PostedByAerin Spruill
on Tue, Sep 1, 2015 at 1:39 PM
It’s safe to say that with the start of football season and the final Alive After Five of the season kicking off this Thursday, my Queen City summer is coming to a close. A Google search will tell you that the last official day of summer is September 23rd. *Insert balling crying emoji here* And what a quick summer it was, I guess it’s true what they say about time flying when you’re having fun... or was it when you’re drunk.
I kicked off my summer before June 21 (the official start date) by getting tanked with my previous editor at Creative Loafing’s first annual Moo and Brew fest in April. And we did anything but eat more chicken, sorry Chick-Fil-A. (Speaking of Chic-Fil-A, this summer also brought marriage equality. Again sorry, but not sorry). This was followed by celebrating a huge milestone, the big 2-5 by taking more than my fair share of popular shots around the Queen City. Not to mention, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many innovators of nightlife as they celebrated opening or re-opening breweries, gaming centers and bars in Charlotte. The Local, Abari Game Bar and Piedmont Social House to name a few.
I fell in love with my co-workers and our self-proclaimed happy “three” hours and realized I was nowhere near their levels after road tripping to a Dave Matthews Band concert on a party bus. Red Bull vodka solidified itself as my new go to mixed beverage, sour ales my go-to beer forever, South End Common Market my go-to patio, L4 Lounge my go-to bar and Uber my go-to means of transportation (when there’s no surge of course).
Needless to say, summer nights in the Q.C. have once again proven to hold some of the best times and drunk convos with people that I will never forget (or in the case of drunk gabs, people I will never remember). Here are the main things I can say a large majority of Charlotte will miss the most:
H2O. And no I’m not talking about the kind you drink, there’s very little of that unless you spent your summer working out (definitely not my case). I’m talking about the kind you swim in... or look cute around. As a current resident one of the best pools in the city, there is very little our gas grills or fire pits can do to replace the epic pool parties that have occurred every weekend. And, of course, activity on Lake Norman and Lake Wylie will decrease as wading in the lake water won’t be as enjoyable once the weather cools down.
Day drinking. Yes, it’s still possible. But the dynamics change once the warm summer air fades. Not to mention the “day” will feel shorter once the sun starts setting earlier and earlier. The best day drinking days are ones spent at one of our many breweries or markets that quickly transition into the move for the night complete with string lights and live music.
Patios. I don’t know about you but I’m cold natured. Some of my favorite patios in the city are Sycamore, Gin Mill, VBGB and Whiskey Warehouse. They don’t look as appetizing once it cools down in the city and the party is forced inside. The only good news is for all of those patios we have a love/hate relationship with because of their incessant desire to use little rocks on the ground instead of, I don’t know, ANYTHING else.
Suns Out, Guns Out. Let’s be honest, one of the best parts of summer is being able to wear as little as possible as often as possible. It’s almost time to hang up our itty bitty bikinis, booty shorts, summer maxis, cut off tanks, khaki cargos and flip flops (especially for the fellas, please let these go asap). Back to finding a reason to NOT eat everything in sight since the love handles can now be hidden beneath a huge college hoodie.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can now look forward to the season of sweaters, Uggs and North Face (which we will see way too much of). Not to mention there are still some great festivals and concerts headed our way.
(Sidenote: anyone wanna hang at Weenie Roast next weekend? No there are no delicious roasted weenies to my dismay.)
Here’s to another awesome summer in the city of queens! What do you have planned for the rest of your Charlotte summer nights? What will you miss most?