Race City and Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens



Earlier this week we stayed at the Lake Norman RV Park in Sherrill's Ford, North Carolina which is just outside Mooresville also known as "Race City USA". The RV Park is as described on their website, and the staff is very helpful and friendly. However, we would not come to this park again because the spaces are EXTREMELY close together. We had to back all over multiple sites to get our fifth wheel in and out. It would have been a problem had some of the neighboring sites been in use. There is not even room for a tow vehicle in each site, much less a fire area or picnic table. Very pricey for what you get.






We visited multiple race shops including Stewart-Haas Racing, Dale Earnhardt, Ruosh Fenway, Joe Gibbs Racing and Penske.  Each shop had a viewing area and a gift store. When we were leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, Wayne was waved down in the parking lot...by Joe Gibbs himself! He leaned in to talk to him for a few minutes and he gave Wayne a signed pamplet for his book and told him to go inside and get a free copy from the receptionist.

  

We also drove into Charlotte to visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame and then to the town of Belmont for the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. It was very nice, but I have to say we thought the St. Louis Botanical Garden was much better. There was very little statuary and the layout was a little simplistic except for the area right outside the main entrance.

 

         

The orchid building was very nice, and I got a lot of interesting close-ups. We learned from the gardeners working outside that the practice of "topping" the crape myrtle trees that we've been seeing down here is actually not good for the trees as it leaves them susceptible to disease through the pruning sites and there is no reason or need to do this as they grow into very beautiful shapes if left alone.

We've moved on to the Lake Powhatan Recreation Area in Asheville, but I'll have to post on our experiences here in another couple of days because we are having trouble getting a wi-fi signal due to the heavily forested area. The weather here is gorgeous and I would recommend a trip to North Carolina in April to everyone since there are no crowds at any of the attractions, the weather is very mild, and it's too early for pesky insects to be an issue!