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Our family arrived in the Triangle area yesterday evening. We got our rental car with a GPS. If you have the chance to do so, I would suggest you get a rental with a GPS. Already it has saved us from being lost! My son named the GPS "Darla"... So, Darla has helped us a lot!
This morning after my husband went to a couple of employment agencies (waiting for calls from others), we headed out to Clayton. First we stopped in at Cleveland Elementary School. Very nice. I was impressed. We went to the office and told them we may be moving there this summer and would like to look around the school. They gave us a visitor's pass and we roamed around the school. We peeked in some classrooms, went to the cafeteria and library. In every room there were friendly people there answering and asking questions. Very nice, again! Clayton is definitely rural. A country feel to it. The downtown area is Mayberry like. A couple of streets with old buildings, shops. A little run down but it does look like they are working on fixing things up. Around Cleveland Elementary are subdivisions that appear to differ much in price. I would say from around $130k up to about $350k. Although Clayton is rural it really didn't take us long to get to shopping. Wal Mart Supercenter was only about 10 minutes or so from the area we were looking, on US 70. We don't have Wal Mart Supercenters where we are in California. It was nice to do some grocery shopping and other shopping at the same time. We are staying in an extended stay in Cary (a nice place, good price) with a full kitchen so instead of dining out every day we are going to do some cooking.
So, that is it at 3 pm eastern time. I am still experiencing some jet lag, so I am going to go rest a while before we head out again. I will try to update again this evening or sometime tomorrow. Darn it, though, I don't want to go home now...
Target along with several other great shopping stores is also located on Hwy 70, just follow the signs toward Garner.
I apologize for Dairy Queen not being open. Not that its my fault or anything, had nothing to do with me, its just a great place to stop for some ice cream!
There is a Baskin Robbins though also on 70 so don't panic!
McCalls (on 70) has a really good southern buffet, Smithfields is known for their bbq (real southern style!) and I heard Louise's Lousiana cooking (across from McCalls) is really good too.
Hope you enjoy your stay, you picked some ideal weather to come visit in!
Yeah! Sounds like you are slowly making the rounds. I had to laugh about "Darla" OUr rental has navigation as well (hertz never lost) which while I was here alone when we first moved and DH was driving across country with the 3 kids I named Nellie. Nellie however did get confused in some of the newer developed areas. Often Dh would call with kids in tow and I would be "talking" very sternly to Nellie as I was driving around. My oldest son in one conversation said to my husband " dad I think mom is seriously losing it out there she is actually talking to someone names nellie about bad directions!" See what happens when you have 4 days to find a house! Can't wait to read more of your updates! Let me know if you need anything!
Was in Clayton a couple of weeks ago and had many good meals at the Rockin Comet Diner on Rte 70. Be sure to stop in if you get the chance. You won't regret it.
Fell in love with Glen Laurel SD. Waiting for an offer on our home in NY, then making the move!!
Lizardlips, It is GREEN! Since you live in California, you know much of what we usually see is brown and...well...brown! The weather is warm. We thought we were going to see some rain today, at least that's what the Weather Channel said before we left CA, but not so far. It's nice!
We had thought we were absolutely settled on Clayton, but we really like Cary too. What we like about it is the big wooded lots we see. We rather like the older neighborhoods that look like the houses are built 1960-1990 or so. Not particularly fond of the new subdivisions so far. The houses look okay, but I don't like the lack of trees. A lot of them have bare lots. That is a little boring. Maybe we're looking in the wrong area. Any suggestions? Also, any areas of Clayton with more wooded areas? Around Cleveland School I saw mostly bare lots also. I dream of a lot with a grassy area surrounded by a barrier of trees.
Thanks everyone for your comments. We are enjoying our time here so much, we hate to leave..
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So, Darla has helped us a lot! 
