I’ve talked in the past about how much I love where I live. So when I had a close friend, Jes, visit back in May, I was more than happy to show her around town. We were faced with a four day weekend and it was my responsibility to create an itinerary for her visit. There’s only so much you can do in four days but I felt that I gave her a pretty good taste of Raleigh. I thought maybe I would share in case you found yourself here and wanted to get some suggestions of where to go and what to do.
Activities
Here in Raleigh, we’re 2 hours from the beach and 3 hours from the mountains so if that’s your thing, both are great. However, if you want to stay in town, there are plenty of lakes for recreation. Lydia and Steve have a boat and on the Saturday Jes was in town, we went out on Jordan Lake. As soon as we put in, I heard a strange squawk and looked to see what bird made the noise. I immediately spotted a Bald Eagle and pointed him out to the rest of the group. I got out the binoculars and watched him for awhile perched upon a dead tree. Even if I had seen one before, it’s still an impressive sight to behold.
We enjoyed ourselves on the lake for a few hours but then unfortunately had boat problems and had to call for a tow. Jes got burned while we waited for the tow but we still had a great day.
If you don’t have access to a friend’s boat, there are always plenty of accessible sandy beaches for swimming and camping at our local lakes: Jordan, Falls, and Kerr.
Sports
Depending on the time of year you visit, maybe you should check out the Carolina Mudcats. I grew up watching this minor league baseball team and it’s a fun time to be had. Muddy the Mudcat is the best mascot in all of sports and it’s an inexpensive way to spend your time with $11 box seat tickets and Thirsty Thursday $2 beers.
Me and Jes at Mudcats game
The Durham Bulls are obviously pretty well known and they’re great too. But it’s a different atmosphere over there: a little more corporate and a little more cosmopolitan. The Carolina Mudcats tend to attract more families and are seemingly just a little more laid back.
If you find yourself here during the winter months, try the Carolina Hurricanes. For an NHL team, you can still get tickets for around $30.
Food
You can’t visit NC without having pork barbecue. There are places in Raleigh that are good. I’m personally a fan of Cooper’s Barbecue and The Pit has been on the Food Network numerous times. But for my money, the best barbecue is Parker’s which is actually in Wilson, NC, about an hour east of Raleigh. We made our way here on Sunday just after the Church crowd and I think Jes was quite taken with both the facility and the servers. One can imagine not much has changed since 1946; the wood chairs and formica tables are attended by a male-only wait staff that wear jeans, white short sleeve button ups with long waist aprons and paper hats. When I was teen, these boys were complete eye candy as they hustled back and forth with their huge serving trays heaped with plates but I think they must hire them younger than they used to…;)
On Monday I took Jes down to a great place to eat ice cream at my fave place Sunni Sky’s. This is technically not in Raleigh either but in a small town called Angier, about 45 minutes southeast of Raleigh. But so worth the drive. All the ice cream is homemade and you can taste the difference. Their best known flavor is called “Cold Sweat” which is very HOT ice cream that has been featured nationally on Good Morning America and the Food Network. They are very generous with their free samples and compared to the likes of Baskin Robbins, you get a lot of ice cream for not a lot of price. My fave is Strawberry Cheesecake that has huge pieces of strawberry and chunks of cheesecake.
Nightlife
I’ve spoken ad naseum about Flying Saucer so I won’t talk much more about my beloved beer pub but it was obviously a priority to take Jes there and we managed to, twice. On Friday night we parked back at Flying Saucer and took the R Line, which is a free downtown bus, to Solas bar, which has a great patio area (it’s also has a unique dance floor as it’s made of glass and girls in little short skirts tend to dance, given the diners below a bit of a show). Unfortunately, although I had made reservations, they neglected to tell me a private party was scheduled so we altered our plans to stay in the “Glenwood South” area and ate at Armadillo Grill (which has the distinction of being where Alex and I had our first date).
After dinner we took the R Line back to Flying Saucer and the “Warehouse” district for a quick drink with Alex before heading down the block to Legend’s for the Drag Show. I had been once before but Jes had never been to a drag show and I thought it was wonderful so we made sure to include it in the itinerary. Plus, Legend’s is one of the best dance clubs in Raleigh and one of the nicest, so if you are interested in a great place to dance, this is a good bet.
Something I only recently discovered that I wish I had taken Jes to when she was here was the Boylan Bridge Brew Pub. Hands down, it grants the best view of downtown Raleigh than any other place you could go. There is dining inside but with a large patio and this view, why would you want to?
Raleigh as seen from the patio of Boylan Bridge Brew Pub
This is obviously not a complete list of all the things you could do in Raleigh but I thought we got a lot done in our short four days, especially mixing in doing nothing all day Sunday but watch movies.
What do you love about your town? What’s your fave thing to do or place to eat?
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March 31, 2013 
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