If you follow this blog, you know Kim and E, age 8, traveled south in the early fall to see the Great American Eclipse. On our way, we saw signs for the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. Kim checked them out online and decided having a membership would inspire a few trips to the Charlotte, North Carolina, area over the course of the year. The rest is history.
This winter, we took a trip to Holidays at the Garden, an enchanting Christmas light display with fun features like model trains. Lights can be enjoyed by walking about as well as by taking a short tram ride for a different view. Kids can move station-to-station enjoying simple activities that further engage them--at one stop, we played color bells; at another, we learned about the seasons of the year, for instance. The orchid building at the holidays is a little oasis complete with an imaginative fairy village also featuring model trains. Don't miss the gloaming--arrive early and enjoy watching the lights come alive. You'll get improved parking this way, too. We've enjoyed similar enchantment at these gardens at their Chinese lantern display earlier in the fall.
If you go, consider getting tickets for the week between Christmas and New Years. Everyone is still in a festive mood, and crowds aren't too large. Dress in layers for the weather and bring your camera--there will be outstanding photo ops, even for unskilled photographers like me. Food and drink is available for purchase, although our traveling family also found nearby fast food and a relatively close supermarket for snacks. It's a perfectly "sized" adventure for an evening out with the family in the Charlotte area, and for us, it paired very well for a trip to Winterfest at Carowinds. And by the way, we are pretty pleased with Kim's membership--member guests receive discounts, so even given that visitors pay for some special events like the Holidays, the value is solid when you consider reciprocity to other gardens including the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, Virginia--it's on the to-visit list.
Based on recommendations from a colleague, we drove about 20 minutes to McAdenville (say Mc-Add-enville) after our visit to enjoy this town's delightful light displays. Almost every home and business is decorated with particularly beautiful lights in trees and festive set ups of carolers, nativities, and the like at homes and churches. We visited on a cold night, so we drove instead of parking and walking, but walking the town is an option and will afford you some nifty photo ops. There's no charge and the atmosphere is very community and family oriented (picture kids riding hayride style, passengers making videos from their sunroofs, etc.). We had a relatively long wait in our car, so have a full tank of gas for your own peace of mind. By 9ish, crowds were dying down, so perhaps time your visit for later as well. Check the dates and times at the website--we caught the lights on December 26, which may have been the last "official" night! How fortunate.
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