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North Carolina
Raleigh day trips, mountain weekends, coastal escapes, and North Carolina places worth circling back to.
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All North Carolina posts
North Carolina / November 7, 2026
Five Downtown Raleigh Breweries for More Than Beer
Five downtown Raleigh breweries for yoga, cycling friends, artwork, trivia, and a meal with a skyline view.
North Carolina / October 24, 2026
Four Years Later: A Return to Hendersonville with My Parents & Viktor
Four years later, a familiar mountain weekend looks a little different with waterfalls, cider, my parents, and Viktor along for the ride.
North Carolina / October 8, 2026
Apples, Apple Cannons & Meeting the Parents: A Weekend in Hendersonville.
Apple orchards, mountain views, and the weekend Daniel started feeling like part of the family.
Domestic / August 16, 2026
A Long Weekend in Beech Mountain, North Carolina
Beech Mountain is a little farther than we would normally drive for one of our High Country weekends, but we would absolutely make the trip again.
Domestic / July 25, 2026
From West Virginia to Grandfather Mountain: Discovering the Highland Games
Highland Games are not the most obvious choice for a family with no Scottish ancestry.
North Carolina / May 10, 2026
A Sunday on the Piedmont Farm Tour: Mushrooms, Goats, Strawberries, and a Better Look at Local Food
We finally made it to the Piedmont Farm Tour, spending a spring Sunday visiting five farms near Raleigh for mushrooms, goats, strawberries, local food, and a closer look at the work behind sustainable agriculture in North Carolina.
North Carolina / April 22, 2026
A New Way to Experience Downtown Raleigh: Our Latest VoiceMap Tour
Our latest VoiceMap tour moves through the center of downtown Raleigh, connecting landmarks, murals, green spaces, and overlooked details along a walk from the Convention Center to Union Station.
North Carolina / April 17, 2026
More Than Sunflowers: Why We Keep Coming Back to Raleigh’s Dorothea Dix Park
Sunflowers may get the headline, but Dorothea Dix Park keeps drawing us back for skyline views, trolls, dog-watching, community events, and easy afternoons outside in Raleigh.
North Carolina / April 5, 2026
Easter Weekend in Raleigh: A Visit Worth Repeating
A spring family weekend in Raleigh brought First Friday, blooming gardens, barbecue, museum grounds, and a quiet Easter morning together.
North Carolina / January 24, 2026
A Festive December Weekend in Asheville
We went to Asheville for Christmas at Biltmore and Winter Lights. At Antler Hill Village, we shopped for gifts and tasted the Christmas Red and White.
North Carolina / November 10, 2025
Wine Country to Wedding Bells: A Blue Ridge Celebration
This Blue Ridge weekend had celebration built in. Hendersonville vineyards, Triple Falls, Asheville meals, and a mountaintop wedding all gave us reasons to linger.
North Carolina / October 24, 2025
Discover Spooky Season in Historic Oakwood — Our First Audio Tour Together!
Our first VoiceMap tour made Historic Oakwood feel like the right place to start. In October, the Victorian porches and old Raleigh stories already come with a little atmosphere.
North Carolina / August 24, 2025
A Few Weeks in North Carolina’s High Country – Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock and West Jefferson
A longer High Country stay gave us time to settle into the mountains instead of rushing through them. Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, and West Jefferson all led up to a Rough Ridge proposal we will never quite top.
North Carolina / July 6, 2025
A Quick Summer Escape: 2 Days in Carolina Beach, NC
We hiked the Flytrap and Sugarloaf trails, picked up biscuits, and watched fireworks from our hotel balcony.
North Carolina / December 3, 2022
Taking a Ride on the Elkin Vine Line
We took the Vine Line’s Green Line to the Swan Creek wineries, with a sandwich stop at Shiloh General Store between tastings.
North Carolina / November 8, 2022
Spending A Day In Wake Forest, NC
We spent the morning over coffee and in the shops, walked the reservoir loop, and stayed for dinner near downtown Wake Forest.
North Carolina / October 31, 2022
Nocturnal by Nature: Halloween at NCMNS
Nocturnal by Nature turned the science museum into something stranger after dark. Costumes, cocktails, live music, and after-hours exhibits gave the Raleigh night a little Halloween mischief.
North Carolina / October 20, 2022
A High Country Long Weekend
We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway at peak color, hiked at Julian Price Memorial Park, and spent a day in West Jefferson.
North Carolina / October 11, 2022
An October Week in Raleigh, NC
October in Raleigh showed up in the small ways we like most. A normal week can feel full here when it moves from Oakwood walks and Capitol views to music downtown, museum grounds, and weekend trails close to home.
North Carolina / October 6, 2022
IBMA World of Bluegrass Festival
Hurricane Ian pushed IBMA indoors, but the festival still found its energy inside the convention center. The day moved between bluegrass sets, instrument makers, exhibit-hall wandering, and standout performances.
North Carolina / October 3, 2022
A “Short Little Walk” to Pullen Park
What started as a "short little walk" stretched into one of those unexpectedly great Raleigh evenings, with Pullen Park as the midpoint and Trophy pizza as the reward.