Located in the museum park, off one of the trails and in a corner where you're probably not going…read moreto just stumble upon it is this extremely interesting artwork. It took me about 90 minutes of walking and wandering until I finally found it. Difficult because it's not on one of the paved trails and some of the woods trails are marked off. But I did eventually get there. The Cloud Chamber is a "camera obscura" that uses a pinhole in the roof to project a mirror image of the lit area onto the walls. After you step inside and close the door, once your eyes adjust, you'll see trees and clouds and blue sky projected across the white cement walls. It's very clever! Thank you to artist Chris Drury who installed this stone, wood and turf structure in 2003. And thank you as well to Atlas Obscura for the entry: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cloud-chamber-for-the-trees-and-sky GPS coordinates: 35.805927805555555, -78.69912752777778 [Review 11689 overall, 1471 of 2019.]

I love this park. We typically come during the day to enjoy the paths but we came today early in…read morethe morning with our run club. The trails within the park were closed (not sure why), so we went running around the park. It's especially hilly in this area and connects to the greenway. It's great for endurance training. We also love to come here for picnics, photo shoots, and bike rides.

The art museum here has somewhat limited hours, but it is notable that the surrounding Parkland is…read moreopen even when the interior of the museum is not. The park offers various objects d'art set against a woodland plain, and it links in with other trails as is common in North Carolina. There are a lot of greenways. There is ample free parking and it is close to a lot of other things but quiet and secluded. And if it is a day when the museum is open, you can get a good mix of indoor and outdoor experiences for free.

Amongst my favorite places and local businesses. Just an absolute gem of an establishment. The…read morechocolates are not only delightfully tasty, they look absolutely stunning, making for great gifts or even treats for yourself. I just love that they are truly bean to bar (you can literally watch them sit and sort the beans, grind them, make the chocolate and all other steps of the process). The staff is incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient -- and while prices are a tad higher than your basic chocolates, they are reasonable for the high quality of premium treats you are going to get Just an additional thing I did not mention in my previous review: Their packaging is also great. Not only do they print off the individual names of chocolates you got if you make a box, there is a QR code which when you scan, takes you to the visual and descriptive online guide of all their flavors. Highly, highly recommend, and cannot see any reason why I would not make efforts to continue returning!

Great experience. Friendly staff. I had a spicy peanut butter drink. Mmmmmmm. I felt like Augustus…read moreGloop drinking from Wonka's chocolate river!!! We also purchased 8 different chocolates. Great presentation but some were hit or miss on my pallet. Others may like them however. Other customers mentioned they all pretty much incorporate dark chocolate. I would like to see a milk chocolate in the future. We will definitely come back for another round and try the other choices.

I remember my first handful of visits to Raleigh as a teenager and seeing the Cree Shimmer Wall as…read moreI drove down S. McDowell St. as we passed the Raleigh Convention Center and Red Hat Amphitheater. At the time, I had no idea what it was but thought the way it shimmered in the light was beautiful. I've been a Raleigh resident for several years now and I can confidently say that even to this day, I have to stop and admire the wall whenever I'm nearby. "Shimmer Wall is a 9,284-square-foot piece of art adorning the west side of the Raleigh Convention Center. This spectacular piece is made up of 79,464 light and dark aluminum square pixels that change shape and disappear as the squares flap in the wind. The design team, including artistic inventor Ned Kahn, worked to put the thousands of 4-inch by 4-inch aluminum pixels hinged on louvers to allow for free motion on 4-foot by 4-foot grids. To aid nighttime "shimmering," the design team chose to backlight the wall with 56 LED fixtures from Cree, which have a lifespan of 15 years. The LED colors vary depending on the season or celebration. The wall depicts an image of an oak tree and has become a symbol for Raleigh, the City of Oaks." - LocalWiki How cool!!! I have heard that you can get a good nighttime glimpse of the Cree Shimmer Wall at night from the bridge on Boylan Street. I've never stopped to check it out there but that is also a great spot to take a snapshot of the city at night. I love this city.

Mad. Cool. (Of course they were setting Red Hat Amphitheater…read morefor Shinedown concert the day I went to see the wall, so whole downtown Raleigh gone mad hatter, but consider it as part of experience) Over 9,000 sq ft wall designed by Clearscapes with LED lights donated by Cree. It made with 80,000 metal panels, moving in the wind and creating rippling effect. Some panels are fixed, and paint a picture of old Oak Tree, to commemorate Raleigh nickname, City of Oaks. Like a reflection of Oak Tree in the water, rippling and changing, it representing the city that stands for it's past and changing for the future. This is grand.

