woman who did my fingerprints for the CCP was great. easy breezy experience from arrival and the…read morecheck in paperwork to leaving. Took 10 min tops

The Orange County Historical Courthouse is a place you should stop while in Hillsborough. The…read morecourthouse was built in 1844 and tours are offered from time to time.

Small little town that packs a punch! Recently visited here to pass the time and visit a new city…read more The trails and history here are absolutely some of the highlights of this interesting city. Great historical homes, small shops and even the cemetery too. Definitely a great town worth checking out!

please don't move here. Yes, it's a cute little town with lots of nice people. Unfortunately the…read moreinfrastructure is not at all ready to handle the people who are already here. Traffic is a nightmare with gridlock daily. The for instance could not handle a recent storm and the whole was without water. Not yet ready for prime time.

I really enjoyed my visit to the North Carolina General Assembly, AKA: The North Carolina…read moreLegislature. Folks here are so nice, the building has a roof-top walking and sitting area and it's open to the public M to F. Wish I had to more time to explore and chat with some of the legislators. Highly recommend a visit if in the area--it's a public building open to everyone--you have to go through security screening at the door to get in. It's just a couple of blocks from the State Capital and the History Museum. Also great to just walk around all the historic well marked streets in downtown Raleigh. We parked in the covered garage adjacent to the Supreme Court but there is parking all over it seemed. Famous line from the visit: When the woman at reception learned we were visiting from California she said: "You folks there have a different way of doing things..."

My co-workers come here about once a week for lunch. We come for the quick food and cheaper prices…read moreof the food. Generally, the food is K&W quality with the entrees being hit or miss but the salad generally being pretty good. The banana pudding is very good. The service used to be better when they would bus your table for you, but now you have to bus your table. If you are looking for a cheap cafeteria lunch this is the place to go, if you are looking for anything else you will be very disappointed. The service tends to be very hit or miss depending on the mood of the staff.

The Northern Regional Center is a Social Services office but it is also used for elections either…read moreon election day or sometimes for early voting. It is a smaller voting site so the lines can get long at times and wrap around the building and go down the sidewalk for the big elections. Once the building was used for giving vaccines. I think it was the flu shot as it was before COVID. The building has a large parking lot so parking is normally easy to find.

It's National Library Week so I figured I'd check out a new to me library. I will say in general…read morethe Wake County libraries are so awesome. Richard B Harrison Library is no different. It's directly off of New Bern Ave and easy to drive right by it without even realizing it's there. This is the smallest library I have been to in Wake County, but it is still has everything you might neat. They have beautifully curated displayed towards the front and then the standard racks after that. They have quite a few computers and a printer if you need to utilize it. The children's second was also quite cute. They have a nice little seating area there and plenty of fun books on display. I love that Wake County in general has the Lucky Day section. It's a small section where you can get new release books and skip the month's long waitlist. I was able to score the new Emily Henry book that just got released yesterday. It truly was my lucky day! The librarians were both very friendly and parking was easy as well.

Love the Town of Cary! The food options are fantastic and there's so much range in types of cuisine…read morehere-- and it was a pleasant surprise as I truly didn't expect that in such a small, quaint town. The art is beautiful here and the downtown park is fantastic. Traffic and parking are fine, so getting around is a breeze. My Favorite Cary Spots: Peck & Plume TaiPei 101 Hank's Downtown Dive Downtown Cary Park SideBar Scratch Kitchen Brunches Lucky 32 The Improv AVA Rooftop Sports & Social Doc B's Paragon Theater Cheers!

