Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC.  This is a man-made whitewater river where our Olympic trials for whitewater kayaking and canoeing were held this year.  The Center includes a huge building with a gear store, restaurant, restrooms, and many other facilities.  The complex includes the river, several climbing walls for people of varying abilities (including one that my two year old daughter could maneuver), a high ropes course, a zip line, mountain biking trails, hiking trails, and eco-caching.  You can bring your own kayak or canoe to ride the river for a fee of $20/day or reserve a raft trip.  They also have many classes including canoeing, kayaking, and climbing.

The place was fantastic and unfortunately, I was not able to bring my kayak, but I can assure you, that won't happen the next time I visit.  We took the one-mile hike on a mostly gravel path around the whole river that was just right for the whole family.  In September, they will be having their annual Whitewater Festival that will include a Jeep Adventure off-road triathlon.

I've included the video I took while visiting that shows most of the facility.  I was not able to take video of the ropes courses (did not bring closed toe shoes -- required for the zip lines and ropes course) or the zip line (the current line was not open on the day I visited).  I took the video on my Flip (I know, "You bring a Flip video camera, but no closed toe shoes??!!" -- Yes, that's exactly what I did).

Note: Yes, that is the Amazon video widget.  Yes, those are affiliate links in the video.  Just ignore them if they bother you, I just wanted to play around with the widget.