Anyone familiar with the Raleigh area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The weather there is nice. Four seasons, but a milder winter than here.

Wrong. The weather is terrible in Raleigh. Summers are disgustingly hot. And it’s summer for most of the year. And that nasty yellow pollen that covers everything for like a month in the spring. Yuck. Plus Raleigh is boring.

[Anonymous]

I have some high school friends who settled in Raleigh and Cary; one couple bought a huge red pickup truck specifically so they could tailgate at NC State games, and another constantly posts pictures of their girls in matching smocked dresses at the country club. I’ve been there a few times and it felt very, very Southern to me.

[Anonymous]

I from the south and loved living in the Raleigh area. But I would have been more happy in Durham or Chapel Hill. We lived in Cary = "containment area for relocated yankees" and found the relocated yankees to be more conservative than we were!

Raleigh is "country club" and/or "redneck" southern, and the pp above illustrates. Chapel Hill has better schools, and Durham is more diverse. Both are more liberal than Raleigh.

[Anonymous]

We lived there for a few years - despite clearly being together (both wearing rings so presumably people knew we were married) were always given separate checks because we were a mixed race couple. If we went out with a similarly mixed race couple they always put the same race people on one bill. Got out shortly after Trump was elected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a conservative, religious area. Not saying that's good or bad, just something to know.

The RTP area has one of the highest concentrations of PhDs in the US, and draws scholars and professionals from around the world. It’s where I became an atheist liberal. I would not in any way describe it as primarily conservative or religious.

+1000 I lived there for 13 years and we thrived as liberal atheists. I’m white, my husband is Asian, and one of our kids was black. It wasn’t an issue. I don’t get it.

[Anonymous]

Western Wake County is very diverse - specifically Cary and Apex. My children’s public school is probably 75% Asian as are many in the area. There are lots of highly educated people who come from all over the United States and the world to live and work here. It’s far from provincial.

Also, the weather in general is much better than D.C.; much milder winters with lots of sunshine throughout the year.

[Anonymous]

The triangle area is one of the most educated places in the country and super diverse. People come from all over the country and the world to work at the various tech companies. We lived there for 6 years and found there to be pros and cons...like any place. you have to be fairly strategic about schools...just like in the DMV. The urban planning and neighborhoods tend to be rather sprawly and car centric. The weather is OK. I liked being 2 1/2 hours from the beach and having mountains in the other direction. The cost of living is pretty reasonable. Chapel Hill is pretty expensive.

[Anonymous]

We lived in Johnston County (Clayton) because at the time the schools were the best in the Raleigh area. This was 17 years ago so much has likely changed. We had good friends who lived in Cary and really liked it. Clayton is further out and more rural. Cary has all the traffic and busyness associated with living closer to the city.

Overall, we really liked it.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in the Midwest, NC, DC area (Alexandria, VA), and Mountain West. I've met lovely people and made lasting friendships in all of them. All these labels people throw out suck, and IMO you really shouldn't trust them.

[Anonymous]

The style of urban (“urban”) planning in Raleigh is very typical of any Sunbelt metro that grew quickly in the 80s/90s/2000s and the weather can be very humid, but otherwise it doesn’t really feel all that southern. Most people there are either transplants (mainly from the north) or immigrants. There are some really good schools, some middle of the road schools, and some bad schools - just like anywhere else in the country.

[Anonymous]

21:12 again. Chapel Hill if you want the feel of a more traditional “town”. Lots of academics. Great schools. Really expensive though. If don’t mind suburbia/subdivisions/strip malls, Cary has fantastic schools. Apex is similar in feel but schools rank slightly less high. Durham has made a lot of cool strides over the past decade or so but the schools are still pretty meh so a lot of families pass over it. Check out Carrboro too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The style of urban (“urban”) planning in Raleigh is very typical of any Sunbelt metro that grew quickly in the 80s/90s/2000s and the weather can be very humid, but otherwise it doesn’t really feel all that southern. Most people there are either transplants (mainly from the north) or immigrants. There are some really good schools, some middle of the road schools, and some bad schools - just like anywhere else in the country.

To me, this is a very bland & car-centric style of urban planning. I was in the North Hills area of Raleigh a few months ago and found it utterly soulless and devoid of character, an Anyplace, USA. My BIL lived in Durham for a while and it was also just meh to me - good BBQ though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The style of urban (“urban”) planning in Raleigh is very typical of any Sunbelt metro that grew quickly in the 80s/90s/2000s and the weather can be very humid, but otherwise it doesn’t really feel all that southern. Most people there are either transplants (mainly from the north) or immigrants. There are some really good schools, some middle of the road schools, and some bad schools - just like anywhere else in the country.

To me, this is a very bland & car-centric style of urban planning. I was in the North Hills area of Raleigh a few months ago and found it utterly soulless and devoid of character, an Anyplace, USA. My BIL lived in Durham for a while and it was also just meh to me - good BBQ though.

Yeah, that is what I was saying. It’s lots and lots of subdivisions connected by main arteries that will take you to “shopping centers” and big box stores with job centers scattered around the metro as opposed to one centralized location like you’d find in Chicago or NY. It is designed purely with a car-based lifestyle in mind. The other cities in the south (and some in the west) that have had a population boom in the past few decades, such as Charlotte, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Orlando, Dallas, Houston, etc. are similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We lived there for a few years - despite clearly being together (both wearing rings so presumably people knew we were married) were always given separate checks because we were a mixed race couple. If we went out with a similarly mixed race couple they always put the same race people on one bill. Got out shortly after Trump was elected.

Ok, I saw this old thread yesterday while searching for things to do in Raleigh this weekend since we are here for a wedding… I have been here about five hours and something similar has already happened twice. (1) hotel asked whether I was Mrs.— or not upon check-in “because I never want to assume,” and (2) we were asked if we wanted separate checks after a leisurely off-peak lunch at a brewery, just the two of us. We are wearing wedding rings, have American accents, are similar in age, and dress in a normal boring preppy/conventional way. We have been together almost fifteen years, have kids (not traveling with us), and literally everywhere else we have ever been in the US and abroad, it is very obvious to others around us that we are together without anyone having to ask.

WTAF

[Anonymous]

^after we confirmed that “my wife? Yes, this is my wife.” The receptionist asked again, “what’s your name? So, you’re Mrs.—?” and that’s when they followed up with “Well, I never want to assume.”

This is a major national chain.