Days 4 & 5, May 26 & 27, 2023
The last couple of days have been a mix of super busy and then super relaxing & then super anxious & then doing it all over again. I guess that’s what you get when you are at an event that is outside and therefore completely reliant on the weather to cooperate.
We spent Friday morning at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It’s always so funny to see the differences in my kids at places like museums. Logan is a lot like Johnny & me, he wants to look at every exhibit, read every placard, and listen to every recorded audio there is available. Macy, on the other hand, could care less. She wants to zoom straight through and gets very bored when we stop to actually focus on an area. Noah, well, he’s clueless most of the time. He spends his time asking random questions or wanting to know what the next plans are, you know “What time is lunch?” “where are we eating?” “Is there a gift shop here?”.
Overall, the NASCAR Hall of Fame was well worth the stop. One of my favorite sections was what they call “Glory Road”, which is an area with actual cars displayed like they are racing on a track. The track has different degrees of banking, just like a real track, and there are areas where you can step on it and see what it’s like to try to walk on super steep banking. The cars selected to be on the track (at least for right now) are a variety of cars from the different eras of NASCAR. We explored 4 stories of NASCAR history from the moonshiners to the multi-billion dollar sport it has evolved into. Even if your not a big race fan, if you are in the Charlotte area, it’s worth the stop.
We left downtown Charlotte & the NASCAR Hall of Fame a little after noon. That left us time to hit up Fan Day at Hendrick Motor Sports. HMS had set up all kinds of fun activities for fans at their facilities. Once again I saw the difference in my kids. Logan was immediately drawn to the demonstration of building an engine, Macy found the table set up with coloring sheets and crayons for the kids, and Noah was just worried about where we were going next (again, I think this had something to do with food). Once we left HMS we went to find the RFK race shop and some lunch and finally, a quick nap before the evening activities began.
Yep, that could have been a full day but we still had a race to attend! The Craftsman Truck Series was racing Friday evening. The race didn’t even start until after 8pm, if you know me, you know that is way too close to bedtime for me!! I toughed it out though and we watched a great 150-mile race that was won by one of my favorite truck drivers and former series champion, Ben Rhodes. I say this every time I’m at a race, there is nothing like sitting in the stands as these powerful machines speed by at breakneck speeds.
Saturday we braced ourselves for a full day of rain. We were supposed to watch the cars in the Xfinity Series race but the rain canceled any chance of that happening. So, instead, we went to the only place families on vacation go when it rains on vacation, the mall!! Yep, there is still a very active mall here close to us in Charlotte. This was truly an adventure for us. I didn’t realize my kids had never actually experienced a busy, still relevant, indoor mall. I think they felt like they’d hit the jackpot. Every store they love, plus some they didn’t know existed, all in one spot. So, a few new clothes & a Lego set later and we were off to hit up Walmart for a restock on groceries.
We finished off the evening relaxing in the camper, listening to the rain pitter-pat on the roof. Let me tell you, that makes for some good sleeping. Now, let’s hope the weather cooperates on Sunday, otherwise, we have to start adjusting all our plans.