Chapel Hill, N.C. October 13-16th

Chapel Hill is this cute little town that is the home to the University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill is part of the research triangle, which also includes Raleigh and Durham. This hub is responsible for progressive inventions, research and other advances in academia. The University of North Carolina is the nation’s first state university. It’s pretty cool to walk around campus knowing that students have been living and studying here since 1789.

UNC is a very diverse student body. The atmosphere is liberal and progressive, and everyone is friendly. Southern hospitality is no myth. Franklin Street, the main street in Chapel Hill, is full of unique shops, restaurants and UNC pride. You can’t walk 2 feet without passing a person in baby blue. Friday night we went to Bandido’s for dinner with my best friend Laura and her friend Nate. Afterward we went to Lucy’s bar, Fuse and then Goldie’s. Most of the bars in Chapel Hill have a great beer selection and we had a lot of fun with Laura, Nate and Amanda.

The campus was alive early on Saturday a.m. as students, alumni and locals were in a hurry to get to the UNC football game. We took our coffees to the main area of the campus and sat on the steps of an academic building. We had a blast watching the fraternity boys walk by in their seersucker pants, accompanied by a blonde girl to interlock arms with. Apparently the uniform for fraternity boys on this campus consists of khaki shorts or pants, with a collared shirt, and a bandana that holds your sunglasses on your head. Sometimes there is a sweater worn over their shoulders. In most parts of this country, this uniform is completely hilarious, however, in Chapel Hill; it marks your status as a member of a fraternity. I’ve only seen people wear that uniform in movies when they are on a yacht. It was great fun people watch on the steps and compare how different we were from this crowd where southern pleasantries are common.

On Saturday night we went to the North Carolina Fair which was an absolute RIOT! The fair had every bad food you could possibly think of; pizza, hot dogs, French fries, pork chop on a stick, and giant turkey legs. We ate hot dogs, funnel cake, alligator on a stick and popcorn. You could get practically anything fried at the fair. Fried snickers, Milky Way, vegetables, coke (yes, they fry the coca-cola in strips and sell it!!!). We could feel our arteries clogging up as we munched our way through the fair. We couldn’t stop laughing our heads off at the spectacles surrounding us and when we went on the Tilt-A-Whirl. I looooove that ride!! There was a freak show at the fair, which was pretty sad! I thought all those things ended years ago. The features of the freak show include the world’s smallest woman, the world’s largest horse, a woman with no arms and no legs, the largest rat and a two-headed baby (in a jar). As we tried to exit the fair, the fireworks started. A fellow fair-attendee made the comment, “What’s the point, it’s not July” as the fireworks were going off. We were in hysterics. My stomach hurt from laughing.

I won a stuffed animal at the Fair! I am highly skilled at those water shooting games (little known fact). I now have a great stuffed pony as a memento of the North Carolina State Fair. The Fair was a perfect thing to include on our road trip. The crowd at the Fair was very diverse. After the fair we checked out a bar in Chapel Hill called The Speakeasy. They had Allagash White on tap! Woohooooooooo!

Sunday a.m. we met Josh’s aunt, uncle and sister for brunch in Cary, N.C. Cary is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States. It’s full of “greenways” and bike paths. The houses there are gorgeous and the residents were all smiles and polite to us. We had brunch at Lucky 32 and then headed back to Chapel Hill, grabbed some dinner at The Loop and had our North Carolina vanilla milkshake. Laura and I went for a run and Starbucks on Monday a.m. and then Josh and I hit the road around noon.

We made the big mistake of not taking enough photos on the Chapel Hill part of this trip. We were having too good of a time to remember to take more snapshots of Franklin street and the fair.

Thanks so much Laura and Amanda for putting us up your house!!! And to Mary Carol and Dave for a tasty brunch in Cary. We had a great, great time. It’s going to be really hard to top our Chapel Hill weekend!

Pros of Research Triangle area:
Friends and family there!
Good climate
Inexpensive
Good biking and running paths

Cons:
Far drive to rock climbing, backpacking
Not all that impressed with Raleigh as a major metropolitan city
Big tech market

Next Stop: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina!