wilmington (of dawson's creek fame) was the only place i'd previously been to in north carolina, like nine years ago. and while i enjoyed it, i'd been scheming and planning for YEARS to figure out how to make this trip happen, since i have friends in both the raleigh and greensboro areas. my challenge was that i also wanted to visit asheville, which i don't have friends in, but had never been to and have been dying to check out. but it's also pretty far from both of the aforementioned places, so my brain kept hurting and i kept postponing my planning. until one day i decided that it's just going to have to be a separate trip, and put my plan into motion for raleigh and greensboro! i had so much fun and ate so much good food and i really needed this little reset. and weirdly, NC had better foliage than we did in new england this year? huh.
DAY 1
after i dropped my stuff off at jacob's apartment in carrboro, we took a short drive to its downtown area, which i immediately fell in love with. fun, funky, and artsy, with lots of little shops and restaurants and cafes. even after visiting so many cities on my trip, i'd definitely pick carrboro to live out of all of 'em.
we had a delicious late lunch at grata, a diner in the mill building. the chicken club was a revelation!
and, of course, because coffee rules everything around me, i had to refuel to get a second wind. the autumn spice latte, which had "everything except pumpkin spice," at gray squirrel did the trick.
we popped into a few spots — a record store, a gift shop, a thrift store, and this fantastic little boutique/art gallery called peel, which was automatically my favorite when i saw that their current exhibit was photos from malls in the late '80s. jacob was so amused at my immediate, gleeful, and animated reaction ("no joke, one of my top 10 favorite things to do is get stoned by myself and watch dead mall walkthroughs!" i excitedly declared, because it the goddamn truth). funny enough, the owner apparently ran aviary gallery here in JP before moving down to north carolina! small world.
dinner was at 411 west in chapel hill, where we were seated in an upscale version of one of those '90s wendy's sunrooms, and it was giving me life. the food was fabulous, too.
we grabbed a drink right down the street at the crunkleton, a gorgeous bar despite its silly name, that featured old library ambience, a ladder behind the bar, and stellar cocktails; i ordered the bourbon bramble with *high-proof* bourbon, orange blossom, marasca cherry paste, and lemon.
DAY 2:
we checked out durham on the second day, starting with a little converted mill building complex called brightleaf square that has shops and restaurants, and then strolled 9th street, a cute shopping district popular among duke students.
speaking of duke, our next stop was the beautiful sarah p. duke gardens, which featured lots of purdy flowers and trees and walking paths.
aaaand all of that walking clearly meant that we earned the right to eat heaping plates of barbecue at picnic (where, anecdotally, i heard a non-"highway tune" greta song in the wild for the THIRD TIME in two months and i feel like i need to gatekeeeeep). anyway, i had deviled eggs to start, and this cheeky young employee dude came over with them and was like "i'm about to bring you a whole lot more food!" haha. i followed that up with a sliced brisket sandwich with potato salad, and banana pudding for dessert. yum.
we were unsurprisingly in the mood for something lighter for dinner, so iza whiskey & eats was the perfect place to grab a quick bite. i ordered the blackberry bourbon smash cocktail (obvi) and the "007" maki roll, with spicy tuna, shrimp tempura, seared tuna, special sauce, eel sauce, masago, and scallions. both so yummy!
i continued my blackberry theme with a blackberry cider at this artsy dive bar down the street in chapel hill, the northside district, which had funny fake taxidermy and a flickering flame lightbulb that i just remembered i need to purchase for my home. obsessed.
DAY 3:
jacob had to work on monday, so i had the day to borrow his car and figure out a day's worth of fun stuff to do by myself. no sweat!
my early-morning google search for "cute small towns near raleigh" led me to hillsborough, a town about 20 minutes north of carrboro that was, indeed, a very cute small town. i hung out at the go-to coffee shop, cup a joe, got a candy apple latte, wandered around a bit, and then attempted to walk to a historic estate that was only 15 minutes by foot. but then the sidewalk ended and i was like "i feel like i am going to end up walking into a sinkhole or onto a highway" and i turned around and went back to the car. i will never, ever, be able to compute or process the lack of walkability outside of the northeast (and pacific northwest). it just does not work for me and i hate it!!
i had also really wanted to check out the "cool old house" neighborhood in raleigh, historic oakwood, so i drove 40 minutes expressly to do so and it was SO worth it.
there were craftsman bungalows (my fave), queen anne victorians, cutesy cottages, etc...AND this jaw-dropping halloween display that was drawing a crowd even during a weekday afternoon. this was only like an eighth of it.
since i was in the neighborhood and ready for a lateish lunch, i stopped into beasley’s chicken and honey, where i had my first chicken and waffles experience. it was sooo good, y'all.
sir walter coffee (as in sir walter RALEIGH...get it?) satisfied my post-lunch caffeine cravings, and then i walked to check out the mural of my spirit animal:
and saw this amazing sign along the way:
then i headed back to carrboro, where jacob and i enjoyed some al fresco drinks on the patio of steel string brewery. but since i'm not much of a beer bitch, i ordered the frosé slushie, making sure to chuckle after saying it so the bartender knew that iiii knew that i was being basic. hehehe. it hit the spot.
we had a cute little casual pizza parlor moment at the pizza factory in the mill building and then called it a night kinda early — i made jacob watch selections from my other favorite genre of youtube videos aside from dead mall walkthroughs, '80s and '90s VHS slices of life.
