Best Fall Activities in Charlotte, NC for families
As a photographer, fall is my BUSY season. I love it, but it is busy, busy, busy. And honestly, weekends are the worst (not bad, "worst," but busy, "worst")! The logistics of managing my photos sessions, my daughter's soccer games, and my husband's work schedule (unfortunately he works most Saturday mornings 😕) leaves little time for anything else.
However, my goal this fall is to make sure that in spite of all of this, I am still leaving time for my family. SO this post is actually, selfishly, for me. It is kind of like my "Fall Bucket List" for my family. It's a way to set some intentionality for myself and hold myself accountable for making family time a priority instead of getting swept away in the "busy."
But, I also thought that others might gain some benefit from my list as well. Because everyone is busy and if you're like me, all of the sudden you blink and Fall is over and all the fun things you had planned to do never happened. So here it is, my list of family fun fall activities in the Charlotte, NC area.
1. Bike the Greenway :
Until recently, my boys were too little for us to bike as a family. BUT, they have now gotten pretty decent at zipping around on their balance bikes. We may have to take this one gradually at first because I'm really not sure how far the boys can make it via bike. My Ideal Plan: Access the Greenway at Freedom Park and bike to the Park Road Shopping Center. Stop for some Jeni's Ice cream and then head back to Freedom park.
2. Pumpkin Patch :
Most pumpkin patches in this area (at least during COVID times ) require tickets or signups. I'm a horrible planner, and this one usually trips me up. It seems as all of Charlotte usually is ahead of me on things like this so we've never actually been able to make it to do something fun like this. We usually end up getting our pumpkins at the grocery store... whoomp, whoomp. My goal is to be on the ball this year and make it to a fun pumpkin patch, hay ride, petting zoo type situation. Some of the ones I've heard about before include Hall's Family Farm, The Hunter Farm, and Wise Acres Farm
This is my favorite brewery in Charlotte when the kids are in tow. It is SO family friendly. They have tons of outdoor seating, a playground, and tons of gravel space my boys LOVE to dig in. We load up a bag of vehicles and the boys will play for hours. And my daughter usually always makes a friend to play with. Basically they leave us alone to enjoy our beer in the (supposedly) cool/ not humid fall weather. Old Meck does have the Mecktoberfest festival on certain dates in late September, but personally, I try to avoid those dates as I don't love a super crowded venue.
This is a definite must do for me this year. I keep hearing such awesome things about it, but, again, drop the ball in terms of organizing and planning. It's a bit of a trip out there to York, SC (about 1 hour away from central Charlotte) but I've heard its so worth it. Apple picking, doughnuts for the kids, and cider for the adults. Sounds amazing to me!!
5. NC Mountains:
We usually miss the beautiful color of the NC mountains. But seeing how you can make a it a day trip to some of the mountain areas like Banner Elk, Boone, and Blowing Rock, we really shouldn't. Plus I just found out about this amazing app called the Hiking Project when my husband and I were recently out visiting friends in CO. It was so helpful in helping us figure out what trails and hikes we wanted to do while we were visiting. I'm excited to try in out in North Carolina and find some family friendly trails we can all enjoy.
That's my list. My goal is to accomplish at least 3 of these items this fall.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, except for the first two photos, I had to add stock photography to this post (which, as I photographer, I hate doing!) But seeing as we haven't done these activities yet, it was necessary. Perhaps I will recycle this blog post next fall and have some really awesome personal photos to add to it for you next year!!!