NASCAR and Art in the Queen City

As I type this, Sadie is probably getting primped and preened for her return home. This weekend, we took a jaunt up to the Queen City - aka Charlotte, NC - for a little R&R. Racin' and Refinement.

Peter cashed in on his Christmas present of a day driving stock cars at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. He participated in the "King's Experience," which meant he got to drive solo in a race car 18 times around Charlotte Motor Speedway.


Here's what 145 miles per hour looks like....what a rush!


The day after our NASCAR experience, we decided to do something a bit more cultural, so on the recommendation of a friend, we headed over to the new Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. It's only been open a few months and is an impressive collection of modern art. While modern art is not necessarily my forte, I have developed an appreciation for it. Here is one of my favorite pieces from the collection, Projet Pour un Monument a W.C. Fields by Max Ernst. That's W.C. Fields on the right, Mae West in the middle and, I'd like to think, Max Ernst winking through his kaleidoscope on the left:


The Bechtler collection reflects most of the important art movements and schools from the 20th century with a deep holding of the School of Paris after World War II. The collection comprises mid-century modern art in various media by artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miro, Jean Tinguely, Barbara Hepworth, Paul Klee and Andy Warhol. Only a handful of the artworks in the Bechtler collection have been on public view in the United States, and it was even featured in Sunday's New York Times travel section.

Outside there is a sculpture that greets visitors on the museum’s plaza. Niki de Saint Phalle’s Firebird is monumental in scale, three times the average human height and covered with mirrors. Very cool.


And across the street, adjacent to a public library, is a beautiful park with literary-related signs, garden sculptures and cherry blossom trees, tulips and pansies in full bloom.


In addition to all of the artsy-fartsy stuff, we did our part to help boost Charlotte's economy by shopping at IKEA, Nordstrom and Cole Haan.

Although we had a great time away, Peter summed it up last night when he said simply: "I miss Sadie."