While it wasn’t my first time to North Carolina, this trip was my first to Raleigh, and one of only a handful of trips I’ve ever taken to what I’d consider “the south.”
Technically, Frederick is just below the Mason-Dixon line, but any self-respecting southerner would laugh in my face if I were to claim that meant we were southern. I’m not sure where the real line is… maybe somewhere mid-Virginia, right about the time you start to see more churches than Starbucks.
So you might not be surprised to hear that I had next to no idea what to expect…
And maybe that’s why I was so shocked.
I expected a nice southern college town with some seriously rad barbeque — what I didn’t expect was a place that felt more like the west coast than the east. Bike trails, awesome food, great breweries. Add a few thousand more hippies and Raleigh could be Eugene.
We had a great time wandering around, snapping shots of the town, and eating a ton of good food.
–> If I were blessed with just a slightly higher metabolism, I think I might eat the mac & cheese at Poole’s 3 meals a day.
On the way back from Raleigh we took our time, stopping here and there to check out the sights… and even taking the veeeery long way around, through Shenandoah National Park for the sunset.
We were back home later than we would have liked, but sometimes it’s worth an extra day to move a little more slowly… especially if it puts you in the middle of the woods with no cell reception and a gorgeous sunset.
Then you start to wish you had all the time in the world.
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