LFS in Charlotte

[rgentry]

I will be visiting Charlotte tomorrow. I'd like to check out a couple of LFS. Looking for ones with good coral selection.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[OxInYourBox]

Sent you a PM.

[Dav]

What LFS's did you visit?
Dav

[rgentry]

I stopped at one store in Mt. Holly, almost by accident, I just happened to see it as I was going through town. They were just getting set up with fish, no corals yet. The fish tanks were really nice and clean. I didn't have time to visit any others because I was busy looking at houses, since I'm thinking of moving to Charlotte. Any suggestions on areas to consider? I look at some homes around Lake Norman, Denver in specific and around Mt. Holly and Gastonia. Liked both. Any other areas I should look at?

[OxInYourBox]

There is a 625G reef tank in Denver. Lots still available near him as well. :)

I'll let others chime in on real estate in Charlotte.

[Dav]

I will send you a PM
Dav

[Dav]

Hey Will you cut off my post.....
Dav

[OxInYourBox]

:)

[Homebrew]

rgentry... I have a 1/2 acre lot in a nice neighborhood on a lovely big cove on Lake Hickory only 4 or 5 houses down from Dale Jarrett (via the water... he is not in the same "land" neighborhood ;)) that I'll probably sell soon. :) That is, if I get around to it... said that last year too...

Anyway, the Charlotte area is a nice place to live IMO. I've lived in many states and like it here (I'm now South of Charlotte just over the line in SC). NC is a very high tax state (not just state income tax, but across the board). I previously lived in Seattle which like FL has no state income tax. Even with the other taxes, it was much cheaper for us to live in WA than NC. Go figure. Anyway, we knew that coming in and it is still a nice place to live.

Greg

[Pike]

I'd appreciate a little heads up on "those fish stores that shall not be named". Send me a PM. I won't spill any beans. I swear.

Rgentry, if you have children in public school, I'd seriously consider NC over SC. York Co. SC public schools are pretty darned good, but are tragically the exception rather than rule.

Mecklenburg Co. (nc) schools are a large system that both good & bad schools within their system, BUT a proactive parent with decent percentile performing kids can be assured of a quality education through the magnet system.

Mooresville City schools IMO, among one of the best districts in the region. They do NOT have the tendancy towards placing the good teachers with the gifted students & segregating the mouth-breathers amongst themselves. There is class diversity & at least when I was involved with vocational training, remarkable parity of instruction quality.

I sub'd a week of literature back in '00 there & was astounded that my latino kids were just as , if not more likely to understand alliteration than were the wealthy white kids.

There are some excellent teachers in Mooresville.

If you have children that are "academically gifted" you can almost be assured that they will have quality instruction.

I'll stop before I embark upon an education rant...

[Homebrew]

I agree with you on the schools, Pike. My brother lives in Mooresville, but we didn't want to live that far North of Charlotte, and we didn't want to be in the Charlotte area public schools, so we moved just over the border to be in the Fort Mill, SC public schools. This is now pretty much a bedroom community of Charlotte now. We are happy with the school and level of material and instruction (I grew up with teachers... both parents!). We were very happy with the Hickory NC public schools too. We would have been in private schools if we lived in Charlotte, thus our current home location. Like anything, you can have a GREAT teacher in a crappy school, or a bad teacher in a great school. Mostly luck of the draw.

BTW, my 7 year old knows what alliteration is. She learned that in 2nd grade here and randomly pointed out an example a few weeks ago.

[rgentry]

Thanks for all the info guys. One of the reasons I'm thinking of moving to Charlotte is the my daughter will be attending Lenore Rhyne in Aug. She's my only child so I don't have to worry about school systems any more. My biggest criteria is proximity to the Airport. I travel 50% of the time so I don't want to be more than 45 minutes from the airport. I'm not interested in leaving in a planned community where all the houses look alike, much more interested in older established areas, lots of trees, or a country setting.....or a trailer down by the river.

[Homebrew]

So she will be in Hickory! There are some nice older established areas there. Also a lot of acreage still available in that area. I hear ya about the planned neighborhoods. I was actually looking for a lot on the lake within the Hickory School system and that's how we ended up in the neighborhood. I was actually kidding about selling you the lot, but it is not a cookie cutter neighborhood. Lots of customs and some nice specs. Brick is made in this area so it is incredibly inexpensive and prevalent compared to other areas of the country. On Lake Hickory, we bought the house and adjoining wooded lot. When we moved, we just sold the house, but not the extra lot. I've been kicking around developing it, but the neighbor on the other side wants it badly so it doesn't get built on.