Wow! This is one of the most memorable meals I have had within NC in a long time…read more Several people had recommended Brodeto and we knew this was a style of food we would really enjoy. They have a great selection of fresh fish crudo and a whole Bronzino entree. We received incredible service and every dish was times perfectly. Brodeto is located in the Iron Works plaza and is a great to walk around for shopping!

The food was all so very good, no complaints there. A few things I didn't like…read more First and foremost, a 3% credit card charge?!? Seriously? Y'all's prices are already adequately high AND you want to charge me for using a credit card?! I feel like this is just petty. I feel disrespected. We as customers already subsidize the cost of your wait and bar staff by personally paying their salaries, you could at least pick up the CC fees. Which sort of brings me to my next point. If your going to charge me $30 for literally 6-7 tiny little ravioli, at least indicate in SOME way that I'm getting a little appetizer portion and not an actual pasta dish that would serve as a meal. Granted, they were friggin delicious, but come on... I really liked almost all the food here and I want to give it a better rating but there are issues here that will not allow it. Bring down the cost and/or improve portion size and stop charging ME for the cost to run YOUR business and maybe we'd be having a different convo...

I love cats! Obviously it was required to visit this giant mural while in town. It is fun it is…read morefunky and while strolling along easy to get to and snap a photo of. It was purrrrr-fect!

Absolutely great tour! Just moved to Raleigh and it was a fun way to get to know the city: Great…read morefood and Sam was a great guide. Highly recommend.

I've lost count of the Taste Carolina Food Tours I have taken. I've taken the Raleigh tour the…read moremost. My first Raleigh food tour was a great introduction to Raleigh and how I learned to get around in Downtown Raleigh. So since then I always try to find a food tour while traveling. Even though I've taken the Raleigh tour multiple times it has not been the same exact tour as the restaurants rotate so the route changes. Taste Carolina has tours in Raleigh; Durham; Hillsborough; Asheville; Winston Salem; Greensboro; Chapel Hill; Charlotte and Wilmington. Besides Raleigh, I've been on the Hillsborough tour; Durham tour and Wilmington tour. The only tour that wasn't up to par with the other Taste Carolina tours was the Wilmington tour. I do not recommend that tour. The website is easy to use and book the tour you want to take and you can list any food restrictions or food allergies. They try to accommodate. Then you are provided a starting location and parking suggestions. On tour day, you meet your guide and you are off exploring the town as well as discovering restaurants you might not have heard of before. Back when I started these tours, my palate was limited. These tours exposed me to foods I never would have ordered. Some I loved and others not so much but that is all part of the experience to try new things. Generally there are about five or six stops on the tour. You will be given your dish then usually the chef or owner comes out and tells you about the dish and the history of the restaurant. On my last tour I took the Durham tour a second time. At the stating point, the guide had the route we'd be walking on a map with all the restaurants we'd be stopping. I learned some new areas in Durham and went to new restaurants. I regularly eat at several restaurants I was introduced to on the first Durham tour. I've tried to take the Asheville tour for years but the weeks it runs never meshes when I am in town. March will take me on the Greensboro tour though. This was recommended to me by someone on my Durham food tour.

Hooray for the fifth annual Raleigh Typhoon Scavenger Hunt! It was a lot of fun, a lot of food and…read morejust a wee bit of drinking. A great chance to explore the City of Oaks and get silly with 500 other scavenger hunters criss-crossing through the downtown area. But as Christina mentioned, the end was not quite what we hoped for in terms of prizes and how it was handled, bummer. We played leap-frog, passed a hula hoop, did word jumbles, hop scotched, counted crosses, rocked and scissored it out and more. Along the way we got to check out Ripple City, the Big Easy, Woody's, The Oxford, Hibernian, Armadillo Grill, Noir, Jules and a slew of other sponsors. And yes, we drank some beer! But given the amount of ground we covered, we had to hydrate! ;-) All-in-all a fun event that could use a little better organization. Just know that Team Yelp was in it to win it. Puzzles: Finished. Drinking: Complete. Eating: Done. Next year we're bringing home a big prize! And only 3 sombrero's were sacrificed during the evening. Nice job peoples!

