At ten past five on a Friday afternoon we were sitting in a church parking lot in McAdenville with the engine off, eating peppermints and watching the sky go from blue to gray. Twenty minutes later, every tree on the street in front of us lit up at once, red and green and white, and a little boy in the next car screamed like he'd won something. That was the whole reason we drove two hours.
McAdenville is a small mill town just west of Charlotte, off I-85, and it calls itself Christmas Town USA. Every December the town strings lights on nearly every tree along the main roads and around the lake in the middle of town. It's been going for decades, and it's free. You can drive through it in the line of cars or you can park and walk.
The traffic trick we learned
Everyone I asked about McAdenville told me the same thing: the car line is terrible. On weekend nights in December, people sit for an hour or more on the interstate exit and the roads leading in, crawling along with their headlights off to see the lights. It's a nice tradition. It also burns gas and patience.
What we did instead was two things. First, we went on Friday, December 12. We're both off Fridays, so we could leave Maxton at 2:30 in the afternoon and get there before the evening rush. Second, we didn't drive the route at all. We parked before dark at one of the churches in town that lets visitors use their lot for a donation, put $10 in their box, and walked. Walking the loop around the lake and down the main street took us about an hour and a half at an easy pace, and we passed hundreds of cars that weren't moving.
The walk itself was the best part. You hear the music from the houses, you see the lights reflected in the lake, and people are in a good mood. A church table was selling hot chocolate, and we bought two cups for $6. I'd recommend wearing real gloves. It dropped into the 30s by seven and my fingers were stiff on the cup.
Getting out before the crowd
The other half of the trick is leaving early. By 6:30 the line of cars coming in was backed up as far as we could see, but the roads going out were nearly empty. We were back on I-85 in ten minutes and on US-74 heading home before most of the cars had even reached the first lights.
We were both hungry by then, and I wasn't going to spend real money on a sit-down supper after a week that had already included our one-night stay near Pinehurst. So we pulled off on US-74 and got supper at a fast-food place: two burgers off the value menu, one large fries to share and two waters. It was $9 with tax. Wes declared it the best burger of the year, which tells you how cold he was.
We were home by nine. I also picked up a small tin of Christmas candy for Mr. Earl at a store in town for $6.
What the evening cost
Maxton to McAdenville is about 115 miles each way. With a little driving around town it came to roughly 240 miles. At 31 miles per gallon that's just under 8 gallons. We paid $2.89, so gas was $23.
- Gas: $23
- Church lot donation: $10
- Hot chocolate: $6
- Supper on the way home: $9
- Christmas candy for Mr. Earl: $6
- Total: $54
Fifty-four dollars for a Christmas evening we'll talk about for a while. It wasn't really a weekend trip, more of an outing, but it came out of the trip account and goes on the list. Counting the Pinehurst night the week before, that makes twelve trips this year.
If you go, check the town's dates before you leave. The lights only run for a few weeks in December, and they're turned on at dusk every evening. Go on a weeknight if you can, come early, park and walk, and leave before the line gets long. And pack a thermos. I wish I'd thought of that one myself.
June stayed home with Tonya for the evening. I suspect she got more treats than we did.