During our four years living in Chapel Hill, we were impressed with the Town of Cary. We went to…read moreCary several times, mainly to eat good Asian food and go to H Mart. From my perspective, Cary continues to be a safe, clean, up-and-coming town with a lot of smart people. It seems like a great place to raise a family. I've heard Cary referred to as "Cannot Afford Raleigh Yet" and "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees." Haha. Seriously though, with all the new construction in recent and forthcoming years, I can see the appeal in living here as opposed to Raleigh. Just look at places like Fenton as one example. In this Yelp review, I list my top 10 restaurants in Cary from our time in the Triangle, June 2020 through July 2024: 1. Herons - One of my top two restaurants in the Triangle including Fearrington House. True fine dining for special occasions. https://www.yelp.com/biz/herons-cary-2 2. Szechuan Mansion Hotpot - Best Chinese hot pot in the Triangle. https://www.yelp.com/biz/szechuan-mansion-hotpot-cary 3. Seol Grille - Best Korean barbecue in the Triangle, that we tried. https://www.yelp.com/biz/seol-grille-cary-3 4. Chengdu 7 Sichuan Cuisine - Outstanding Sichuan food. https://www.yelp.com/biz/chengdu-7-sichuan-cuisine-cary 5. Andia's Ice Cream - Best ice cream in the Triangle. https://www.yelp.com/biz/andias-ice-cream-cary-2 6. Taipei 101 - Excellent "authentic" Taiwanese and Chinese food. https://www.yelp.com/biz/taipei-101-cary 7. Guasaca - Terrific arepas. https://www.yelp.com/biz/guasaca-cary-3 8. So Hot - Another solid Chinese hot pot restaurant. https://www.yelp.com/biz/so-hot-cary 9. Milk Lab - Yummy rolled ice cream. https://www.yelp.com/biz/milk-lab-cary-cary 10. Brecotea - Good Asian bakery and bubble tea shop. https://www.yelp.com/biz/brecotea-cary-4 Honorable mention: * Geluna Gelato - Delicious small-batch gelato in downtown Cary. https://www.yelp.com/biz/geluna-gelato-cary * Kung Fu Tea - Probably the best bubble tea in Cary. https://www.yelp.com/biz/kung-fu-tea-cary-cary * Peck & Plume - Good American restaurant located inside The Mayton boutique hotel (formerly known as The Mayton Inn). Ideal for brunch. https://www.yelp.com/biz/peck-and-plume-cary-2 ** Downtown Cary Park - Not a restaurant, so I'm making an exception here, but you've got to check out this new $68 million municipal park. https://www.yelp.com/biz/downtown-cary-park-cary

This is a beautiful two story library down the street from NCCU. They have fun and engaging events,…read morenice helpful staff and so many books! The parking lot is very small so be careful coming and going. They also allow you to secure a meeting room and host meetings and small events.

We stopped by this little gem of a library branch after it was renovated for a long time. The space…read moreis very small but they have a decent selection of books, DVDs and meeting rooms. The staff were very polite. We didn't check anything out this visit (my wife was in the middle of reading a long book) but we're glad we stopped in. They have an amazing faux stained glass window that really catches your eye from the outside or interior. Very cute little library branch.

The Raleigh Fire Museum is open once a month on the second Saturday of the month. It is well worth…read morea visit. The museum is a short drive from downtown Raleigh and admission is free. You can park in the road or in their small parking area. The staff are friendly and will answer any questions you have. The museum is only 900 sq feet but full of information about 150 years of firefighting in Raleigh. The museum is no touch because of the historic artifacts they are preserving. You can see jaws of life; a historic alarm bell from 1870; a hose cart are among some of the items you will see. The melted street signs and lights from the trucks as well as the melted helmet from the 2017 fire show just how dangerous firefighting can be and the destruction fire can cause. I liked that tribute was paid to fallen firefighters as well. There are even some artifacts from Ground Zero. Besides going into the museum you can get inside the fire trucks and get a chance to spray the fire hose. It was very hands on. Spraying the fire hose was an experience I will remember!

Inside the gates of the Raleigh Fire Training Center is a modular building housing the Raleigh Fire…read moreMuseum. It's an interesting tour through Raleigh's fire department history. The best part for me was having the opportunity to speak with firefighters and the intern volunteers who staff this museum. I meet people who enjoy what they do and can talk about it easily. However, firefighters take it to another level, I think. Their faces light up, their eyes have an intensity to them, and their voices are clear and strong. It's as though they have so much to tell you and only a short time to do so. It's a self-guided tour of the articles, pictures, stories, but there's always someone to answer questions. The firefighters and the intern who work here genuinely like talking about what they do. Every one of them. Ask them about the old equipment, they'll explain it in terms you can understand. Ask about what they use in place of the old equipment, and they'll tell you. Ask about their experiences and they'll walk you through an event. Ask about some of the old pictures of people, equipment, and buildings and they'll explain what you see and what probably happened. Ask about what it's like in a fire station in between calls, and they'll smile and tell you (but maybe not the entire story). Ask about how they approach a fire or what they look for, they'll explain it simply. I've never quite encountered anything like it. If you're here on the one day a month it's open (the second Saturday of every month), you may see some firefighters-to-be going through some exercises in the nearby buildings. One of the firefighters who works in the museum brings his own fire truck, one he restored himself. It's an nice opportunity to see how Raleigh's fire department has changed over the years, see some of the original equipment, and talk to a group of people who you otherwise never want to meet on the job.