Inventor of the hemorroid transplant
Andrew;
Just make it a slightly longer vacation and you can do both! If she's not into the lasers, she'll have plenty to do in downtown Charlotte while SELEM is going on. (Charlotte is less than an hour by car from the venue, and there will probably be at least 2 or 3 other wives present that would be interested in a shopping trip to one of the several mega-malls they have downtown.)
After SELEM, you could stay in Charlotte and have some more fun together. There are *tons* of cool things to do in Charlotte. They've got a man-made white water rapids training park, a few rock-climbing parks, indoor and outdoor go-cart racing parks (several of each), a Zip-line park, plus multiple museums, gardens, and aboretums. You could spend a week there and not get bored.
Another good idea would be to take a day and go tour the Biltmore Estate, which is about an hour west of Newton. (Near Asheville... It's on your way home in fact.) Then you can head into Maggie Valley or Cherokee if you want some more fun...
Or, if you're into theme parks, you really owe it to yourself to take a day and go to Carowinds. (They've got a new inverted shuttle loop coaster this year, bringing the park total up to 7 coasters.) Oh, and they also have a big water park inside the theme park. 1 ticket gets you into both, and it's a much nicer park than any 6 Flags park I've ever been to. (Carowinds is owned by the same company that owns Cedar Point.) This park is exactly 50 minutes by car from the venue. (It's near Charlotte.)
So yeah, you can make this into one heck of a vacation and *still* attend SELEM... Check out some of the links and see what you think...
Adam
Watch it Buffo.. nobody will actually show up at the theater if you keep talking like that..
Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?
Solid State Builders Group
Hehe.. Good point Alec!
Seriuosly though, there is a lot to do around Charlotte. Newton is a fairly sleepy town, but there are fun things to do all around the area. (I didn't even mention the larger zip line parks in Boone, NC - near the ski resorts!)
Heck, at this rate *I* might have to stay in town an extra day or two just to have some more (non-laser-related) fun!
Adam
Not sure if there's any decent fishing right around Newton or not. I don't remember any rivers or lakes in town. However, I'm sure there's great fishing in the mountains to the north. You'd need a fishing licence from the state of North Carolina, of course, but otherwise you should be OK. (Any bait and tackle shop should be able to hook you up, and there are several of those right around Newton.)
Adam
We had planned on renting a weekend house with some friends and already had a location set up with them. Will try to change the date.
Nothing like a bit of peer pressure.![]()