Christmas Vacation Narnia Road Trip with Ladybug

Friday, December 15, 2023

Gregg and I have enjoyed a slow staycation this past week. We walked or ran first thing each morning, joined Planet Fitness, hung out at home, binged watched Father Brown cozy mysteries, read, I crocheted and did a bit of writing, and we just relaxed and refreshed. Since he is off until next year, we decided that this next week will be a Christmas vacation road trip with Ladybug, our 13 year old niece.

Her school break began today. We decided to take her on a whirlwind trip since she doesn’t remember seeing snow, and we haven’t seen it since January 2020 (yes, during my Ice Cream 101 trip!) It is always unpredictable whether we’ll have snow but that adds to the adventure.

We began by renting a car this morning. We will miss “Eric” but prefer to not put these additional miles on him. On the way home, Gregg took the rental car home while I went to pick up Ladybug.

Driving on NASCAR Track

The adventure officially began at 10am as we headed north. First destination: Charlotte Motor Speedway to see Christmas lights.

We arrived 5:30ish, at dusk. Perfect timing. By the time we sat in line to pay and then drive onto the track (“fast pass” cars got priority,) it was dark.

The NASCAR race tracks are steep so it was fun to be there, up close and personal. Of course, we were at the bottom (inside) of the track since it takes speed keep aa car from sliding down. And we drove the opposite direction than race cars (we made right hand turns.)

The infield and part of the grandstands were filled with Christmas lights which flashed in sync with music playing on their radio station. The infield also has a place to park and watch a movie on the jumbo-tron. Tonight it was Elf, a holiday favorite.

In-Field Fun

We caught the last portion of the movie after visiting the Christmas Village where we walked through lights, browsed vendor tables, and saw it “snow” bubbles which, when popped, looked like smoke but smelled like baby powder. Before leaving, Gregg bought us double chocolate hot cocoa, fresh, warm caramel corn, and cinnamon roasted pecan to eat in the car.

On our way to the car, we stood by a fire pit for approximately 10 seconds. Did I mention it was COLD? And we hadn’t worn our coats. You’d think we were unprepared Floridians or something.

The final leg of the light show took us up into the grandstands where we drove through tunnels of lights. It was a fun, cheerful, celebratory way to start our vacation.

Tonight we stayed in a Home2Suites in Mooresville, NC. Lights out by 9:30. Alarm set for 6am.

A fun day was had by all. And, by the way…

Happy National Cat Herders Day. (Don’t miss the hysterical EDS Cat Herding Superbowl Commercial at the bottom of this Cat Herders post.)

Stay tuned for the next episode of The Narnia Road Trip. (I’ll explain the name tomorrow. )