Mooresville/Lake Norman, NC

My family from out of state will be in NC next month and we're going to meet them there for the weekend. They've been there to look at homes, but I don't know if they know much about the sights. Any tips?

Also, i think the drive will be 11-12 hours. Is that correct? Any suggestions about the drive? I think we're going to try to just drive it straight through on a Friday afternoon, but we'll have to stop for food, etc. Any interesting places to stop along the way?

Thanks!

Re: Mooresville/Lake Norman, NC

LOL....I prefer to take the western route & avoid all of 95 (Richmond, Maryland, dc). We made it to NY last time at around 9/9.5 HR. But we left at 10pm, so we didn't have to stop with the girls.

I am around 1hr north of lake norman. I've never actually been, cause I'm not a lake person.

Re: Mooresville/Lake Norman, NC

What is the Western Route?

Re: Mooresville/Lake Norman, NC

It's 81 down. Love it!!!! No city traffic cause it's a truck route.

Re: Mooresville/Lake Norman, NC

I go to Carolina Beach every summer and its on the southern most tip along the coast and it takes us about 12 hrs. We take 95 down cause we need to stay east.

Nothing too exciting along the way unless you want to stop in DC.

Re: Mooresville/Lake Norman, NC

I was looking online and it seems to be telling me to take 81 pretty much all the way.

Is it a deserted road? Will there be places to stop? Can you reco any good places to stop for restrooms/food/hotel if we need it?

We're leaving this time tomorrow (maybe later?). Getting close.

Also, how closely do they monitor the speed limit? I know it may sound like a weird question but when we drove to SC when I was a kid, my cousin gave us a list of places where people drive much faster and places where you need to stick to the posted limit.