considering moving to Raleigh, NC

Hi Quillen,

I live outside of Raleigh and am very glad to be here. DH and I have lived lots of paces across the US and even in Asia. It's middle distance from both great beaches and great mountains. Lots of great outdoors stuff in the area and across NC. (We have lived in MT and CO and the Himalayas for comparison to mtns. and outdoors stuff. We are content here.)

There is an AP group in Raleigh and in Cary and in Chapel Hill. They meet for support monthly and more often for playgroups. This is my first babe but I already went to the Raleigh AP group and loved it.

Dh and I commute in opposite directions and no complaints here. We did move from DC/N.VA area four years, ago where I rode a bike to work and school b/c traffic was stand still for an hour to go five miles. Traffic is fine...it actually moves! I don't know what you are comparing it to though. But, it's so much better than Northern Va. !!!

Community is friendly and diverse; very important to us. Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and Raleigh are all diverse areas. Durham is an awesome place that unfortunately gets a bad rep. (People posted on this earlier, if you want to check.) We are friends with quite a few interraccial couples, some GLBT friends and co-workers and lots of people from outside the US, which is great. B/c there are many universiites and intl. companies in the area, there is diversity.

Weahter is mild. We do get snow. Summers are humid! I love the weather here.

Cost of living was mush less than DC area so we bought a custon built house very soon after moving here for the same monthly payment as our 1BR apt. up there. Friends who move do comment that things are much more affordable here.

Good Thai, for sure!!! And, really good Inidan food in Cary. Lots of great "ethnic" restnts. in the area. Ethiopian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Brazilian, sushi, mediteranean, etc...

Don't know much about educational stuff...sorry.

Great parks and rivers and places to camp. Jordan Lake, Falls Lake are close. Easy drive to the mountains...highest mtn. elevation on the East Coast in NC! Great beaches...Cape Hatteras Natl. Seashore. We love to hike and kayak and camp and climb and have not been dissapointed.

I am not Mormom but have had quite a few visits from some friendly Mormoms over the years that we enjoyed chatting with in our home. There is a large temple/place of worship two minutes or so from my house. I live outside of Raleigh.

Have I convinced you to move ASAP? Yay! We looked all over before moving here when we were fed up with N. Va; it was a great decision. We really enjoy being here! I am glad to have the babe in this area. We'll have a HB and already found the AP community easily. Best wishes!

Gunter summed it up pretty well

I live in Raleigh, and have been here for about 5 years, and I grew up in St. Louis, MO so since that's kinda like Springfield I'll do some comparisons for you.

- Is there an AP type group in the area?
Yep, AP group in North Raleigh and Cary. I believe there are some playgroups associated with the AP groups, but not sure.

- How is traffic?
Well, that depends on where you're going and when. If you commute between Raleigh and Chapel Hill/Durham/RTP (Research Triangle Park) during rush hour, traffic sucks. If you live close to where you work, traffic is probably fine. My DH is a student at UNC in Chapel Hill and I went to NCSU in Raleigh, and I would say traffic is just fine and he would say it sucks.

- Do you find the community friendly, open to diversity, etc?
Generally, yes.

- What is the weather like? Do you see a lot of the natural disaster level weather hit Raleigh?
Annual hurricane season, we get some wind and rain. A few years ago we had a really awesome ice storm. Generally, weather is much like Springfield. Hot and humid in the summer, fairly mild in the winter.

- Does the cost of living seem doable?
Yep, generally, depends on where you are. You can get a big custom house out of town for a great price, or you could get a small older house in a sweet established n'hood for a pretty penny. But certainly if you look around house prices are hugely variable. Other cost of living, MO has really cheap gas, and gas prices in Raleigh are generally maybe 10-cents higher/gallon (right now gas prices here range from $1.97-2.14 from what I saw driving around today.

- Are there any good Thai restaurants ? Yes! Yum! Also great Middle Eastern and Indian, as previous poster mentioned.

- What do you do for educational experiences for the children, outside school?
Uh, don't know much about this. There are some really great (FREE!) museums in Raleigh, Museum of Natural History for one, we love to go there. Art Muesum is also nice, and free.

- How are the parks and wildlife areas?
Good parks for playing, good parks for hiking not far away. Some urban greenways for biking, some other urban parks that have decent multiuse trails for walking, biking, or running.

- If there are any LDS/Mormon people reading this, can you tell me what the Stake/Wards are like?
DOn't know anything about this.

So I hope that was useful. Good luck in your decision to move! Just curious, what makes you look at Raleigh? I assume there are possible employment opps here for which your DH would qualify?

It's nice to see some other Raleigh people on here! I check this section pretty often so am glad to know more people are around. I am struggling to meet other AP people around my immediate area. Must be b/c I got that house out in the 'burbs instead of the super cool old rancher in Historic Oakwood.

I have one couple friend in Apex and one other in Raleigh that are into things like CDing, etc... The AP support group was great for me to be around so many like-minded people. This is my first babe, too. Guess it's easier to meet once the babe is born for playdates and other stuff. If you all know of any ways to connect, would you please let me know? This is also my first forum/chat group so I am newbie all around. I'd appreciate the tips!

