Another Yankee has made it to Cary!!! (Welcome: new house, construction)

[louiemoon0810]

Yippee.....We made it! After weeks of packing, planning, and preparing, my family finally moved from Pittsburgh to Cary this week. So far, everything has gone really well for us. Almost too well....(fingers crossed).

A few observations/tips for other soon-to-be tranplants:

- Yes, Cary is absolutely as nice as they say. I keep finding myself shaking my head and saying "I can't believe people live like this". The trees, the bike paths, the shopping centers around the corner, and the happy people.....it's all here.

- Be prepared for bugs, mosquitoes, and lots of other four-legged critters. I'm not sure we were expecting the bugs to be this bad....but we're managing. Bite by bite.

- Label your boxes well. I repeat.....label your boxes well. Enough said on that.

- The Cook-Out drive thru restaurant off of Walnut Street (?) rocks!!! Their hushpuppies and vanilla milkshakes are a must. As is Pei Wei's beef teriyaki....

- I read a few prior posts about NC'ers not using turn signals. Unforunately, that's turned out to be true....and mildly annoying.

- The pine needles are a little overwhelming. If you're moving to a house with pine trees, be prepared.

- What?!! No brick cheese at Harris Teeter's deli counter? Maybe it's a northern thing.

- Finally....tie your new house key around your neck, until you get the lay of your new land!!! Our only "oops" incident so far was me locking us our of our house while unloading the truck....just two short hours after we arrived. Of course, it was after 11:00pm, and all of our neighbors were asleep....except for one friendly woman who let us use her telephone to call a 24-hour locksmith. $135.00 later, we were thrilled to be back inside.....as were our pets, who sat inside watching the whole event.

That's all that I have to report for now. Just wanted to share those thoughts. My break is over......I've got lots more boxes to unpack!

[Lizardlips]

Great post. It had me smiling the entire time. Welcome, welcome!! We did the exact thing about locking ourselves out. The first morning here, I ran outside to look at our beautiful yard, and see if I could see a Cardinal, well, I saw a cardinal, and started yelling for my husband and daughter to come run out and see the cardinal. So they came running out (I was in nightie, my husband was in t-shirt and jockey shorts, my daughter was in a little t-shirt and a pair of bikini panties. So we were so excited and exclaiming about how beautiful it was going to be to have a large yard with beautiful birds. I was so wonderful that I suggested I would go in and make some coffee, and they could sit out and enjoy.....opps.....all the doors were locked and none of us was dressed properly. To make a long storey short... or at least shorter....my husband had to go and check every window (in his underwear) and finally found a downstairs window in our bedroom was not locked, but had been painted shut, so here he was pounding on the outside of the window trying to get it to be pried open, and I am sure most of our new neighbors saw... Oh well... he got us all in, and we were saved!!!!!!!!!

[raccemup]

great post! Welcome and we're glad you made it!

lol about the locking out! DH has a habit of doing that to us on balconies so at least you were at ground level. He locked us out on our balcony in NY. We had to break back in to our own apt by removing the windwo AC from outside. And the other time he did that we were touring one of those charleston style houses in Bedford and he closed the locked door behind us. We had to wait for some construction workers to go by and flag them down. How embarrasing!

[Stephanie3]

I am SO glad to hear that you are happy to be in NC. Do you have any school age children? The reason I ask is b/c we are from NY and planning on relocating and I am having a tough time with hearing all the problems that WCSS is having. I've heard from 2 realtors now to stay away from that county. Congratulations!

[lamishra]

Welcome! What part of Cary did you end up in??

[louiemoon0810]

Originally Posted by lamishra

Welcome! What part of Cary did you end up in??

Thanks! We're off of Plantation Road (Two Creeks), off of SW Maynard. Our development and the surrounding roads are really nice. Last night we walked our dogs down to the small little lake that sits behind Kildaire Tennis & Swim Club. That's when I found myself shaking my head about how nice everything was. It was like Pleasantville.....with all of the happy, smiling people around.

And I kid you not.....we walked past one house and heard a large group of people (young and old) in the back yard singing "This Land is My Land".....since it was the 4th of July and all. I cracked up. I mean, where else besides Pleasantville do large groups of people get together and sing 4th of July songs??? And the best part is that on our walk home.....THEY WERE SINGING SOME OTHER PATRIOTIC SONG!!!! Ha ha!

What's funny is that months ago, I read some posts about the SW Maynard area being rundown, etc.....complete with "beer-swilling Mexicans" and the like. I've found that to be untrue. Yeah, okay....the nearby Food isn't so great.....and some of the homes on Maynard are older ranches, etc....but I'd hardly call it rundown. Within a two-mile radius, we've got every retail store and restaurant that one could imagine.

[louiemoon0810]

Originally Posted by Stephanie3

I am SO glad to hear that you are happy to be in NC. Do you have any school age children? The reason I ask is b/c we are from NY and planning on relocating and I am having a tough time with hearing all the problems that WCSS is having. I've heard from 2 realtors now to stay away from that county. Congratulations!

We actually have four children, but none of them go to school. Our two cats already think they know everything.....and our two dogs couldn't sit still long enough in a classroom.....and would surely wind up in after-school detention!

Seriously, though....we haven't any children. But my "other half" is actually going to be a teacher for Wake County this fall. That's the main reason why we relocated to NC. If you want to PM me, I'll be happy to share what I know about Wake's school system. I do know that the schools are growing like crazy.....and the year-round vs traditional calendar is a hot issue. But I hardly think that's reason to stay away. Heck, if you want to stay away from an area b/c of problems with its school district, then stay away from the city of Pittsburgh. Point being, I can think of a lot worse school districts than Wake County.

[louiemoon0810]

Originally Posted by louiemoon0810

Thanks! We're off of Plantation Road (Two Creeks), off of SW Maynard. Our development and the surrounding roads are really nice. Last night we walked our dogs down to the small little lake that sits behind Kildaire Tennis & Swim Club. That's when I found myself shaking my head about how nice everything was. It was like Pleasantville.....with all of the happy, smiling people around.

And I kid you not.....we walked past one house and heard a large group of people (young and old) in the back yard singing "This Land is My Land".....since it was the 4th of July and all. I cracked up. I mean, where else besides Pleasantville do large groups of people get together and sing 4th of July songs??? And the best part is that on our walk home.....THEY WERE SINGING SOME OTHER PATRIOTIC SONG!!!! Ha ha!

What's funny is that months ago, I read some posts about the SW Maynard area being rundown, etc.....complete with "beer-swilling Mexicans" and the like. I've found that to be untrue. Yeah, okay....the nearby Food isn't so great.....and some of the homes on Maynard are older ranches, etc....but I'd hardly call it rundown. Within a two-mile radius, we've got every retail store and restaurant that one could imagine.

um, I meant.....the nearby Food "Lion".

[redhouse]

LOL. And I locked myself out too! Luckily I had noticed a bathroom window that wouldn't lock when I was hanging curtains the day before. Neighbors provided a step stool, ripped off the screen for me and I took the dive through the window.

And I've never seen so many bugs in my life. Jersey is known for it's mosquitoes but this is madness. I have to use Off every time I go out with the dogs. If I don't I really regret it!

And I was confused looking for cheese too! But we are loving it here too. Vive la difference.

[lamishra]

Ok, I know where you are. I'm not that far away from you and I'm so happy that people ar eonce again finding homes in central Cary. I'm just a few miles away. Check out Los Tres Magueyes right there by the food lion. Great margaritas.