What's the worst (and best) thing about living in the Raleigh-Durham area? (Chapel Hill: how much, house)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I never said that there weren't ANY good restaurants...I do get out and there are some very good restaurants. However, there is an over abundant amount of chain restaurants and not enough non-chain restaurants compared to other places I've lived and visited.
The summer heat is definately terrible. I would also include a few other things; none of which would get me to leave right now considering what a great place this is to raise a family.
1. The heat
2. The lack of a "great city". Raleigh & Durham have some things going for them but lack the feel of a "big city"...something I hear quite often from people that have moved here from Boston, New York, DC, Pittsburgh, etc.
3. The lack of non-chain restaurants. I think the triangle suffers from a severe lack of pubs and good restaurants. There are definately some goods ones but they are far and few in between with way too many Applebees, Olive Gardens, TGI Fridays, etc.
4. Bad chinese food!!
5. How inconvenienced people are here if they have to drive more than 15 minutes to get anywhere.
6. No professional baseball or football team. The Hurricanes are great and that is a good time but the lack of "big time" pro sports is something I miss. Now, related somewhat to my 2nd point, if the Hurricanes played in downtown Raleigh, that is something that would contribute towards that "big city feel"
Just me two cents.
Was just talking about #2 & #6 today...I totally agree...oh yeah, and the miserable soil. Otherwise, we love it : )
What is the worst thing about living in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary triangle area to you?
Listening to all the whiners about how "it ain't like it is back in ____".
Seriously, though, the worst thing is that my kids aren't here. Other than that, the second worst thing is knowing my wife might want to move back to where the kids are; back to snowy and cold winters, really bad drivers, real bad traffic, really high housing and taxes.
Getting stuck there in summer.
It's at least three hours to the mountains or beaches... four hours to the NC Mountains or beaches.
You can easily do the mountains or beach as a day trip. Wrightsville is about about 2 hours, straight down I-40. Boone is 3 hours. For "mountain like" areas, Raven Rock and Hanging Rock are even closer.
The worst thing about living in Wake County is dealing with the school system.
In general, the worst thing is the heat and humidity in the summer. But the rest of the year makes up for it.
I agree with the lack of a 'big city' feel. Durham definitely has more of that feel to me than Raleigh does but it's still lacking. But it's just what you're used to. Nothing will compare to Chicago (or NYC, LA, etc), but I don't dwell on it too much. NC is a great place to be.
Oh, just for fun, I'll say NY style pizza. Yuck. Need more midwesterners to move here so we can get some Chicago style pizza. And White Castle.
You can easily do the mountains or beach as a day trip. Wrightsville is about about 2 hours, straight down I-40. Boone is 3 hours. For "mountain like" areas, Raven Rock and Hanging Rock are even closer.
lol yeah you'd have to be driving reeeeeeeeeeeeeally slow for it to take 3-4 hours to get to the beach or mountains. Or maybe I drive too fast
I never said that there weren't ANY good restaurants...I do get out and there are some very good restaurants. However, there is an over abundant amount of chain restaurants and not enough non-chain restaurants compared to other places I've lived and visited.
Sounds like you spend to much time in the burbs (which are filled with chains in every metro across the US).
A simple trip to downtown Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill will reveal more local restaurants (and some real gems) than you can shake a stick at. Heck even in North Raleigh I can find plenty of local options. I eat out all the time and haven't set foot in a Chilli's, Friday's, or Applebees or something like that in over 4 years now.
I've been here for going on 7 years now and am still eating my way through the triangle and have a very very long way to go before I exhaust all the local options.
I never said that there weren't ANY good restaurants...I do get out and there are some very good restaurants. However, there is an over abundant amount of chain restaurants and not enough non-chain restaurants compared to other places I've lived and visited.
I don't know how it is in DT Raleigh, but in DT Durham there's almost a complete lack of chain restaurants. Even 2 years ago, the only non-chain restaurant within 3 miles of downtown was a single McDonalds. There's been a few more chains to open up (TGI Fridays, Chipotle, Dunkin Donuts, and Noodles & Co) on Erwin Rd now, but those are the only chains I can think of around downtown.
It's actually kind of funny, because when my sister visited last time she really wanted to eat at a Chili's. She's been living in the suburbs of Jacksonville FL for a while now and I guess that's all she eats. I really couldn't pull myself to drive down to Garrett Rd for dinner, so I sold her on Cosmic Cantina instead.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
