Saints @ Carolina (Oct. 19)

travelingsaintsfan said
We are debating on coming up Saturday and spend the night or driving up early Sunday morning. If we stay the night we will want to be as close as possible to the stadium. Maybe the below questions will help us make the decision.

1) Does Charlotte have a section similar to the French Quarter/Bourbon Street of New Orleans around the stadium? It does not have to have the strip clubs. We do not want to drive up there and spend the night sitting in the hotel room, but do not want to worry about getting a DWI either. So we are looking for something to do withing walking distance of the hotels.
2) How early do ya'll normally get together to tailgate?
3) Do ya'll normally have a get-together the night before?
4) I figured it would take about 3 1/2 hours to drive up from Mt. Pleasant, SC. Is this correct and are there any traffic issues I should consider? I am mainly concerned with how early we need to get there for a parking/tailgating spot.

Thanks,

Raymond

The nightlife isn't right at the stadium but most of downtown Charlotte is walking distance to the stadium. From the Marriott Center City, you're only about 2 blocks from the new Epicentre w/ Whisky River (a bit red-neck b/c it's Dale Jr's bar and draws the NASCAR crowd), Howl at the Moon, Suite (www.suitecharlotte.com), and BlackFinn - an EXCELLENT sports bar (www.BlackFinnCharlotte.com). Also in the vicinity a block away is one of my favorites - Cosmo's Cafe. There's also Forum, Alley Cat (live music but young crowd).

On game day, near the stadium, there's Picasso's, and my favorite local place for casual food - Brevard Court Sundries (www.brevardcourtsundries.com), which is right above French Quarter Restaurant (not so fond of it as it really doesn't have cajun food).