You knew that we’d be back!
North Carolina
Like Circles on a Spirograph, one of our recent treks took us – after a very long spin elsewhere – back to North Carolina. I can’t say that it all started here, but it also kind of did. DoubleC had an opportunity to work on site in Chapel Hill and so we made the leap from Chicago to North Carolina to take advantage of the much-needed opportunity to not be in the office for a while with the added bonus of much (much) milder winters! I can’t even explain how done with Chicago winters I was at that point in time, but I digress.
We arrived in North Carolina filled with excitement at all of the new adventures it promised. Which it did! We met lovely people, found tasty new spots, fun things to do outdoors (year-round) and a plethora of day and weekend trips to dive deeper into the full North Carolina experience. To begin with though, we kept it simple and just explored our little Triangle.
When I said we had been away for a very long spin, I meant it. The last time we were in the Triangle was when our son was a toddler. He is now a teenager. He was born in North Carolina and yet had no memory of it, so we figured it was high time to reintroduce him! In planning our trip, we had a list a mile long but only a handful of days and so – we had to narrow it down to what we could actually manage to do in our timeframe. Since we are always still working and roadschooling, our time is even more limited, but we’re used to making the most out of our time anywhere!
The Triangle
Our planned vs. actual schedule – of course – ended up being a bit different, so since this was a circle-back trip I should probably start with what we had planned to do vs what we actually ended up doing. It had been a decade, and we dove into our Wishlist completely ignoring the fact that things might have changed over the last ten years! How silly, right!?!?
Day 1 (of 5)
Planned: Drive to the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington – Park / Visit / Get back on the road to Raleigh / Check into the State Fair Campground / Go to Goodberry’s.
Actual: This day actually went pretty smoothly. The Battleship parking lot was recently redone and there is now RV parking – yay! No shade, but at least we fit. The Battleship has seen some wear and tear but is generally still the best-preserved one we’ve ever visited. We were super hot and super tired, but with Dymaxion no longer needing to be held it was a lot easier. We (again, as always) underestimated how long we would need to tour the whole thing and ended up just doing the lower sections. We waved to the gigantic ‘gator guarding the ship and made it to Raleigh in time to set up, make a quick dinner and get to Goodberry’s right as the heat was moving out of the day. Whew! As a bonus, we even managed to check out the new LIDL store (took us right back to Europe!)
Day 2 (of 5)
Planned: Breakfast at Jubala / Pick up some fun Italian treats at Capri Flavors / Move the RV to the Rolling View Campground / Shopping at Southern Season / Dinner at Squid’s.
Actual: We started out OK, but as the day gathered steam things just felt like they completely fell apart. In hindsight, it wasn’t sooo bad – but it was the first real disappointment of the trip and so I was a tad on the moody side. We had no memory of ever having been to Jubala before, but since it was starred in our map we figure we must have looked into it at some point. It was close to the State Fair Campground, so we popped over there first thing before check-out at the campground and it was delicious! Homemade biscuit sandwiches and tasty waffles – yum!
Being just across the street from the NC State campus, we walked to the Student Union and found a few things we “needed” in the book store. Capri Flavors had moved to a different location and it was quite a bit smaller and also missing the old Italian Nonna who used to sit in the corner, but it still had a decent selection of Italian goodies. We had a tight window in which we needed to get the RV moved to the Rolling View Campground, so we couldn’t really lollygag at the store. We picked a few things out quick and then had to move on.
Despite there being no direct route from one campground to the next and mainly small roads, we managed to get there and get set up earlier than we thought – which was great because we wanted to go enjoy walking around Southern Season! But when I mapped to where it was supposed to be ….. it wasn’t there. Zooming out on the map I saw that it had apparently moved …. to a galaxy far, far away. After a shouting match with Google, we settled on visiting DoubleC’s project at UNC Chapel Hill instead and then last, but not least (or so I thought) – a nice seafoody dinner at Squid’s.
Turned out, everyone (meaning Dymaxion) had hailed Goodberry’s the best icecream – custard, actually – on earth and so back we went for round 2. We even popped into the Harris Teeter for old time’s sake (and Greek yogurt for the cat).
Day 3 (of 5)
Planned: Coffee in the woods followed by a campground bike ride and then some work and school under the lovely, shade trees – idyllic! Afternoon trip to Durham to have Locopops / Visit the Scrap Exchange / Walk around American Tobacco / Go to a Durham Bulls game!
Actual: Now, this day went more-or-less according to plan but, much of the sparkle we had in our eyes about it all had nearly faded by the time we crawled into bed that night. The coffee was lovely as the morning was cool and the sun was bright, sparkling across the lake. The bike ride was marred a bit by being stuck behind a garbage truck, the significantly low lake level and the fact that the trails we tried to take our bikes on were really not at all meant for them and we ended up pushing / pulling them more than riding. Oh, well. After some critical work and school time, we got cleaned up for our evening out.
First stop was LocoPops! It had also moved to a new location in an area we didn’t know at all, but the new spot had a wonderful covered porch we could drip our popcicles all over as we enjoyed them in the shade. They were as delicious as ever! The Scrap Exchange had also moved, but was bigger and better than ever – we had a great time exploring the shelves!
The rest of the day was a little tougher. American Tobacco was still there, but most of the bars and restaurants we remembered were gone and some spots were completely empty. It felt pretty dead. We tried to find somewhere fun to eat, but ended up at Mellow Mushroom – which we always enjoy, but wasn’t really what we were hoping for. Our Durhamite spot was also nowhere to be found. Sigh. So, we made our way to the ball game and were (un)entertained by the minimal amount of display being put on by Wool E. Bull, watched as the taps spluttered nothing out of their taps and later as the roll-down doors were dropped on concessions well before the 7th inning stretch.
It would be a stretch to say the game was just like we remembered it – did it look the same? Sure. Did it feel the same – nope. My hope is that next time we go Wool E. Bull is back in stride.
Day 4 (of 5)
Planned: Round 2 of the prior idyllic morning followed by trail biking in Umstead Park and then off to Carrboro to visit the Mediterranean Café / the Taco Truck / Our favorite hike at Charles Herman Wilson Park / Pick up a To-Go Dinner for the next day from Hog Heaven and a triangle climax with a full-on celebration at Angus Barn.
Actual: We skipped the bike ride as according to Google no one can decide if you can still take bikes on the Umstead Park trails or not plus DoubleC had developed an annoying cold – courtesy of Dymaxion – and we were all a little worn out. After Dymaxion’s Wizarding Book Club, we headed for Carrboro. The Mediterranean Café was as wonderful as ever! But the Taco Truck didn’t open until dinnertime, so that went back into the pocket for another trip. Our hike at Charles Herman Wilson Park was beautiful and fun to do again, but it was hot and we were pretty exhausted from the busy-busy week. We decided that we couldn’t leave our Mediterranean leftovers in the car, so we sadly skipped Hog Heaven and went back to the RV for a quick cool-off and breather (and shoe change) before our reservation at Angus Barn. It was reconfirmed that Angus Barn has the best steak ever – like EVER and that their pound cake is still to die for.
Day 5 (of 5)
Planned: This was the last day of our whirlwind Triangle adventure. To say we were tired was an understatement. We typically have quite a bit more “down” time (work / school / laundry, etc), but we were trying to make the most of the time here after having been gone for more than 10 years. We planned on a morning to visit the house we lived in when Dymaxion was born, / Another shot at picking up Hog Heaven / Stopping into the (new) location of one of our old favorite breweries and then just having a campfire to wind down our trip.
Actual: Yet again, we veered from our plan – this is how it usually goes and we’re cool with that at this point. Make your plans, but be prepared to deviate and be good with whatever it turns out to be. We took the morning to work, do school and get the RV ready to go the next morning. We decided again to skip Hog Heaven since it was pretty far in a direction the opposite of the Fullsteam Brewery and just went straight to the brewery for an afternoon refreshment. It was a new location in a corporate campus – far from its warehouse origins with picnic tables and a sticky floor. We tried their new beers and pizza and were sad to say that neither measured up to our long-held memories. Even though our bellies were full, Dymaxion convinced us (pretty easily, I might add) that we needed one more stop at Goodberry’s – to leave with a smile on our faces! It was way too hot for a campfire, so we played some cards and watched a movie. And so, with that it was over! See you next time, NC!
punkTREKS 