One day in Raleigh - things to do/see

So, if you had a day to spend in the area, let's just say this weekend, what would you do? Heading up there with the wifey. Just the two of us. I guess I should go ahead and say, what non-car related things should we do on Friday and/or Saturday?

If it's warm Shelly lake has a nice walking trail. There is a nice modern art museum too with a sculpture path.

+1 on the Art Museum. We were members there when we lived there. A nice size, not overwhelming, but a wide range of impressive stuff, from pre-historic to modern.

Farmers market is great-- we miss the fresh stuff that the boutique farmers in the area would bring. Tomatoes that taste like tomatoes! Imagine that! What you get depends on the season, of course.

Can't say there is much to see downtown-- Governor's Mansion, Capital, maybe, for the Civil War and other memorials.

Southern Seasonings in Chapel Hill if you like shopping for gourmet foods. Durham has some funky places, but be careful where you go.

Best thing about Raleigh is that it is only a few hours drive to the coast or to the mountains.

Basil. I live at the coast and am driving away from it to visit Raleigh. Lol.

The museum and park both sound like likely candidates. Thanks!

Gravy is a great authentic Italian restaurant downtown. I highly recommended it for dinner.

You could always join half of NC at the State Fair. It's going on until the 26th. I hear the fried BBQ onna stick is pretty good.

Umstead Park has miles of good hiking trails. They should be relatively dry by now.

We usually only make it out to "kid related stuff" lately, but the new natural science museum is nice( the kid liked it anyway... ). It depends what time of the year you come. We have a food truck event downtown that is ok, and then Artsplosure(sp?) downtown was fun as well. Then there are usually concerts and stuff during the summer. Funny thing is, we usually wound up in Charlotte when we could take short trips out of town. Been to the mountains yet this season?

In reply to ScreaminE:

Thanks for the suggestion. We might try that place out.

In reply to BenB:

I think we'll skip the fair, but I will offer it up as a suggestion.

In reply to mrwillie:

No, I've not been to the mountains this season, but I've made plans to go in April with a certain self-proclaimed World's Fastest Clown.

Natural science museum is really cool. Busy Bee Cafe is a really good restaurant downtown.

I was about to suggest the Busy Bee Cafe also, good food and great beer selection.

If you're in the mood for burgers or sammiches, check out The Berkeley Cafe, where you can order a Berkeley Burger, just to see if you can do it with a straight face.

The Pit downtown is supposed to be some of the best BBQ around, though they lost their head cook a couple of years ago.

Basil Exposition wrote: The Pit downtown is supposed to be some of the best BBQ around, though they lost their head cook a couple of years ago.

I ate there when I flew in for training last month. It was indeed some awesome BBQ and the banana pudding was just amazing.

NC State Fair is selling a Twix bar stuffed into a Twinkie, wrapped in bacon and deep fried. You just can't find gourmet food like that anywhere else.

ncjay wrote: NC State Fair is selling a Twix bar stuffed into a Twinkie, wrapped in bacon and deep fried. You just can't find gourmet food like that anywhere else.

Someone should be getting a Nobel prize for that.

We drove past the Pit, but didn't stop. It was Friday evening and the place was packed, but it smelled nice outside. I did make it Umstead State Park for some biking this morning. Very pretty place. Strange people. I liked it.

ECM, next time I'm up that way the Berkeley Cafe is on my 'must do' list.