DAY 4:
related to my annoyance about the car culture in the south...i have a couple of friends in greensboro — about an hour from carrboro — and prior to my trip, i was agonizing over whether to rent a car to drive there for a day/overnight or take the amtrak train. but, uhhh, comparing the prices ($150+ for the car, $20 roundtrip for the train) ultimately made that decision pretty easy despite not knowing what sketchiness awaited via train. it was totally fine! and since they have relatively low ridership on these routes, i had the whole seat to myself both ways. sweet.
my friend since age four, sarah, picked me up from the train station and whisked me away to lucky 32, an upscale southern bistro with a gorgeous outdoor seating area. i ordered the big apple cocktail (knob creek bourbon, captain applejack, honey liqueur, apple bitters, and a luxardo cherry) and a burger with pimento cheese on it, because apparently that's a north carolina thing? we also got fried green tomatoes to start and some grits on the side. all amazing.
sarah is the owner of a lovely greensboro tea shop, vida pour tea, which has been open now for about a decade. and i've been following along on her journey and rooting for her from afar for all of these years, so it was awesome to get to see it in real life! it's so peaceful and pretty,
sarah sent me on my way from the shop with lots of goodies, including a t-shirt, scone, mini-pie, diffuser, and autumnal loose leaf tea (which was selected for additional screening by the TSA upon my return flight, ope!) and i lyfted to my airbnb nearby. it was a little studio/converted garage type deal that was full of color, quirks, and art. perfect for an overnight, and conveniently located in greensboro's "cool old house" neighborhood, fisher park, which i had to explore right away.
and when looking at the map as i was wandering to make sure i didn't get too far off track, i noticed a place called borough market and bar around the corner. it was perhaps the cutest place i've ever been in my life? one of them, at least. one side is a boutique with all your standard stuff: fun jumpsuits, journals, candles, etc. etc.
and then the other side is, as the name of the place suggests, a bar that is just an instagram dream. i also loved the apparent women-centricity of the place; multiple women were just hanging out solo with a drink and their laptops, coffee shop-style, and it pleased me greatly.
since i was boozing at lunch and planned to continue at dinner, i slowed things down with a mocktail called "good clean fun" that had alcohol-free rosé, club soda, homemade pink lemonade, and GLITTER. it was very good and very refreshing, and i sat for a bit just taking in the adorable environment and sippin' my lil' drink.
so...can anyone explain to me why southern downtowns are so DEAD, dismal, and borderline sketch? it was kind of like this when i lived in orlando, too. again, maybe the lack of walkability? not sure, but one little stroll through downtown g'boro and i was all set. there were some fun moments — like an independent bookstore, union coffee (where i got some excellent cold brew), and a random cheesecake place where a bunch of people were sitting at the tables outside eating cheesecake at 4pm on a tuesday? love that for them. but overall, ehhhhhh. downtown raleigh seemed very similar.
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| one of like 3 cute things in downtown greensboro |
anyway, i met my freshman year roommate at marist, kari, for dinner. we went to this gorgeous restaurant called print works bistro, which is attached to the proximity hotel. for any reply all fans, evan scott olson from "the case of the missing hit" fame plays here every wednesday, and if i had planned better, i could have gone on a night he was performing! oh well. my drink, elder wand (bulleit bourbon, st. germain, blood orange, cherry, and angostura and chocolate bitters) was great, and the trout almondine was phenomenal as well. and y'all know i lose my mind over anything banana, so the banana creme brûlée was a no-brainer for dessert.
DAY 5:
i had some time to kill before my noon train back to durham on the final day, so i took the risk and set out on a 25-minute walk to borough coffee, which is just about the most adorable coffee shop situation i've ever experienced.
picture it, greensboro, 2023: you ascend the steps of a historic victorian bed and breakfast, stroll onto the wraparound porch, and find yourself in front of a charming walk-up window where you order your drink (i recommend an iced brown sugar cinnamon latte w/ oat milk). the barista hands it to you, and you either enjoy it on the porch, inside the dining room of the b&b, OR in the absolutely magical, whimsical, sun-dappled backyard (my pick). i was just so deeply taken with and enchanted with all of this that i dedicated an entire instagram feed post to it and i regret nothing. a beautiful way to end my time in greensboro.
jacob scooped me up from the amtrak station and we got some really, really good sandwiches from toast (mine was a version of the famous tommy dinic's roast pork sandwich with broccoli rabe and provolone in philly, except with sweet italian sausage instead).
i was SO excited to see that just a few blocks down, there was 1) a vintage store and 2) it was open! i had struck out with all of them on my trip due to the day or the time i stopped by, so dolly’s vintage saved the day. i got this crazy cute peplum dress from the '80s, aaand the best compliment you can get at a vintage store (the owner said if it was a slightly bigger size, she would have kept it for herself).
coffee was in order at this point, and umm....beyu caffè had one of the best coffee beverages i've ever had in my life? it was an iced mexican latte, i think? and had cinnamon, chocolate, oat milk, idk what else but i could have drank that all the live-long day.
and while i had amazing food the entire trip, the meal i had at venable bistro on my final night with jacob and his partner mark was the best. i ordered the bbq chipotle salmon per mark's recommendation, but was a little nervous that the barbecue flavor might be too much. it honestly tasted more like a sweet chili salmon to me and was incredible. the mashed potatoes it came with were so buttery, and i was just in food heaven. and i washed it all down with a cherry limeade (vodka, cherry, lime, and cardamom bitters).
napoli pizzeria and gelateria, just a few steps away, was perfect for dessert — i was in an affogato mood, and an affogato with vanilla bean gelato is what i got.
overall, north carolina seemed like a highly livable, laid-back place with friendly folks, and fine fare. two thumbs up. asheville, you're up next!
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