HKP

Heavens, Durham has just been suffering such lousy press lately. A shame. There are many beautiful old sections, a LOT of expensive new sections, and yes, a few sketchy areas but I'd hardly say they're any worse than the comparably sketchy areas of Raleigh.

The two places I mentioned are in perfectly good, safe places; in fact, the Washington Duke is on the edge of the very gorgeous Duke campus -- it's a golfing inn and the restaurant looks out on greens and woods. The Four Sq. is in a converted Victorian house in a predominantly residential area.

As for whether the campus is "open" -- you can walk around any campus, any time. There aren't gates, and you wouldn't have the same hassles re: parking that you would on a weekday. The buildings would probably be closed, e.g., libraries and the planetarium, but the grounds are always open.

I'm not sure what else you might want to look at or what, by contrast, would be "open" in Raleigh that wouldn't be in Chapel Hill, or at Duke, for that matter. Duke's campus is really lovely and you could certainly walk around Duke Gardens and shouldn't miss the Duke "Chapel" (which actually looks like a small cathedral) and the quad.

Bigal9

HKP
When I was talking about staying in the Raleigh area on Thanksgiving day, I did not mean the campuses. I think the museum is open, there was an IMAX show with sharks that my 5 year old will love, and I think a children's play somewhere downtown is playing.
As far as campuses go, I think we set a high bar for ourselves when we visited Charlottesville(University of VA) over a month ago. Not only were the grounds amazing the Rotunda was equally amazing. We did a lot of the history trips. The downtown was great.
Thanks again for all of your feedback.

kgh8m

BigAl, I attended both UNC (undergrad) and UVa (grad school). UVA grounds are beautiful (esp. the Lawn), but the two main quads at UNC do not disappoint, either. Franklin Street, on the whole, probably is better than UVA's Corner - but it may have changed a bit since I left. C-ville's Downtown Mall, however, has no real comparison in Chapel Hill.

Heck, even Duke's campus is worth seeing, but it just borrows heavily from Princeton. Ninth Street is a cute college street, too.

(As for Bowl eligibility, at this time, only Maryland seems to have a prayer out of those 4 teams...)

Gretchen

It will be VERY easy to buy tickets to the Duke-Carolina game outside the stadium. If you happen by the Smith Center on the way to the stadium you may see a lot of charter buses parked with folks tailgating. They almost always have extra tickets to sell--and at a huge discount. We've sold them for $5.
I'd be pretty sure the same is true at NCState.
For driving around the Triangle area you might want to have a GPS, if you don't already.
Durham is a BEAUtiful old town. Silly to say it is dangerous. ANY city has its areas.

HKP

"Heck, even Duke's campus is worth seeing, but it just borrows heavily from Princeton."

Funny you should say that.

Duke's beauty (I still think it's lovely, compares favorably with many of the country's prettiest campuses and, IMHO prettier than UNC, if less historical) is partly because they had a lot of land they didn't need to use for building and could landscape but also because much of it was, essentially, built all at once, on a central plan.

And guess what the central plan was based on, at least according to local lore? The main campus is a LOT younger than Princeton or even U of Chicago (which it also resembles) and few people realize that the main campus was all built at roughly the same time in the thirties.

Hope you have a great time over Thanksgiving, whatever you do end up doing.

Bigal9

KGH,
Thanks. Lucky you to have attended both of those Universities.

Bigal9

Gretchen, thanks for the ticket info.
I have never been to Durham but whether it deserves it or not I usually hear "there are parts of Durham you want to stay away from"
I know there are bad parts of any town. But I do not hear that as much when I mention Chapel Hill or Raleigh.
I don't make judgements until I see for myself.

Gretchen

In architecture, there is NO comparison between Duke and Chapel Hill. When our son went to CH and we were visiting, I commented that each university building looked like it was built as a part of the architecture department's pet project--let's make this one stone, this one brick, this neo-classic, etc. Not a match on the campus!!
And Duke "chapel" is beautiful. Great schools--great traditions.

elsiemoo

Nobody's football team is as bad as Duke's!!! Carolina's play is improving over last year, overall. NC State and Maryland detest each other, and it's a great atomsphere at Carter-Finley, so I would go there if I could get a ticket!

The Carolina Hurricanes hockey games are a blast, and are not as expensive as most of the NHL franchises, but certainly, they're still pricey but worth the money, IMHO.

Bigal9

Can anyone tell me about Jordan Lake? Best beach to visit, is the lake clean? How is the boating etc. etc.
I know it will be colder when we get there but interested for future reference.

Subway_Scoundrel

You must go to a hockey game. I would do that before a football game. I saw where someone mentioning "gasping" at the prices but good deals are available. They do have the $9.99 specials but not always available (game day only and can be taken before that day arrives) and tickets upper deck are $20--$45 before some specials. Bottom level are the best and start at higher prices but specials still happen Mon-Thursday games. Look at the schedule and see what day works out best.

http://hurricanes.nhl.com/team/app?s...e=TeamSchedule

THe thing about a State game is if you could buy tickets, you would not have a parking pass so you may have to hike it as allmost all parking are STHs with parking passes. Not sure about UNC but you may be able to pick up some good seats and parking passes on ticket websites by this time of year since all 3 programs are "rebuilding". But if you have never been to a NHL game, it is one of the most exciting sports to see and not as expensive as many believe.

Also go the museums, pullen park, etc.

Gretchen

I doubt there are parking passes for UNC. It isn't an impossible walk at the State stadium at all.