Beaches Near Charlotte, NC- Love Where You Live
July 26th, 2008 Categories: Things To Do Charlotte
A great feature about our region is its close proximity to the mountains and the beach.
I was very fortunate to visit the beach every childhood summer. I loved the vacation, but not the eight hour drive from Pittsburgh to Virginia Beach.
So imagine how excited I was last week when my family left Mooresville at 9 a.m., and were enjoying the beach by 2:30 that afternoon. Some beaches are even closer, Charleston for one!
For our first North Carolina Beach excursion, we picked Carolina Beach, located on the Cape Fear Coast near the historic city of Wilmington. Drive time from Charlotte is about four hours. If possible, leave on a weekday or get an early Saturday start. Many minivans with out-of-state license plates clogged the highway heading toward the beach when we returned on Saturday afternoon.
The North Carolina beaches are low-key. Since I’m used to the bustling boardwalk of Virginia Beach, my husband was worried I wouldn’t like the tranquility of sand dunes. But I did. Since this is the first North Carolina beach I’ve visited, I can’t say how it compares to others (more or less crowded). We certainly weren’t bored, but didn’t feel overwhelmed either. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel which was actually the only ”big name” hotel on the beach. The other properties were houses and local motels.
Like all parents of young kids at the beach, we built sandcastles, collected sea shells, and took pictures. Breakfast and lunch were enjoyed in our room; but we ventured out for dinner, treating ourselves to ice cream and family walks on the beach. There’s a bike path on the road that parallels the beach, so we enjoyed two morning rides topped off with donuts from Brit’s Donut Shop. Opened in 1939, you can tell this is a favorite among locals and repeat vacationers.
One morning we took a field trip to the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington. For WWII buffs like my husband, history enthusiasts like myself, and battleship lovers like my son, it was a great excursion. Even if you don’t fall into any of these categories, the awesomeness of the ship makes it a must see.
(ed: Kelli, Did you see the alligator in the lagoon? tm)
A thunderstorm cancelled beach plans on Friday afternoon, so it was great having downtown Wilmington as an option. The city has a cool children’s museum (free admission thanks to my Discovery Place membership!), so we played there and had dinner at a nice restaurant along the Cape Fear River.
I’m sure we’ll venture to Carolina Beach again; but, with so many beaches close by (Kure Beach, Oak Island, and Wrightsville beaches just in the Cape Fear region alone), we’ll likely explore. It’s nice to be able to do so knowing you can reach your destination by lunchtime!
I think you should love where you live because of what it has to offer, not how close it is to other places. As Terry and I have hopefully shown, Charlotte has great amenities right in its own backyard. But I do love being close to the beach- and the warm North Carolina waters.
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Editors note: I’m publishing this as I vacation on the Cape Fear Coast on Bald Head Island, just a few miles south of Carolina Beach and Wilmington. More on that next weekend. TM
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It is a strong buyers market here in the greater Charlotte area. Thinking about moving to Charlotte, or Lake Wylie? Lake Norman? You can quickly compare area prices with the links below, or just give me, Terry, a call at 704-351-1519. I am a Buyer’s Agent specializing in relocations–and will represent only you.
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