Cary and Kill Devil Hills, NC in June, with kids

[inabag]

+1 on taking the Ferry over to Orcacoke Island.

 

[tynopik]

We'll only be on the coast for a couple days. Should be able to fit in most stuff listed here, but I'll need to pick a single hiking/outdoors thing to do.

For hiking you might want to stick to the mountains. Stay overnight at Asheville, visit the Biltmore, drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway (which is worthwhile in itself) to Linville Falls where they have several easy trails with great views, then head on to Cary that night.

If you can squeeze it in, Linville Caverns is right by Linville Falls and quite good

On the NC Zoo - is it worthwhile, knowing we go to the STL Zoo often? This list makes it seem quite a bit smaller (1/3 as many animals and 1/3 the species) than we're used to, but if there's something unique there, I'm still totally up for it.

I've never been to the St Louis Zoo, but it seems like the NC Zoo is a very different style. The St Louis Zoo is 90 acres while the NC Zoo is over 1300 acres and is one of the largest 'natural habitat' zoos in the world, so expect more large-scale exhibits with more walking (and don't forget your sunblock)

Also the aviary is setup like a tropical rainforest and quite good.

+1 on taking the Ferry over to Orcacoke Island.

:thumbsup:

Also visiting the battleship USS North Carolina in Wilmington is sure to excite any 5-year-old boy

 

[Vic Vega]

...

 

[xSauronx]

I'm visiting family in Cary (outside Raleigh) for a week in June and have a couple days planned for the beach at Kill Devil Hills. We'll be driving there from STL; I'll have my wife and 2 kids with us (boy - 5 and girl - 8).

The only other thing already on the agenda is the Nature Research Center in Raleigh.

What should I be sure to hit?

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Update 5-23-12
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Wow, guys - thanks for all the feedback.

We'll only be on the coast for a couple days. Should be able to fit in most stuff listed here, but I'll need to pick a single hiking/outdoors thing to do.

Considering I'll have a 5-year-old boy with me, and probably my 75-year old father, I was leaning toward Jockey's Ridge (over Alligator River and Buxton Woods) for easier hiking and exposure to new stuff for my son. Any thoughts? It's hard telling too much from their websites - all of them look awesome. Merchant's Millpond looks cool too, but is a bit out of the way for how long we'll be on the coast.

On the NC Zoo - is it worthwhile, knowing we go to the STL Zoo often? This list makes it seem quite a bit smaller (1/3 as many animals and 1/3 the species) than we're used to, but if there's something unique there, I'm still totally up for it.

Here's my cliff notes from the thread - additions/suggestions welcome:

for the love of god do not feed the gulls on the ferry. It is a completely dick move...because then they will just shit all over the cars on the ferry while they fly around. I haven't been on a ferry down there in forever, but a few friends go 2 or 3 times a year and HATE people who do this. That and then the damn birds expect a snack from anyone who has anything, and that is also annoying.

Get well away from people somewhere if you feel the need to get that close to seagulls.

 

[Fern]

MFL

 

[IronWing]

Jockey's Ridge - Wear shoes or at least flipflops. The feel of sand betwen your toes is great unless it happens to be June and that sand is 180F with no ocean water to cool it. The sound side of Jockey's Ridge is kind of neat. Last time we were there there were jelly fish swimming about beneath the pier. Bring bug spray. If the wind dies the moquitoes rise in thunderous herds.

 

[poopaskoopa]

From KDH, it usually takes us 2-3 hours to get to Ocracoke. It might be a long ride with kids, but it does require a ferry ride and you might like it. Ocracoke is awesome, as is all the stuff that's mentioned above. OBX is pretty laid back in general, and Ocracoke seems even more laid back, with people walking around, riding around in bikes and golf carts. All the regular watersport stuff is available. You can also fly a kite at the beach or dunes. That's fun and not too expensive. If you have a 4WD vehicle you can ride it on parts of OBX beaches.

For OBX beaches, we usually avoid the beaches with parking lots. Just pull over on the side of the road somewhere away from cars/people and you'll have an area all to yourself. Lots of areas like that are available between Nags Head and Avon. That comes with a disclaimer because we ALWAYS go to OBX before Memorial Day weekend to avoid the summer crowd so the whole place might be crowded by the time you're in OBX.

 

[zinfamous]

What others have said, the NC zoo is one of the most extensive natural habitat zoos in the world. It has undergone major renovations over the last decade to more than triple its size. Each section is divided by continent: Africa, Asia, N America, etc.

The Aviary is worth the trip alone. For many years as a youngster, that was my favorite place to visit.

 

[rivan]

Got back this weekend - thanks all for the excellent suggestions. Didn't fit them all in, but had a great time. Wife's already talking about going back next year!

 

[tynopik]

so . . . what did you do?

 

[rivan]

Stuff from the list:

Museum of LIfe & Sci awesome - kids went nuts for all the stuff

Wright Brothers Memorial/Kitty Hawk - fantastic - the presentation in the guest center was cool and the Park dude at the monument opened it up for me and the kids to look inside (closed to public for decades)
NC Aquarium - Manteo - pretty good, kids loved it, especially the two little alligators
Cape Hatteras lighthouse - stunning both in scale and workmanship. Unfortunately we got there after exhibit hours.

Pea Island for better beaches - excellent call. Crazy better - finer sand, more secluded... just everything was better.
Ocracoke island/ferry/lighthouse - didn't feed the damned gulls - quaint little town, WAY less touristy which was great, the lighthouse was a bit of a letdown (was closed), but still good

Not on the list but still of major note:

Jordan Lake (Seaforth) - VERY nice for lake beaches, VERY nice facilities. Saw a good range of waterfowl which was great. Huge bonus, saw what I think was bald eagles; two of them, one dive bombed the lake, got a fish, the other one dive bombs the first one and tries to take the fish. The fish drops with a cry from one of the eagles and both of them fly off in different directions.

Pullen Park; Raleigh - very well-kept park with very friendly staff, a superb carousel, a nice mini train and a good playground.

Oh, and having seen many signs for Tudor's Biscuit World in KY and WV (maybe VA too?) and then Biscuitville in NC, we decided to make biscuits our road food on the way back. Stopped at one location of each chain on the way home. We took the last Tudor's available on our route in the small town of Grayson, KY. The town has obviously seen better days, but the folks there could not have been friendlier, and the biscuits and gravy totally hit the spot.

 

[tynopik]

thanks for the update!

somewhat surprised that old carousel is still going . . .

 

[rivan]

thanks for the update!

somewhat surprised that old carousel is still going . . .

Looks brand new, as if they recently renovated it.

 

[zinfamous]

Ooo, Biscuitville is the bomb.

And yeah, Pullen Park is completely renovated. that whole area of Raleigh + NCSU campus is all new.