Joel, my folks, and I are back from Charlotte, and boy did
we have a blast! This year's Coca Cola 600 was by far the best Joel and I have been to. There was a ton of action, and we had a lot of fun. The drive home got a little long (15 straight hours of driving - yikes), but other than that, everything was perfect. We got down there that Thursday and decided to go grab a bite to eat... we walk in to a restaurant, get seated, and the first thing I see on the menu is a $60 steak... then Joel looked at the burgers... $27 for a hamburger... are you kidding me?! Considering we weren't that hungry anyway since mom packed a whole pantry full of food for the roadtrip, we decided to get up and leave without ordering... jot that one down on my list of "firsts": ) So I led the way on our departure, and as we rounded the corner to leave, the look on the waitress's face was priceless. She looked around carrying her pitcher of water like, "where'd they go"?! If that alone wasn't humorous enough, I tried to lead us on a quick escape out the side door... unfortunately the only place THAT led to was the outdoor patio where a lot more crazy people willing to pay $30 for a burger were seated... whoops! So then it was back inside, and the only way out was the front door... had I not been 1,000 miles and 15 hours away from home, I may have been a bit embarassed, but it was really a hoot! We stayed in an awesome hotel this year... this was the first year I haven't been scared to fall asleep at night: ) And the breakfast there was unreal! We definitely know where we are staying from now on! We spent all day
Friday at different race shops in and around Concord. If you ever want to go to a nascar race, Charlotte is the place to go because that is where all of the big race shops are. Mom and dad were in as much awe as Joel and I were the first year we went. Of course everybody's favorite was Hendrick. I may be partial since I'm a big Jimmie Johnson fan, but I really think Hendrick Motorsports has the best set-up, and the most stuff to see. It was pretty cool when we were at RedBull Racing too because a guy working in the shop saw Joel wearing a Hawkeye shirt, and pulled us back into the shop where all the action is to tell us that he's from Iowa too, and has been working there for 9 years. It's a small world. Saturday was fun too- Mom and I spent over 7 hours shopping while the guys went to the Nationwide race, and we topped off our shopping trip with some delicious cheesecake from the cheesecake factory- YUM. Sunday morning we were tailgating at the track by 9am, and spent all day grilling, chilling, and walking through all of the race trailers and entertainment. The day flew by, and next thing we knew, it was race time!!!! We have pretty perfect seats... we sit in row 1 in turn 4, and can see the entire
track from our seats. Needless to say, mom and dad were pretty tickled with these seats at their very first nascar race: ) Sitting that close, you get covered in tiny little pieces of rubber from the track. I made the mistake our first year wearing white shorts to the race... mom got the worst of it this year. She looked like a dalmation she had so many black speckles all over- I wish I would have gotten a picture of her after the race was over: ) It was so much fun having them along with us! We all really had a blast! Next year it sounds like Ryan & Amanda (Joel's brother & sister-in-law) are coming with us, so we look forward to that too!
(You can click on the pictures to enlarge them)
Joel, my folks, and I are back from Charlotte, and boy did we have a blast! This year's Coca Cola 600 was by far the best Joel and I have been to. There was a ton of action, and we had a lot of fun. The drive home got a little long (15 straight hours of driving - yikes), but other than that, everything was perfect. We got down there that Thursday and decided to go grab a bite to eat... we walk in to a restaurant, get seated, and the first thing I see on the menu is a $60 steak... then Joel looked at the burgers... $27 for a hamburger... are you kidding me?! Considering we weren't that hungry anyway since mom packed a whole pantry full of food for the roadtrip, we decided to get up and leave without ordering... jot that one down on my list of "firsts": ) So I led the way on our departure, and as we rounded the corner to leave, the look on the waitress's face was priceless. She looked around carrying her pitcher of water like, "where'd they go"?! If that alone wasn't humorous enough, I tried to lead us on a quick escape out the side door... unfortunately the only place THAT led to was the outdoor patio where a lot more crazy people willing to pay $30 for a burger were seated... whoops! So then it was back inside, and the only way out was the front door... had I not been 1,000 miles and 15 hours away from home, I may have been a bit embarassed, but it was really a hoot! We stayed in an awesome hotel this year... this was the first year I haven't been scared to fall asleep at night: ) And the breakfast there was unreal! We definitely know where we are staying from now on! We spent all day 
Friday at different race shops in and around Concord. If you ever want to go to a nascar race, Charlotte is the place to go because that is where all of the big race shops are. Mom and dad were in as much awe as Joel and I were the first year we went. Of course everybody's favorite was Hendrick. I may be partial since I'm a big Jimmie Johnson fan, but I really think Hendrick Motorsports has the best set-up, and the most stuff to see. It was pretty cool when we were at RedBull Racing too because a guy working in the shop saw Joel wearing a Hawkeye shirt, and pulled us back into the shop where all the action is to tell us that he's from Iowa too, and has been working there for 9 years. It's a small world. Saturday was fun too- Mom and I spent over 7 hours shopping while the guys went to the Nationwide race, and we topped off our shopping trip with some delicious cheesecake from the cheesecake factory- YUM. Sunday morning we were tailgating at the track by 9am, and spent all day grilling, chilling, and walking through all of the race trailers and entertainment. The day flew by, and next thing we knew, it was race time!!!! We have pretty perfect seats... we sit in row 1 in turn 4, and can see the entire 
track from our seats. Needless to say, mom and dad were pretty tickled with these seats at their very first nascar race: ) Sitting that close, you get covered in tiny little pieces of rubber from the track. I made the mistake our first year wearing white shorts to the race... mom got the worst of it this year. She looked like a dalmation she had so many black speckles all over- I wish I would have gotten a picture of her after the race was over: ) It was so much fun having them along with us! We all really had a blast! Next year it sounds like Ryan & Amanda (Joel's brother & sister-in-law) are coming with us, so we look forward to that too!
1 comment:
I'm glad you guys had such a great time. I'm sure the racing action was nice, but I'm most jealous of the cheese cake! :)
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