Charlotte’s guide to the Hurricane Joaquin weekend of endless rain

For the coast, Hurricane Joaquin is, of course, no laughing matter (although this hilarious meme begs to differ). In fact, Governor McCrory has declared a state of emergency for all 100 N.C. counties after the storm was upgraded to a Category 4 yesterday. But for those of us further inland, dangerous winds and rising waters should hopefully dissipate to little more than heavy rain. For four (more) days straight.

What’s a Charlottean to do? We’ve got some ideas.

13 things to do while it’s raining all weekend

(1) See a show at Comedy Zone – Michael Ian Black is in town Friday and Saturday night. Tickets are $25.

(2) Go bowling – Strike City (EpiCentre) is hosting Strike Fight Night for the Cormier vs. Gustafsson fight on Saturday. 10 Park Lanes has $4 well drinks/craft drafts and $5 Moscow mules/fireballs Friday and Saturday night.

(3) Visit one (or several) of our many museums – The Mint Museum’s 5th Anniversary Community Celebration means both locations (Uptown and Randolph) are FREE Saturday and Sunday. The Bechtler is hosting a Tribute to Nat King Cole Friday night with shows at 6 and 8:15 p.m. Tickets are $14. Need something for the kids? On Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Harvey B. Gantt Center is hosting a free Seeing the Spoken Word event that fuses visual art and writing. (See our Guide to Charlotte Museums here.)

(4) Shop discount furniture – Move Loot’s warehouse sale is Friday (11 a.m. – 7 p.m.) and Saturday (9 a.m. – 5 p.m.).

(5) Race to the finish on an indoor go kart track – Victory Lane offers racing for adults and kids. Each 8-minute race is $24 for adults and $19 for kids. All-day race passes are $120.

(6) Tour Muddy River rum distillery (and buy a bottle!) – Muddy River is open Friday 4 – 8:30 p.m. and Saturday 12 – 8:30 p.m. and this is the first weekend they’re able to sell bottles on site (one per person per year). Take a $5 tour and then take home a bottle.

(7) Dig up dinosaur fossils – Saturday is Fossil Day at Discovery Place. They’ll have special hands-on exhibits set up throughout the first level from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and it’s free with museum admission.

(8) Stargaze inside – The rain may have ruined our view of the Super Blood Moon last week, but you can always see the night sky inside the Schiele Museum’s planetarium. Tickets for “Nightwatch” are $3 + museum admission. Shows are at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. They’re also hosting their annual Meet the Curators event on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. See rare items from the collections and meet the people behind the scenes.

(9) Do yoga at Lenny Boy (and stay for a drink) – The $5 class is at 10 a.m. every Saturday. Space is limited so get there early. Stay afterwards for a kombucha or beer.

(10) Catch some live music… inside – Danny rounded up a list of 18 shows Friday through Sunday and they’re all inside.

(11) Try a new fitness class – COREOLOGY, First Wind Cycle, kādifit, Bar Method, Uprising, SmartCore Fitness and HSM Core are some of the concepts we’ve tested out in the last few months. Or you could always see how you fare at the Charlotte Table Tennis Club.

(12) Take a cooking class – Learn all things pumpkin, gourd and squash at Mimosa Grill (Saturday 10 a.m. – noon), make handmade gnocchi at Sur la Table (Saturday 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.) or if sweets are more your style, create and take home half a pound of hand-made bark at The Secret Chocolatier (Saturday, 2 – 3:15 p.m).

(13) Watch the Panthers – They play in Tampa this weekend, so cheer on our team from one of these bars and be glad you’re not getting soaked in the stands. All American Pub ($2 Mimosas, $2.50 Budweisers, $4 Bloody Mary Bar, $5 tall boys), Brazwells on Montford ($2 Mimosas, $2.50 Bud Lights, $6 Montford Coolers, Half priced wings), Duckworth’s Uptown ($4 mimosas and Bloody Marys), Lebowski’s ($4 Bloody Marys, Mimosas and Screw Drivers; $1 off craft bottles), or Whiskey Warehouse ($2 Mimosas, $4 Bloody Mary Bar, $2.50 Yuengling, $4 Stella Artois, $5 Finlandia BMB).

Keep an eye on our Planner for more ideas this weekend (and every week). And stay safe out there.