I will be in Charlotte the weekend of Oct 12-14. It is sort of a girl's weekend away. My friend's daughter and SIL are attending the NASCAR race and we are going to babysit on Saturday night.

My friend had a stroke and will have to go out in a wheelchair. We are staying at the Crowne Plaza on South McDowell. We both enjoy history, architecture, and good food. I have no problem pushing her around any areas of the city.

Can anyone suggest areas for us to visit? We will have Friday afternoon and all day Saturday to see the city. Is public transportation easily accessible if there is someplace we want to visit that is too far to walk?

Our public transportation is sorely missing, although the buses are wheelchair accessible. There is a free trolley that has several routes around the downtown area, but your friend would have to be able to board.
In the downtown area there are two fine museums--The Museum of the New South and the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. These would not be an impossible walk, but you might like to take a cab. Could your children take you all and drop you off? At least on Friday?

Gretchen,

Thanks for the information. I will check out these 2 places. I'm sure my friend's daughter would drop us off any place we wanted to go. I usually walk 2-3 miles a day, so walking doesn't bother me as long as areas are handicap accessible. My friend can walk with a walker, so I'm sure she could board the trolley. That sounds like a good way to see the city. I'll check to see if they pick up at our hotel.

Thanks again for your help.

No, they don't pick up at hotels. It is a city bus system that runs on several N-S, E-W routes. It would not be far from your hotel to get one. I'll look for the routes for you--and make sure it runs on Saturday.

http://www.charlottedining.org/goldrush.htm

Here you go.Trolley maps.

Let us know if you want restaurant suggestions. You might want to go to www.restaruant.com and download some certificates for discount meals a couple of places. If you want to, let me know and I'll give you the code for an additional discount. For example, you might buy a $25 discount for X restaurant for $10. Then with a further 50% discount you pay only $5 for the discount voucher. So you get $25 worth of food for $5. There are several very nice places downtown on this.

Gretchen,

I can't thank you enough for your help. We like American, Mexican and Italian food. Any great coupons would be nice.

I'm sure we will spend some time downtown. I haven't done enough research yet to figure out where our hotel is and what is close by.

We will need to find some place close to the hotel for dinner Saturday evening. That is the night we are babysitting for her 1 year old granddaughter.

Thanks again for taking the time to help!

not sure if BodyWorks will still be at Discovery Place downtown but it was fascinating!

http://www.discoveryplace.org/home/d...place-home.php

That link to restaurant.com is wrong--spelling.
Try this
www.restaurant.com
enter zip code 28203 and you'll get Charlotte restaurants.
There are a few downtown. You may need to just eat at the hotel--or order pizza-since you'll have the baby.
Another possibility is to get a takeout meal at Reid's on Seventh Street--VERY nice wine bar, shop, upscale grocery.

Thanks for your replies. I will check out your suggestions.

I'm hoping to make this a fun trip for my friend. She is coming up on the 6th month anniversary of her stroke and is understandably feeling a bit down. That's why her daughter planned this trip.