I will be traveling mid April with my 12 yr old son for a week stay in Hillsborough NC. Looking for suggestions for day trips, places to see etc. Debating a day or 2 trip to either Outer Banks or near the coast, or Wilmington. We would love to see some mountains but I am a little wary of hiking/camping without another adult companion with me.. So Im thinking we may stick to eastern part of the state.. i dont mind alot of driving... would like to see as much of the state as we can.. we are big on wildlife/nature and culture, and my son enjoys civil war and aviation history
NC TRIP- coast?
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OBX is way out there...really too far for a day trip - I would recommend Wilmington or any of these islands (depending on your preference) ncbrunswick.com
Southport is also a neat little town...In Wilmington I am sure your Son would also enjoy - www.battleshipnc.com
Hillsborough is really too far from either the beach or the mountains for just a day trip, although Wilmington is feasible if you need to. I think you'll need at least an overnight for OBX (~4 hours to Kill Devil Hills, to pick a place) or somewhere like Asheville (~3 hours).
Checking out the Duke campus (including Duke Gardens - they'll be great that time of year) and downtown Chapel Hill are both easy day trip ideas. I'm not as familiar with Raleigh, but there are some threads here with suggestions. The NC zoo is in Asheboro.
I don't consider the Banks a day trip. It's just too far. Wilmington is closer and
i40 goes right there. It'still a bit of a drive for a day, though. You may want to think about spending the night.
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thanks so much for all the replies! i guess my question was not totally clear in that I meant to include that we do plan to spend a night or even 2 when traveling from Hillsborough. We have been all around chapel hill and duke campus last year but that's all we've really done in NC. I think we may plan the drive to wilmington, thanks again
The best thing that I saw in Wilmington is the battleship USS North Carolina. http://www.battleshipnc.com/
The decks are teak.
From Wilmington head north-east all the way to the Cedar Island toll ferry that goes to Ocracoke. The other ferries going up the OBX are free. Make sure to see the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and Kitty Hawk where the age of aviation began in 1903.
But not in 2 days. That's way to far to do in that short amount of time.