Honestly, I'm really glad I competed in this year's Raleigh Typhoon, but I'm not sure I'd do it…read moreagain, or if I did I'd focus more on enjoying the drinks and games instead of trying to get it all done, because at the end of the day...it was about the journey, not the reward (because there was none). Seriously, the deck was stacked against participants in the first place. After registering, we received a white sheet with clues on where we could find 'challenges' that would earn us blue puzzle pieces. Challenges ranged from a good ol' crossword, to origami crawfish to more physical challenges like a team vs. team leap frog race. Once we had the blue puzzle assembled (before any other team we saw) we had an entire new list of 17 items we needed to find and paste to a 24x24 posterboard to get the $400 prize. The $600 prize puzzle was a 'letters missing' puzzle and the $1000 prize was a pictogram to find a key that would open a safe. So yeah, not easy. Things that need work: 1. Attention to detail: Our blue puzzle, once assembled, was cut from different stacks so we had whole words missing (effectively eliminating us from being able to even compete for the 'letters missing' $600 prize). 2. Closing/Prize Ceremony: I don't know about you, but after I've been running around in costume for 9 hours in the heat, not stopping for food, but stopping for lots of drink, I want to pay for MORE beer and listen to LOUD Katy Perry/Gaga pumping out of the same mic used to announce rules for submission of posters / prizes. It took them 3 hours to even announce the winners. Tighten that shiz up! Then, we'll party. AND...when it came time to submit the posters for the $400 prize, they chose the winner based on the first one they liked out of only 20 submissions. Our poster was complete, along with our other items at 7:30, when some people were still making theirs at 8:30. I know it's not a race, this just seems unfair. 3. Confusion: We understood that we were supposed to get photos at every stop, save receipts and other such requirements, so we did it all. At no point in the prize ceremony were these items mentioned or considered, enhancing the feeling that we busted our butts for nothing. GoodTimes: 1. Meeting other teams! There were some playing dirty (grab all the matchbooks...you know who you are...) but most people were happy and having a wild-eyed good time. 2. Getting to see Raleigh! Businesses I'd never been to like The Union and Gypsy Jule made a great impression. Others were less welcoming (and that's pretty interesting too). 3. Bonding with my own team! Raleigh Typhoon is a great way for a group of people to see many sides of each other, working together, keeping each other pumped and sacrificing your own comfort (feet & heat) with your eyes on the prize.

During my weekend visit in Raleigh, I could not waste the opportunity to go to the museum. I don't…read moreever get tired of looking at their fine art collection and exhibits. Numerous people with their friends and family came out this past weekend to also enjoy the greenway and outdoor art. There's also a café and small museum shop inside. We had a great time.

Summary: 4.0 - Free and art go hand-in-hand here. If you like both, NC MoA is worth your time…read more Free admission to the NCMA to see art and history is a gift. If one doesn't mind the West Building (although new, it felt old to me), the different galleries containing historical art pieces (new and old, and very old) organized by continents are educational and surprisingly full of variety. The East Building (original one) hosts both permanent and limited-time collections. I've enjoyed a car exhibit, but my favorite limited-time exhibit featured Academy Award winner Ruth E. Carter's costumes for the movies "Black Panther", "Selma", "Amistad", and others. Her showcase exhibit was well worth the price of admission. A huge museum park provides miles of trails and places for picnics. If one plans accordingly, a series of trails connects all the way from the museum to downtown Raleigh! MISC Opened in 1956. Has pieces that originate from about 5,000 years ago (but thankfully it doesn't take that long to go through the museum). The museum is accessibility-friendly. A museum store and café are onsite. Tours are available. Outdoor concerts are on hiatus at the time of this review for "facility improvements." Be sure to check the museum's website for updates.

What a wonderful walking food tour with a great tour guide. She curated a good list of different…read moreplaces to check out. I don't want to give away too many pictures of what you will see so you can enjoy the sites and scenery when you go. Highly recommend travelers and locals alike to go!

I have to say that Jacqueline really knows her Raleigh history and is very passionate about what…read moreshe does Four restaurants us just perfect for this tour and there is ample time at each one. Food at two of the places was crazy good. One place was very nice and the fourth place was meh...dirty, loud and the food was meh. Take this tour. Great history. We laughed a lot and made new friends.