The other weekend Greg and I had a short getaway weekend in North Carolina. We stayed in Chapel Hill and Durham and loved our time there- the food was delicious {hello BBQ!} and the cities and towns were lovely.
Of course we checked out UNC and Duke. I have a thing where every time I visit a new college campus I immediately want to go back to school. It is a problem. And the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University did not help me with that problem. I have to remind myself that now that Greg and I are both done with our Master’s degrees, we are probably done with universities. It is sad.
But check out the loveliness of UNC at Chapel Hill:
I didn’t get as great of photos of Duke’s campus but it was absolutely stunning and in an entirely different way than UNC. 
Sorry for the photo overload there. It is my love of college campuses.
We had some delicious food of course! Insanely good ice cream at Maple View Farm and delicious BBQ at Allen & Sons and The Original Q Shack.
And we had amazing chicken and waffles at Dame’s Chicken and Waffles in Durham! The vanilla and almond shmear. YUM!
We loved the American Tobacco District in Durham and enjoyed walking around Chapel Hill.
Some of the cuteness of Chapel Hill:
Before we got to Chapel Hill we stopped in Hillsborough and happened upon Ayr Mount- a federal style plantation.
And possibly my favorite thing was walking around Sarah P. Duke Gardens. It is free to visit and breathtaking.
We also made a quick stop at Bennett Place- the site of the largest surrender of Confederates, ending the Civil War.
We really loved our time in Durham and Chapel Hill!
North Carolina is gorgeous! I’ve been there for Rev War and Civil War teacher workshops! Good ol’ “Tobacco Row!” My cousin likes school like you do! Bachelors from Florida State, Masters from UNC, Doctorate from Duke. He’s a teacher and researcher at Duke. Lives in Durham! I’m very proud of you, and your desire for knowledge and further education! I could see that coming in 5th grade!
It is so so pretty! Living in Durham and working at Duke would be a dream. I do vacillate between going back to school or not! In some ways I would not mind being a perpetual student- and I am sure that started in 5th grade! :)