desertmom

Can anyone give me some suggestions where to stay and fun things to do in the Raleigh-Durham area. My husband and I are considering relocating and would like to get more of a feel for the area. We will be traveling with our two small children (2 and 4), so kid friendly, please! thanks

egret

I can't really answer about things to do, but my daughter and son-in-law live in the Falls of Neuse area, which is a suburb of Raleigh. It's a beautiful area and the commute to Raleigh is not bad at all (about 15 minutes). They did not hear very good things about living in Durham. The crime there is supposed to be very high. I think you will love living in the Raleigh area. All of my daughter's neighbors are as nice as can be and they love living there.

hansboomer

Hi desertmom,

Where are you relocating from? My wife and I moved to the Raleigh area about 10 years ago, spent 2 years and moved away to Florida, as quickly as we could! I have lived in 7 states from Coast to Coast and in the Midwest. Raleigh was the most disturbing of all the places. It is nice. The people are nice. The houses are nice. the things to do are ice. Get the picture? Stepford wives nice! LOL. Here is the perfect ending...when we told our very wonderful and loving neighbors, whom we had grown fond of and traded keys to the houses etc. that we were moving, they threw us a nice neighborhood party. It was that evening, 4 days before we left, that we were then told that after 2 1/2 years, "It was nice to have you as neighbors and we will miss you. But you do know that because your Daddy's Daddy's Daddy was not born in NC you would ALWAYS have been an outsider don't you?" He said that with a smile on his face and was not joking. good luck. Maybe in the last 10 years there have been enough transplants move in that it has changed.....I hope so. Cary, NC was just then becoming THE place to live, ya'll.

carolinabelle

Interesting replies...

I live in Durham - it has a rather bad reputation I'm afraid but it shouldn't! It's actually got a rather up and coming (and more "hip") downtown area as opposed to Raleigh which is rather "burbish" for the most part. Depends on the atmosphere you are looking for.

Most transplants do end up in the Raleigh burbs - the local joke is that Cary stands for "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees"! But that's merely a joke of course

The entire area has lots to offer - what types of things/atmosphere are you after?

VaNC

Well, I am not from NC (moved here from DC) and either is my husband (from LA)and we love it in Raleigh. It is my impression that in most new subdivisions in Cary and North Raleigh, the majority of the people are NOT from here. THis is one of the fastest growing areas of the country.
We do not live in a subdivision, but live in downtown Raleigh (aka "inside the Beltline") where more people are "from here" and even then, do not see a problem with being treated wierd/badly/whatever for being from out of town. Yes, it is true that people that have lived here all their lives may know more people to start with, but isn't that true for any town? I haven't had problems meeting people. We have three kids (5,5,8) and there are great museums including the Museum of Natural Science in downtown Raleigh (free), the Museum of Life and Science in Durham (non-profit), the Planetarium in Chapel Hill...I could go on. Raleigh has a nationally recognized park and greenway system and great park programs. The downtown is changing faster than I can keep up with. Google Downtown Raleigh Alliance to see their website and links about some of the things going on downtown and all the new housing, restaurants, etc. We have three major universities and many smaller colleges, so there is all sorts of music available from major stadium shows to good clubs, a nationally recognized ballet, great theater, etc., a Stanley cup winning hockey team.....well, a lot going on. On any given weekend (or weeknight) there is more to do than we can do. My husband works at a pharmaceutical company in RTP. His commute is not too bad, but depends a lot on when he leaves to go/come home, if you know what I mean. He constantly gets offers from Boston and the Bay area and I ask him if they can offer him enough money for us to have the quality of life there as we have here and it hasn't happened yet.
Any thoughts on where you will stay while here? What you are looking for to do/see? Area you want to see? I could maybe give you more specific recommendations.

kittest

Walk around Sarah P. Duke Gardens (at Duke University) in Durham and enjoy the plants. Bring some bread and feed the ducks. There are some nice quiet residential neighborhoods near Duke too.

mominburbs

My sister in-law lives in Raleigh and I took my kids (who were 3 and 5) to Pullen Park. I would highly recommend this park! There are paddle boats, Merry Go Round, consessions. It is wonderful! Look into it!

VaNC

Pullen Park, I meant to include that. GREAT place, has a restored carousel, and a train that goes around the park, plus a playground. It is a city park, so ride tickets are $1.00! Also tennis courts and lots of running around room on the other side of the park. Pullen Park runs along one side of the NC State Campus. Another great place my kids like to go is the NC Museum of Art on Blue RIdge. There is major construction there now, as they are building a whole new building, but not only is there the art indoors, but kids programs on weekends, outdoor movies and concerts in the ampitheater, and a great sculpture park/trails on the museum campus that connects to the City's greenway system.

desertmom

Thank you everyone for your replys. to answer some of the questions, we now live in Palm Springs, Ca, but lived in the Bay Area for 20 years. we are not sure where to stay when we are out there, we visited once, 4 years ago and stayed near Duke, but we would like to stay in an area that is close to where young families may live, sounds like that may be Cary or North Raleigh? Thank you again for all the info it is really helpful!

kennc

Hi:
Depending on where your husband and/or you plan on working (the Park, Raleigh, CH) will impact your decision on where to live since as one other poster noted the traffic can be bad on 40/540 for example.

A central location to stay for your trip leaning more toward Raleigh would be near Crabtree Valley Mall.
There is an Embassy Suites-Crabtree near the mall, 4700 Creedmoor Road. It's close to the beltline (440) so you should be able to jump on that and head down to Cary or up to Druham pretty quickly. You also have access to North Raleigh areas to check out.
We live in N. Ral. so I can give some details on the area.
If you want to get a feel for N. Ral. and connect with the locals, I would head over to Shelly Lake Park or Lake Lynn Park. Both have walking paths around a lake and they are pretty popular family places. Shelly Lake also rents boats by the hour.

Other things to do:
- Go to a Durham Bulls game
- Head up to Blue Jay Point Park. County park on Falls Lake with playground and hiking trails.About 15 minutes from Crabtree.
- All Childrens Park - Up the road from Crabrtree. Big kids play area.
- Go to Goodberry's on Strickland and Six Forks for ice cream. Good place to meet the locals and get some additional kid info from the locals.
- Char-grill for burgers.
- Ditto for the downtown spots listed. esp. Pullen Park

I don't have much detail on the Cary area for kid typ things to do.