hi
we have a 7 hr layover in charlotte before we fly on to sarasota.
any great ideas to while away a few hours??
there are 2 of us and we are in our 50's.

What time of day? Go downtown and walk around seeing the murals/frescoes in the Bank of America HQ. Good places to eat. Museum of Craft+Design and Museum of the New South are downtown. If you want some shopping you could go to SouthEnd nearish downtown, and there are also places to eat there. This is sort of eclectic shopping in designer "booths"--some antiques. Or for BIG shopping take a cab to SouthPark--all the big national stores. Phillips Place is near SouthPark for smaller specialty shops--good eating at Upstream or even Dean and Deluca.

I would add that the Museum of the New South has a wonderful gift shop!

go to southend, and take the tram downtown, its about 5-10 mins, and you can then do both things...Either area is less than 20 mins by cab to the airport....

Birdale Village or downtown Davidson are also great, about 30 mins north of the airport near Lake Norman.

Mint Museum is well-worth a trip.

I'd take a cab Uptown. Then if you want to hop on the light-rail & hit Southend, you can do that as well. You'll only be 15-20 minutes from the Airport.