Chapel HIll has been pretty well covered; I also second the Ninth Street recommendation. If you do that, make sure you take a little while to meander around Duke University’s west campus: it is an incredibly beautiful campus, and very close to Ninth Street. (East campus is pretty mundane, though). And the Duke Botanical Gardens are a short walk from west campus; while they’re gorgeous and perfumed in the spring, I don’t know what they’ll be like now.
If you go to Chapel Hill, see if you can get someone to direct you to Gim Ghoul Castle, behind St. Thomas Chapel. It’s very weird to have a small castle in the middle of Chapel Hill, and not many people know about it, but it’s definitely worth going to and trying to sneak up to the windows to peer in. (Don’t tell them I said that).
From Raleigh, take 40 west to Chapel Hill. Take the 54 West exit, and take 54 West into Chapel Hill. At the first light at the top of the hill, Country Club Road, take a right, and then take the first right you come to- Gimghoul Road. Go all the way to the end- about a mile or so- and you’ll see the private dirt road of the castle, as well as the church parking lot there on your right. Parking in the neighborhood is limited on the streets during the week, because the home-owners don’t want students taking over the streets, natch, so you’re on your own when it comes to finding a suitable place to leave your vehicle. The church, too, frowns on non-approved vehicles stopping on their property. You’ll be able to see the castle through the trees, and the cliff is between the castle and Highway 54.
By the way, you might notice that although Cary is fairly large, we have not mentioned it. That is because Cary has no soul. Their city council is so bent on having everything look the same with their piddlyassed ordinances, the city has no identity. It’s called RTP bedroom for a reason.
I have, and I can confirm that it’s really, really good. Tyler’s, in Carrboro, is another good pick for dinner or just hanging out – great beer, and the garlic fries are to die for.
There seem to be more of us than I thought. Maybe we should have a Chapel Hill Mini-Dopefest one of these days…
Cary’s just fine, if you want to eat at Olive Garden. Is it the most non-diverse place in this country? I know there are probably some places in Cary that aren’t all white, middle-class people, but I haven’t been there. Which reminds me, I need to watch Lawn Dogs. I haven’t seen it, but from what I’ve heard, it could be about Cary.
And those telephone poles that are supposed to look like trees–really they just look stupid. I get lost when I go to Cary because everything looks exactly the same.
But Cary does have Gypsy’s Shiny Diner. I guess that’s something.
Fretful Porpentine, a Chapel Hill/Carrboro Dopefest sounds like fun!
Less than an hour until I get out of work and then a quick dash home and then to the airport! I’ll wave to y’all when I fly over. Thanks again for the suggestions! I’m going to keep this thread around as a reference for all future visits. Some great ideas.
I just saw a report on the news yesterday about gangs moving into Cary (this report was based entirely on the fact that something resembling gang graffiti had been found on some concrete overpasses). Which caused me to say: “Wow, those must be the only gangs in the world whose members are expected to be in bed by 9 pm.”
I live in Hillsborough and work at UNC, on Pill Hill (otherwise known as the Health Affairs section of campus).
I believe Fretful Porpentine works/teaches at UNC as well, though I have not met her.
I actually live to the east of the town of Hillsborough itself, in eastern Orange County, though our mailing addy is Hillsborough. No shooting at all out where we are, unless you count deer season.
I’m probably joining this discussion too late, but I’ll still pop in to suggest some Chapel Hill places. I no longer live there, but I went to UNC-CH, and now live about 30 minutes outside Raleigh, so I’m very familiar with the area.
Carolina Brewery is my favorite restaurant, hands down. They make their own beer on site (Sky Blue Ale is my favorite), and have great hamburgers and other entrees. Sutton’s Drug Store has the old-timey lunch counter in the back, with good hot dogs and hamburgers. Both of these are on Franklin Street.
Going on to Raleigh, Char-Grill on Hillsborough Street is a classic–the “Junior Burger” there is 1/4, so if you go, go hungry. There’s no seating, and the order area is outdoors; so be prepared to eat in your car. The weather’s supposed to be nice this weekend, so there’s no problem with freezing to death waiting for you food to be prepared. Also, Amedeo’s on Western Blvd, behind the NC State campus serves up gooey Italian food–Olive Garden it is not. The lasagna and the meatball pizza are my recoomendations.
I’m not as familiar with the Durham area, although Francesca’s is always a good bet–their gelatos are all homemade, with some offbeat flavors, such as champagne sorbet and Kentucky vanilla gelato (vanilla with bourbon). Elmo’s Diner (which is in both Durham, down the road from Francesca’s and Carrboro, right by Weaver St. Market) is a good bet for a cheap breakfast, anytime of the day.
I just found out that Skeeter Brandon is going to be at All People’s Grill in Durham on Saturday. If you don’t know about the Music Maker Relief Foundation, they provide assistance to older musicians–financial help, getting gigs, stuff like that. They work with some amazing musicians, so if you can’t see Skeeter Brandon, check out their website and see what else is coming up soon.
How long have you been working there? I was in the folklore program, but I graduated two years ago, so our paths might have crossed. I met a lot of people from the English department.
Did anyone mention the North Carolina Museum of Art? Which is actually in Raleigh? I especially like this very unusual “piece” which is outdoors in the musuem park called “Cloud Chamber”. If you decide you’d like to see this ask for directions at the information desk. Me and several other friends could not find it on our own.
It is a little stone house in the woods, nestled into a little hillside. It looks like a hobbit house. When you go inside, it is completely dark. As you stay and let your eyes adjust an unusual optical effect occurs, because of a camera obscura in the roof (or maybe the whole house IS a camera obscura, I’m a little fuzzy on that.) The trees and clouds outside the house are projected in shadows onto the interior walls of the house. I don’t know if I’ve described it well, but it is really really cool.
You might also like the JC Raulsten Arboretum adjacent to (part of?)the NCSU campus. Beautiful (free!) botanical gardens
I started in 1996, so we probably do know some of the same people. Around 1998, they started letting folklore grad students TA for English–I was a little late for that, but a lot of my friends did it, so there’s a connection between the English department and folklore.
Museum of Art is a good suggestion. They have some decent exhibits there, sometimes… although I wasn’t all that impressed with the Matisse and Picasso exhibit. I would have liked to have seen more of Picasso’s cubist stuff. Overall, though, it’s not bad. I had no idea about that cloud house thing; I’ll definitely have to check that out sometime.
Is Gypsy Shiny Diner good? I worked at the Borders right next to it for a little bit, and on all my breaks I’d look at it and wonder, but I’ve never actually gone in.
I also, technically, work for UNC, but my actual physical location is in Duke hospital (I know, I know, I’ve gone to the dark side). Has there ever been any triangle dopefests? It looks like we’ve got quite a contingent here.
