When the kids are away......

A couple of weeks ago Ken and I were gifted a kid free weekend. My dad and bonus mom were experiencing grandparentitis and we asked if they wanted the girls for a couple of days before school started. They were more than happy to have them and that meant that Ken and I had a few days to ourselves.

We started our weekend by eating at a restaurant that Ken had been wanting to try for some time, NC Red. This place was amazing!!!! It is a seafood place if you are looking for oysters or fish, but it also has some of the best fried chicken I have ever had. The oysters are raw but can be prepared many ways. Ken is a fan of oysters but not raw so he had to pass. However, he did order the fish of the day which was a fried snapper and it was huge. He also ordered a side of potato salad and collard greens. He really enjoyed all that he ordered.

I went with a half a chicken thinking it wouldn't be so large but the portions were more than generous. I also ordered two sides and it came with corn muffins and biscuits. I had the smoked gouda mac n cheese and the fried okra fries (yes you heard that right okra fries!). The breading and seasoning on the fries where perfection. Also the chicken was seasoned and cooked perfectly, crispy on the outside but tender on the inside. I was in my happy place the whole time!. We will definitely be back.

On Saturday we began our day by heading to Carowinds. We love going to the waterpark there with the girls but it doesn't allow the parents to fully enjoy the waterpark, so we went to have some fun without the kids. What we didn't plan on was how unseasonal the weather would be, it was much cooler than normal. The other wrinkle to our plans, some of the slides we really wanted to do were closed that day. We made the most of our morning and then left (the great thing about having season passes).

We then went home changed and picked up Ken's mom and hit up one of our new favorite places in Fort Mill, The Green Olive. The menu has a lot to offer. It is mostly Greek or Mediterranean inspired but it also has a few Italian offerings that are quite good. My mother-in-law and I really love their lasagna. It is a generous portion that comes with a salad of choice, house or caesar, and then a small pita. If you live in the area and are reading this you need to try this place if you haven't already. Afterwards, we went to Home Goods just to look around. When were done we went home and I took a catnap on the couch.

When I woke up from my catnap, Ken told me that he had bought a Groupon for an escape room. Neither one of us had ever participated in something like this but we have always been intrigued. This escape room is located in the Noda area of Charlotte and is called NoDa Escapes. Our task was to use the clues provide to get through the various rooms to find the lost dinosaur bone before our time was up. We had a nice mix of people in our group. There were 10 of us total. Two in the group had some experience with escape rooms but the rest of us were all newbies. Also our challenge was a more moderate challenge. It took a minute for all of us to figure out how to work together but once we found our grove things went fairly well. We were able to complete the task with about 10 minutes to spare. We loved our first taste of escape rooms and would definitely do it again if an opportunity presents itself.

Afterwards we drove to Southend to find a place to eat. We originally wanted to go to one of our favorite places Hawkers but it had a wait of about 2 hours at 8 pm, so that was a no go for us. We went around the corner to this new place called Zeppelin. It was a really cool set up. It was industrial but soft at the same time. The menu is small as they focus more on their cocktails but that does not mean the food was not good. We split two small plates. The first item was the Notorious P.I.G. This was a hushpuppy that had some BBQ and BBQ sauce mixed in before it was fried. It was so tasty. We also had the ricotta gnocchi. It was very light but also very filling.

Sunday morning was our day to chase waterfalls. We drove to DuPont State Park and walked the trail to see three spectacular waterfalls. This was a great weekend to go. The weather was cooler and due to all the rainfall we have had, the waterfalls really shined. There were three that we saw: Triple Falls, High Falls and Hooker Falls. If you have watched The Last of the Mohicans or The Hunger Games you have seen these waterfalls. It took us about 2 hours to do the loop and we walked about 4 miles. We also took a side trail to see this incredible wood covered bridge that sits above Triple Falls.

Afterwards we went into Hendersonville to have lunch and ate at Flat Rock Wood pizza. We had the meatballs and a pizza. We had been here before when did The Gorge zip lining last year, another great adventure.

The weekend was a great time to hang out with one another, which was great to do before the school year starts and life gets busy again for the whole family.