U.S. trip: Charlotte, NC

We started and ended our trip in Charlotte, where Holly lives. This clever plan of mine to fly in and out of Charlotte somewhat backfired on me, because I think there were more tears at the airport on departure day than when we originally left the U.S. This picture of Hudson on packing day captures the mood pretty well:

Nevertheless, we had a fantastic time in Charlotte with Holly and Scott!
We made a fancy cheese dinner, with the signs courtesy of me and Holly and the wine picks courtesy of Scott...

We rented bikes and rode on the greenway...

We had cantina night, so Toby and I could stay on our Mexican eating kick. (Dogs were allowed at the cantina)...

And, as only appropriate for being in Charlotte, we rode serious go-karts!

This picture captures how Holly felt about the experience:

But we also played cornhole and had some local beers after our race, which made things better!

We did lots of shopping, cooking, and most of all just hanging out for the three days we were there. As usual, when Holly and I are together, we found all kinds of things that I should buy at the shops, but in this case, I felt justified buying clothes that were half the price I could get them in Sydney! And we also had a long list of things to make together; we actually found time to make vanilla ice cream and thyme crackers. Successes all around!

We also had plenty of time to hang out with this guy:

I tried to put him in my suitcase but Toby said no.

It was pretty much the best end to our U.S. holiday that we could ask for, tears notwithstanding.

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