When I lived in Hickory, I had a regional position that had me gone about 40% of the time. I flew about every 2-3 weeks. I flew out of Greensboro mostly because it was 1/4 the price of flying out of Charlotte. Both airports are within 45 min or so of Hickory so it is a good location to have airport options. It is pretty in the foothills area. A lot of green and slightly cooler temps than Charlotte area.

Good luck in your endeavors!

Greg

[Dav]

I agree with Homebrew about the area. If you decide to look in Hickory area, he is right that the Greensboro (GBO) airport is usually much cheaper to fly from. You could live in Claremont or Conover both are just off I-40 and very close to Hickory and I-77. But if you decide to move towards Charlotte, I live In Maiden , small town with alot of places to buy a few nice green acres. Also they are big into High School Football (Biggest Little Football Town ) is the Logo around here. I am not a local so I still can talk about it like that. People still walk the sidewalk nightly, even in the winter, Also taxes are cheaper in Catatwba county vs. Linolnton, Mecklenburg, Irredell etc. Your daughter will like LR it has alot of stuff going on and Hickory is growing very fast.
If you need any help looking let us know,
Dav

[rgentry]

I'm surprised to hear that Greenboro is cheaper than Charlotte since Charlotte is a hub for USAir. Who is the main airline out of Greensboro. I will recheck the maps and look at where you guys are suggesting. I'll be back up in Hickory sometime in the next 6 weeks.

Homebrew, do you homebrew, da!!! I use to, had to stop, I was getting to fat from all the great beer. Is there a brew club near you. What's your specialty?

[OxInYourBox]

There's a few clubs. I have the fliers at home.

www.homebrew.com is located in Charlotte along with another brew shop.

I have homebrewed before but I need to find the time to do it again and to sample homebrew's beers. :)

[Homebrew]

My Dad made beer before it was cool (he did most things before they were cool). He made beer since the 60s and wine since the 70s. All the kids now make beer and we all made wine when we were geographically close. Now I just drink the wine that they make and bring me when they visit!

I make all malt and some malt/grain mix. I keg instead of bottle (lazy). I like IPA best and most other good beers about the same after IPA (porter, stout, amber, etc.). I used to keep 3 different on tap, but now I'm lucky to keep one, because I run out and THEN decide to make another batch some time after... Damn fish! Take way too much of my time!

I don't worry about the calories, 'cause I'm married. :lmao:

I really liked Seattle because there are TONS of brewers and GREAT supply stores in the NW. People down here mostly like lawnmower beer (no offense, my good Southern friends!).

Regarding the airports, Greensboro is cheaper precisely because Charlotte is a hub. Hub = direct flights = $$$. US Air was able to keep out low fare airlines in Charlotte, so they had a monopoly on gates/flights/fares. Low cost carriers are prevalent in Greensboro, so it forces prices down on everyone, including US Air. When I flew, nearly every flight from Charlotte was $998 if there was no Saturday stay (ie. business trip). The same flights from Greensboro (US Air to Charlotte to destination) was usually $200-300. Add a leg, save an arm and a leg. Crazy, but that's what competition forced. I don't know now, but a few years ago, Charlotte was reported to be the most expensive airport in the US. US Air is really hurting and they are trying to reinvent themselves, so prices have been coming down recently.

Regards,
Greg

[rgentry]

IPA is my favorite also. Sierra Nevada is my favorite Pale Ale, really nice hop. I'm especially fond of dry hopped beers. The best part of traveling is trying local brews and brew pubs.

Thanks for all the airline info. We sure have strayed from fish talk. But what's fish talk without beer......nothing.

[Homebrew]

Rgentry -

This is the Charlotte RC forum, so there is some flexibility! Fish and beer, two most excellent subjects...

Sierra Nevada is a very decent beer.

On your next trip out, give me a heads up and come by for a beer and lunch if you want. We are 20 min South of the Charlotte airport. With Saturday stays, airfare can be reasonable and sometimes cheap into Charlotte. It is still worth checking Greensboro prices though, just for a reference if nothing else.

Cheers,
Greg

[hmoore]

Rgentry,

I just checked out the threads here (haven't been here in a while) and saw that you were interested in the Denver area. By all means, LMK! As for the airport, I am right off of HWY16 which will run you right into it. My wife and I just moved here about a year ago and we love it here!

[wmam]

Yep the west side of things is the best IMHO.