Enjoying Raleigh NC

I've been staying near the RDU airport for the last 2 weeks on business and have really enjoyed my stay. I've been working 7am to 7pm so haven't had too much time to check out the area but have had a number of really nice meals.

Just tonight we went to Bullock's BBQ in Durham for big plate of all kinds of BBQ meat. Also enjoyed the Pit in Raleigh but not quite as much.

I think my favorite though was the Angus Barn in Durham. First of all it was the biggest restaurant I've ever seen and was a true barn but with a very nicely decorated interior. I had a huge piece of prime rib that was cooked to perfection.

Some of you may recall I had asked about the area because there is a chance my company may ask me to relocate to Raleigh in 2016 and after this trip its not as alarming a possibility because of how nice I think the area is. My company is building a state of the art facility in the Research Triangle so that is also appealing.

Glad you've enjoyed your trip Joe. The Angus Barn is one of the premier restaurants in the RDU area and you cannot go wrong with anything on their menu.

We moved here from Southern California almost 24 years ago and have never looked back.

There are many great things about this area and very few bad. PM me if you have any questions in the future.

The area where you are staying is one of the nicest in the US. Weather is good, you are within a couple hours of both ocean and mountains, housing is affordable, crime is low, traffic manageable, and people are friendly. The only drawback is that there isn't a large airport.

If you are a bit of a car nut, the Museum of Art in Raleigh has the "Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed" exhibit. A great collection of Porsches since the earliest years to celebrate the 911's 50th birthday. But it ends early February.
http://ncartmuseum.org/exhibition/porsche-by-design-seducing-speed
Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed marks the North Carolina Museum of Art's first design exhibition, exploring the history and development of the Porsche lineage from the 1930s to the present day.

Big Matt said:

The only drawback is that there isn't a large airport.

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Really I thought that is was a good sized, international airport? Just went through it today and thought I had heard it was a nice hub for travel.

MOXJO7282 said:

Really I thought that is was a good sized, international airport? Just went through it today and thought I had heard it was a nice hub for travel.

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While it's a beautiful airport, unfortunately it's not a hub for any one airline so most non stop flights out of it are to hubs in other cities. An inconvienence for some and a very small inconvienence for others. You can pretty well get anywhere you want with just one plane change. I've traveled to Maui with a plane change in Dallas and I've traveled to St Maarten with just a puddle jump to Charlotte to catch a non stop flt onward. I much prefer it to the chaos at larger airports.

Welcome to NC. We live about an hour east of Raleigh. The Angus Barn is a well established business. Read up on it's history as it is very interesting.

Bucky said:

While it's a beautiful airport, unfortunately it's not a hub for any one airline so most non stop flights out of it are to hubs in other cities. An inconvienence for some and a very small inconvienence for others. You can pretty well get anywhere you want with just one plane change. I've traveled to Maui with a plane change in Dallas and I've traveled to St Maarten with just a puddle jump to Charlotte to catch a non stop flt onward. I much prefer it to the chaos at larger airports.

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For a small airport such as RDU, it does have direct flights to LHR because GSK has a huge site in Raleigh and is headquartered in London.

There's nothing wrong with the airport. I'm just used to living near Dulles where I can get non-stop flights to pretty much everywhere. It's a great convenience. RDU, Norfolk, Richmond, etc. are great airports to fly into, but having to use them to fly out limits choices. Charlotte isn't that far away.

MOXJO7282 said:

Really I thought that is was a good sized, international airport? Just went through it today and thought I had heard it was a nice hub for travel.

Click to expand...

MOXJO7282 said:

Really I thought that is was a good sized, international airport? Just went through it today and thought I had heard it was a nice hub for travel.

Click to expand...

For a time it was an AA hub, but no longer. Still there are lots of flights everywhere, and occasional direct flights to west coast.

If you like BBQ, the best is at the Q Shack in Durham, IMO even better than Bullock's, try it next time you're in the area if you can't make it this trip. Glad you enjoyed the Angus Barn!

Raleigh is a great city and home of the NC State Wolfpack. I grew up there as a kid (but originally from NY) and I have a lot of great memories.

Clyde Cooper’s Barbecue is also good...they have been serving barbecue in downtown Raleigh since 1938. A hole in the wall kind of place with lots of history.

Welcome to NC. Actually RDU is a great airport and you can fly SWA out of there. The Angus Barn is my favorite restaurant in NC but I can only do it once in a blue moon. If you find yourself in Chapel Hill be sure to eat at Mama Dips. It's an institution and Mama Dip has been on the Today Show, QVC and won awards and written up in many magazines such as Southern Living. There is nothing healthy about her place, it's all home made southern comfort food. She is known for her fried chicken and her chicken & dumplings. As she grew more famous so did her prices.

I didn't realize how many tuggers we have in NC. Maybe we should have a tug get together. ??

I hope you get to move here. I used to couldn't wait to get the hell out of here but the more I travel the more I realize how beautiful our state is.

Shaggy