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NC mamas... I have questions

post #1 of 12
2/1/10 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
My husband's entire family lives in NC (about an hour away from Raleigh sp?) and we've been thinking about moving in that area, just to be closer to family. I've never been there, so I know NOTHING about the area. How hot do the summers get? Winters? (although, I'm from Alaska, so winters really aren't an issue LOL)

Can you tell me what the homeschooling is like there? Attachment parenting kind of play groups, etc.? Which areas seem more supportive of the "mothering" type mentality than others?

Also, do you know which areas have active youth hockey? My daughter would curl up and die if she couldn't play hockey any longer.

We figure if we are within a few hours of his folks (Wilson County) we'd be fine. We'd like to stick to an area that has reasonable housing costs (real estate seems to be more expensive in urban areas). But honestly, the hockey will probably be the determining factor of what city we live in.

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post #2 of 12
2/1/10 at 3:34pm
Triangle region (Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh) is very AP/holistic friendly. Lots of homeschooling groups.

Spring here is absolutely beautiful--better than anywhere I've ever been...the flowering trees are spectacular. Fall is beautiful too. Summer is hot and humid but far better than Texas. Winter is pretty mild. We generally get 1-2 snows of about 3-6 inches. We just had one this past weekend. We're semi rural with state-maintained streets in our neighborhood, which translates to not-a-chance-of-snow-removal-happening. We have awesome hills for sledding, but not much traffic out of the neighborhood right now without AWD!

Here are a couple of hockey options. Hillsborough is north of Chapel Hill and a little bit further out than some of the other towns:

http://www.trianglesportsplex.com/hockey_youth.htm

http://www.ryha.org/

Holli
post #3 of 12
2/1/10 at 3:55pm
I agree that the triangle area sounds like your best bet. You're about 4 hours from the mountains and about 3 hours from the beach.

I don't have any air-breathing children yet (except of the furry variety), so I can't help much with some of your questions. But I do know that the triangle area has an MDC meet up once a week. There is also another local forum that has a natural living and attachment parenting section that does meet ups sometimes.

Spring and fall are definitely beautiful. They can be a bit of a rollercoaster, though, with it being really nice one week and really cold or hot the next.

I'd say that summers generally run in the upper 80s to low 90s, but there are usually at least a handful of days where we push 100 and the heat index is over 100.

Winters generally run in the upper 40s to lower 50s for daytime highs, but with a handful of days where we struggle to get out of the teens, and a handful of snowy days. You'll definitely have to be prepared that on the days when it DOES snow, it'll be very different than in AK. Because it doesn't happen that often it becomes a huge deal, plus we don't have that many plows and salt trucks, and most people don't own four wheel drives or tire chains. We also tend to get ice as part of the mix. It'll probably feel weird to be stuck inside your house for 2 inches of snow, but that is how it is here.

Here's the weather.com graph for monthly averages for Raleigh

The Asheville area is also pretty progressive (more so than the triangle, but smaller than the triangle, too), and they may have some youth hockey. It's beautiful up there, too! Their weather is similar, but a bit cooler with a bit more snow.
post #4 of 12
2/1/10 at 4:11pm
We live in Fayetteville, have only been here less than a year. Don't know much about youth hockey, but there is a local sort of semi-pro team (though I can't think of the team name or if they are a farm club for a NHL team or not, so I'm not much help I guess!) It's ok here, I haven't fallen totally in love with this area or anything (we are military, so we don't have much choice!) We just had a teeny little "storm" (I don't really consider it a storm because we are from NY, LOL!) We got about a half-inch of ice and a half-inch of snow. Pretty much shut everything down here (school was canceled and the sun has been shining for 2 days, cracks me up! ) But is has typically been in the 40's/50's for the most part this winter. The summer was VERY HOT AND HUMID (90's mostly). But I was very pregnant this summer, so my view may be skewed a little! I know there are some homeschooling groups around. I agree with PP's that the Triangle area is probably your best bet for what you are looking for. That is where I would prefer to go if I had my choice!
But overall so far we really do like it here in NC! Good luck with your search!
post #5 of 12
2/1/10 at 8:50pm
We moved from NY to the triangle 3 years ago and LOVE it

My kids are a bit younger so I'm not about the hockey...but we found people we fit in with right away and have found this whole area to be very welcoming.
post #6 of 12
2/1/10 at 10:32pm
IceQueen, it's gonna be real, real, real HOT in the summer for you in the triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) area. It regularly gets to the 90s and always gets to 100+ every summer at least once. It does not cool down much at night. There will be nights where it will be 80 or more at night. Of course, everything indoors here is air conditioned to freezing temps in the summer.