I hadn't thought about there being a temple in the area before I started looking into the area, that is very neat. The St Louis temple is a few hours away obviously and it makes it more difficult for me to go.

DH has noticed a lot of comments for Raleigh in his video editor web pages and periodicals, since it is the third largest area for the business in the US. He thought some of the jobs sounded interesting and he would be qualified for them. There are good and bad things about moving. There isn't a lot of jobs to do video editing out here, but he likes his job. Also, he is working with the local film aliance to try to bring more business to the area and is making his own movie for the fun of it.

The other areas, obviously, that do a lot of editing are Ca and NY. I think, from what I've read, I would would prefer to stay here or go to NC. I am a bit of a nature girl, so I want to have some place I can go hiking and I would like to scuba dive. I am a Chinese/Thai food and Indian food addict, so I am glad to hear there are some good restaurants in the area.

Thanks so much for the information, it makes me very relieved. It sounds like the Raleigh area would be good for us if we got to where we were going to move. We'll have to put a lot of thought into where we want to live in X years.

Quote:
Gunter, our Springfield (Missouri) group has a yahoo board that we frequent. We all try to have Yahoo Messenger, as well. When we go for a walk, we try to have a scheduled time and someone to come with us if our DHs aren't there. I don't know what you are looking for, but I encourage you to go to your group even if you are not blessed with birth of your child yet.

I lived outside of raleigh In johnston county for three years. I had have to say that the cost of living is cheaper but the commute is futher.
- Does anyone have experiences in the Raleigh area? I am looking for information on...
- Is there an AP type group in the area? Yeap.. There is an API and LLL. Also there's a Cloth diapering group that meets every couple of months to discuss CD's
- How is traffic? I hate traffic so..ITS BAD!! But if you are used to traffic jams and bad drivers
- Do you find the community friendly, open to diversity, etc? Northen Johnston Co. Is open to diversity.
- What is the weather like? Do you see a lot of the natural disaster level weather hit Raleigh? hurricanes, snow storms, Heat extremes. None of these bother me though.. I only wish it didn't snow
- Does the cost of living seem doable? Cost of living in JC is cheaper compared to Cary, or Raliegh.
- Are there any good Thai restaurants ? N/z
- What do you do for educational experiences for the children, outside school? The schools in Raleigh are like musical chairs. It seems like every year kids get reassigned. I graduated from Clayton Highschool. IT was and still is very competitive. This year the graduating classes top 10% had a GPA above 4.0
- How are the parks and wild life areas? Great state parks in JC as well. Plus Raliegh is right around the corner.
- If there are any LDS/Mormon people reading this, can you tell me what the Stake/Wards are like? n/a

My recommendation come to Johnston County. ITs still growing and homes are cheaper. A nice house in a housing development is about $100,000.

Were north of Raleigh(franklin county) things have changed alot in the city in the 20 years we've been here.Mini-city used to be soccor fields,now it's big box stores and car dealerships.The only Whole foods is down on Wade avenue.Traffic can be nasty.
There's really good Indian restaurants in Cary and Durham.Never eaten Thai so don't know.
The schools are dismal(overcrowded and under-funded) But there are a few bright spots to be found.
Spring and fall are usually lovely.I can make it to the beach in two and a half hours!

you might be interested in chapel hill/carrboro depending on what you're looking for. much smaller, much crunchier, college town, but still commutable to other parts of the triangle (raleigh, durham, chapel hill, research triangle). housing can be expensive, though.

- Is there an AP type group in the area?
yes, http://www.chapel-hill.nc.us/apioa/ and http://attachmentparenting.org/group/webnc.shtml
- How is traffic?
if your world is chapel hill, fine. raleigh, not so good...

- Do you find the community friendly, open to diversity, etc?
in chapel hill/carrboro, extremely. carrboro has had an openly gay mayor for about 10 years and both are very tolerant communities.

- What is the weather like? Do you see a lot of the natural disaster level weather hit Raleigh?
a hurricane isn't out of the question, but rare. afternoon thunderstorms are common this time of year. not usually much snow at all, but one year we had more than a foot!

- Does the cost of living seem doable?
chapel hill/carrboro (esp carrboro) can be expensive, but just in housing primarily.

- Are there any good Thai restaurants ?
yepper! my kids love "tiny tofu" from thai palace, in chapel hill.

- What do you do for educational experiences for the children, outside school?
nc museum of life and science (durham), morehead planetarium (chapel hill). plenty of other things, too, but my kids are 4 and 1 so we haven't gotten into too much else...

- How are the parks and wild life areas?
tons of parks, lots of nature, great zoo in asheboro (about an hour and 15 minutes from chapel hill, 2 hrs from raleigh i guess). close to the coast, close to the mts, so you could do either for a weekend.

- If there are any LDS/Mormon people reading this, can you tell me what the Stake/Wards are like? no experience, but there's definitely a church(?) in chapel hill.

i really like this website -- http://www.northcarolinatravels.com/...troduction.htm -- for chapel hill info. it's written by a real guy as opposed to a tourist bureau.

hth