We were only in the triangle area for 2 full days and 2 half days, but this is what I got from driving around... these are only my opinions!
Durham –
Our friends live in the Durham area near Northgate park. They have a lot of pride when it comes to Durham and were really trying to sell us on the idea of moving there. We saw the american tobacco campus (is that it? with the water and cool stuff) and ate at Tyler's. We really had a great afternoon wandering around. We didn't see a lot of downtown Durham, but it seemed small to me. There were gorgeous parts with lovely homes, and some not-so-good parts. Our friend admitted that we sort of got the "rose-colored" glasses tour.
We ate at the Q-shack the next day for lunch where I had a chicken sandwich, hush puppies, mac n’ cheese and cheerwine, yum! The science center and dinosaur were awesome, all nestled in the trees and against the residential areas. I love the outdoors and Durham has lots to do outdoors. We visited a few parks, the little river area, drove a little bit around Duke university. We actually stayed at the hotel on the golf course at Duke, which is great! I recommend the wedge salad at their restaurant, very good!
My fiance was immediately taken with the area and wanted to move in right away! Based on what I saw in those 2 days, I would have not considered Durham, by itself, a good fit for me. It was older-looking and had history and there was construction in many areas, but it still wasn’t exactly what I would warm up to. I would compare Durham to parts of Altadena and Monrovia with a hint of Shadow Hills in Sunland and Bakersfield... for those of you in Southern California
Also, it reminded me a bit of Sebastopol and the area near the Russian River. In a nutshell, Durham is a working-class town that offered a lot of the outdoors and nature to explore, some American history with a strong influence on farming history, some art culture with a hint of a bohemian culture which seemed to spill over from the Duke Campus.
Raleigh –
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see a lot of Raleigh. We saw the downtown area and drove near Peace College and got to see a lot of the older residential sections. We found the downtown area resembled parts of San Diego and the residential reminded me of parts of San Marino and Pasadena. We drove over to the entrance of IBM and got to see bits and pieces of the triangle. It looked a lot like the area around San Francisco and Silicon Valley. After it got dark we got a little lost and drove in circles and saw quite a few deer. It was an adventure! We ate at the Cheesecake Factory at the Streets at Southpoint (really in Durham, but it was on our way back to the hotel).
Cary and Apex–
I have family in the Preston area of Cary. We got incredibly lost on the way there. I had to call my cousin over and over to get directions. Seems her brand new house wasn’t in our GPS or even on Mapquest yet! We loved her 2 month old, brick, 3-story house. It was a little big for us, but the area was really nice. We ventured into the twin lakes neighborhood and saw 3 of the Martha stewart models. Very nice! I could see us living in any of them! We also took a drive over to Kitts Creek. The exteriors of the homes were very nice, but I did not like the narrow floorplans of the interiors. There wasn’t as much detail as the KB homes and I overall, was not impressed. We drove through some other new construction and ooh-ed and ahhh-ed at all the new homes being built. Some areas felt more cookie-cutter than others. We drove around into Apex and looked at Scott’s Mill. I instantly fell in love with Scott’s Mill. Sort of hilly streets that were winding and dotted with trees, as opposed to the lined-up feel of the new construction going on. There were golden retrievers, strollers and kids everywhere. It was mostly young families and each house was adorable. We ate at 5 Guys and Biaggis Italian Restaurant. The burgers are supposed to be like In n’ out (I thought they were better!) and the ravioli at Biaggis could get me to move on its own merit. Cary had a ton of construction going on. You drove down little country roads to reveal huge developments. Lots of roads and streets were under construction and being widened. The neighbors who have been here for many years either love (their property values shooting up) or hate this (all these newbies flocking in), I wonder? We visited a few parks where you could do archery, rent a little boat and explore their little lake/pond or see what’s going on in their new amphitheatre. There were lots of kids playing baseball and running around playing on the new equipment and nature trails. It was like a park here to the 10th degree. So amazing, huge and safe. The Cary/Apex area reminded me of Valencia, Thousand Oaks and a bit of Laguna Beach. Some areas are super pricey, but I could really see myself living there.
We had planned on driving out to Oak Island on the Sunday we were there since the main thing I would miss about California was the Beach. Unfortunately due to Delta canceling one of our flights, we had to drive from Orlando to Durham and missed a day because we were so exhausted. I think we will definitely go to the beach on our next visit.
Overall… people in the area were incredibly nice. The waiters and waitresses were awesome, the TSA workers at the RDU airport were patient and made eye contact, the guy next to us pumping gas at the gas station was so friendly we thought he was trying to sell amway products and I only heard one person honk the whole time we were there. The only thing that was completely disorienting to me is the amount of trees there. In California, you can glance around and you might see a freeway sign, or the mountains and get a sense of where you are. The highest trees here are palm trees and the skyline consists of homes and a concrete jungle. In North Carolina there are so many trees that everything looks the same, making it easier for us to get lost. The street signs are less prominent than in SoCal and sometimes hard to see, not to mention that one street may have 3 different names, one of them being a highway number. A highway entrance had about 8 different highway signs, all black and white, pointing in different directions. We were reminded of Alice in Wonderland with the signs pointing in all different directions telling you to go "this way" or "that way". So, navigating the area turned out to be really hard for us, even with a GPS unit (but, it was my fault I hadn't updated the software!).
I would miss the foothill mountains here, the beach, being close to the snow, knowing Hollywood and Disneyland are close by… but, we would gain so much more. I give us an 85% chance of moving by next summer
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This Californian's take on the triangle...
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