If you're interested you should come visit in August or July. Winter will be no problem, of course, but the summers might do you in. It's hot here from at least May through early October though the May and Oct highs are usu just in the 80s.

The mountains are significantly cooler, though certainly not Alaska weather. They're about 10 degrees cooler overall. The triangle will be much closer to Wilson, but if you're not wanting to visit family every weekend the mountains might work out well for you. I think that would be an area more like Alaska. Asheville or Boone could be nice and would have AP/MDC type resources. I don't know about hockey up there in the mountains as that's kind of a yankee sport. It's become much more popular in the triangle in the last 20-30 years or so since we've had an influx of northern transplants, but basketball is our main sport down here!

hth
post #7 of 12
2/1/10 at 10:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by beanma View Post
IceQueen, it's gonna be real, real, real HOT in the summer for you in the triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) area. It regularly gets to the 90s and always gets to 100+ every summer at least once. It does not cool down much at night. There will be nights where it will be 80 or more at night. Of course, everything indoors here is air conditioned to freezing temps in the summer.

If you're interested you should come visit in August or July. Winter will be no problem, of course, but the summers might do you in. It's hot here from at least May through early October though the May and Oct highs are usu just in the 80s.

The mountains are significantly cooler, though certainly not Alaska weather. They're about 10 degrees cooler overall. The triangle will be much closer to Wilson, but if you're not wanting to visit family every weekend the mountains might work out well for you. I think that would be an area more like Alaska. Asheville or Boone could be nice and would have AP/MDC type resources. I don't know about hockey up there in the mountains as that's kind of a yankee sport. It's become much more popular in the triangle in the last 20-30 years or so since we've had an influx of northern transplants, but basketball is our main sport down here!

hth
Alaska generally gets 80-100 every summer as well, just depends what area of the state you are in. We moved more coastal about 5 years ago, and I've been MISERABLE with the summers here, because it's record breaking highs if it hits 80s. Where I lived for 20+ years prior to that (right in the middle of the state) it hits 100 every summer. Of course, we don't have a humidity problem up here, which I suspect is opposite down there, and the humidity might be something I struggle with. But I LIKE heat
post #8 of 12
2/1/10 at 11:22pm
Oh, well, if you like heat, you're headed to the right place! I guess your user name had me fooled. I really love heat and can't stand cold weather so I'm fairly miserable in the winters evn here. It does get very humid in the summer. July and August are the worst of it, but humidity doesn't bother me a whole lot either. I'd much rather have it be 95 and 90% humidity than 30, 40 or even 50 degrees.

In general, having never been to Alaska, I would think the mountains would be more similar, but the Triangle is a very nice area, too. I've lived here for 25 yrs!
post #9 of 12
2/8/10 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhiOrion View Post
But I do know that the triangle area has an MDC meet up once a week. There is also another local forum that has a natural living and attachment parenting section that does meet ups sometimes..
Do you know where to get more info about these groups? Thanks!
Penny
post #10 of 12
2/9/10 at 10:13am
I spent 10 years in AK (mostly Anchorage, and a year in Kenai), and left in 2000. We've been in NC since 2002. The summers are fairly comparable, but obviously the winters aren't. The worst thing about winter, imo, is that when we do get any kind of weather here they're pretty unprepared.

I'm not sure where you're from originally, but the biggest difference, again imo, is in the culture. That was a pretty big shock at first.
post #11 of 12
2/21/10 at 2:37pm
If you can clear some space in your PM account and I will send you some info.
post #12 of 12
2/21/10 at 4:09pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks! There is room there now.

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