Our trip was originally planned with just the two girls, as Davis had his Spring Break a week early at UA. Magan and I talked about it for a long time, knowing that Sam was working, but Davis could be with us at least for a couple of days. There were a couple of items that helped make this work even tho it would be a slight add to the trip budget...1. Davis purchased a season ticket for Six Flags in Atlanta and went the weekend before this trip, which also gave him access to Carowinds. 2. Davis and his buddy Logan helped me fix my battery/starter issue in the van for free, saving me about $300. But really, as we already have seen with Sam, we know we have limited time with our Davis also, so stop being a cheap dad (somehow I also forget how much that boy is saving me on tuition and room costs), and get that boy on this trip! So I sent a text to Davis to see if he had any plans, and if he was ok just flying home by himself on Sunday after a couple of days at Carowinds. Yes, you could say that he was OK with it.
So instead of our trip beginning on the backroads through Harpersville and Pell City on our way through Atlanta, we began with the fun trip up 280 in the early morning traffic to drop Davis' car off at the airport. And yes, there was an accident, but always thankful to not be a part of it, even if it takes a little longer to get through.
I laid out the itinerary early for the girls so that they would know how to pack, and what to pack, and what to expect. But also glad magan took this picture of it, because she would ask me daily what we were doing on that day and what she should wear. My girly with curlies was upset at my weather forecast as she did not pack enough shorts. Oh well, I tried. I really have no memories of the drive up to Charlotte, but do remember that the HOV lanes in downtown ATL were amazing and very nice to help me get through without too much delay.
I am sure there are bad areas as there are in all cities, but Charlotte was really nice driving into the city, and we stayed at the same hotel we were at in 2015, right next to the Panthers football stadium. Glad to have Davis with me to load everything into the room, I parked into the parking garage, and found them unloading in our nice two bedroom suite. Unfortunately, the second room only had one bed, so Davis ended up setting up on the sofa bed that had a slight diagonal slant to it.
As we were leaving that evening, our parking pass would not work at the stall to get our of the garage, so after several tries, we contacted like a facetime support person on the screen. Well, she was no help at all..."Have you scanned your ticket", um yes. "Can you scan it again", ok. "Well that doesn't work, I can't help you any further than that". Wow, I guess she could go back to her instagram scrolling. We were able to back up and scan at another exit that did work. We left to go get dinner at the closest Cracker Barrel, which may have been in one of those worse parts of Charlotte, but it is Cracker Barrel, it can't be that bad...right? We got our normal seat, the big round one right past the check-in table, you know the one. And Ruby sat down and immediately felt the sticky table, then Davis jumped up quickly with a sticky seat substance. But we got some napkins and water and helped clean up the table before eating.
So, you know how mashed potatoes typically would have no bones in them. Well, Belle did not order hers at this Cracker Barrel without bones, so they left them in. Belle also got her meatloaf from the lunch counter she believes as it was room temp, and had no ketchup. Magan is pretty particular about getting the biscuits early, but that did not happen. So...I did have a free entree on my Peg Award app, so I guess there was one win. And as I was paying my bill, apparently they had two people that left without paying theirs. I would say if there is a top 10, maybe top 10% of worst Cracker Barrels, these guys are in it easy. Davis bought candy sticks for everyone, and Ruby was so excited to pick the blue one. Then dropped it on the ground as we were getting into the van. Haha...Oh well, back to the hotel to get ready for our Carowinds trip the next day!
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