weekend in chapel hill!

We spent a few days in the beautiful Chapel Hill (our first time; I’ve only been to the Asheville area of NC before!) recently and my, oh, my what a beautiful part of the world it is, and with a beautiful college campus too. I can see how it gets its reputation. Beautiful brick facades everywhere, gardens, sweet winding paths leading from this building to that one. UNC is about five times the size of my tiny alma mater’s campus, but still manages to feel quaint and not at all overwhelming. I know I have some Chapel Hill alums as readers, so tell me how long it took to learn the campus and get from place to place without getting lost?! Aside from the campus, you’ve got East Franklin Street running through it all with cafes and bars and FRIED CHICKEN AND BISCUITS (hear that last part in a Matthew McConaughey voice, please). Anyway, I’m excited to share a whole lot of pictures with you and some more about our time there. This was a partnership with Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau, and we were grateful to be asked to do it! We dropped our bags at the hotel (more on this beautiful space coming up!) and headed straight for the Blue Dogwood Public Market. Wait. At first, getting out of the airport, my senses were ready to be assaulted with balmy, spring-like weather. To strip down to the shorts and sandals I brought! (Jk, jk.) That’s what is supposed to happen when you fly south, right?!? Wrong. The temps were just about exactly the same as what we had in Boston. In reality, I actually knew that having checked my weather ahead of time, but one can dream right? However, a nice surprise was that while our fall color was mostly already down, Chapel Hill was just in the midst of theirs. A treat to be able to experience it twice (or three times if you count the early peak we saw when we went hiking in the White Mountains recently–chasing fall color all over the Eastern seaboard!). The Blue Dogwood Public Market is something of a smaller Boston Public Market for those who are familiar. Several different vendors with a lot of options from Persian food to bakeries to Latin American food and beyond. We opted for the Persian food, being enticed by the nicest Italian guy who was the chef (born in Florence). We got to chatting about Italy, and food, and more. I asked him how he ever left Florence?! (It’s one of my favorite cities. Ever!) His food was delicious, and we tried so many things from saffron rice to his grass-fed meatballs to a pomegranate chicken. Perfect wholesome food after an early morning of travel. Parker pointing to his favorite of the bunch. I loved the flowers, behind him. See what I mean? Just a cool gathering place where there’s something for everyone, and some room to roam. It’s pretty new to Chapel Hill too (our Uber driver hadn’t even heard of it!). And then, time to check in and go to our hotel room! This is Anders’ favorite part of travel… the hotel, bed, cuddling, potential room service, and movie. And my favorite part is the way he says hotel. It’s sort of like ho-tayl and it’s the best. And somehow these ho-tayl memories really stay with him. We were recently at the grocery store and I grabbed a box of mini Hood ice cream sandwiches and he said, “We had those at the ho-tayl!” And you know what, it took me a second, but he was right. Last time he had had one was in Newport, Rhode Island, several months earlier. His memory, I’ve noticed more than once, is like a steel trap.The Chapel Hill/Orange County team gave us a welcome bag with some fun things in it — including an umbrella which was perfect given that day one started rainy and I for one am never (ever) prepared with an umbrella. Even at home. Never. Everything was the Carolina blue which is so official that it is also a Pantone color. (You can see some of the stories from Chapel Hill in my highlights on my IG!)Anders is actually blowing bubbles here, naturally. We were staying at The Carolina Inn and it was just beautiful, and centrally located. I mean a block from East Franklin Street and basically right on the UNC campus. When traveling with kids I really appreciate these things that ease your day. Full of history too. I mean the halls were lined with it (see below). The lobby had all these different spots to sit and read, drink a coffee. There was a fantastic restaurant right in the hotel, and also this sort of to-go cafe on the first floor just off the lobby called Provisions where you could grab a coffee, smoothie, yogurt. Obviously getting out and about is often the point of travel, but I love when your home base can meet a lot of needs (again, especially when you’re traveling with kids).  The Carolina Inn is on the National Register of Historic Places and the original portion of the hotel was actually built on the site of the chapel that gives Chapel Hill its name. Walking around and seeing all of the pictures, you get a sense that a lot of important people have stayed here (Obamas, Roosevelts…). That above hallway leads to the gorgeous room where wedding receptions are held. It also has its own award-winning restaurant, Crossroads, right there in the hotel.Dabbing, flexing, flossing. Always. Here we are waiting on an Uber! This is just a footpath on the campus. So pretty, right?Moms can dab too.Here we are standing in front of the Carolina Basketball Museum (where Michael Jordan played for UNC!) and Steve suggests I jump like Jordan did. NAILED IT. In reality, looking at that picture (Jordan, not me) I am completely stupefied as to how a human jumps that high. Given that I get absolutely zero height (I just trick you by bending my knees, but were I to straighten them, I’d be standing), I’ve never understood that. Nathaniel used to make fun of me by joking that I actually go down when I jump.  I had no idea what a basketball culture UNC has. Like the list of players who’ve gone on as first draft picks to the NBA from Chapel Hill is long. I mean, a college campus with a whole museum dedicated to basketball is some serious basketball culture. This is the Michael Jordan section–including a letter from his coach about summer “homework” to practice, and a note from Duke’s basketball coach when they heard he had chosen Chapel Hill. It was so cool. The museum was really, really well done, and also free! It begins with a pump-you-up 5 minute video on a big screen that highlights some of the Chapel Hill basketball history. Parker was into it, for sure. If he is anything like me, though, he will have the height but not the skill (sorry buddy; the number of times I’ve been asked, “you play basketball?” based on height alone… suffice it to say, many. Cross country, track, and swimming were my sports. No hand-eye coordination necessary. Hopefully he gets some of Nathaniel’s skills on the court.).So much greenery, so much brick on this beautiful campus.Never a sign that Steve didn’t spend at least some time in front of.This is the start of a child meltdown (can you blame him? We got up at 5 to get to the airport on this day; you know how bloggers so often just show themselves IN whatever fantastic place they traveled to but not as often the actual process that it took to get there?! There is always a process!). After a walk through the campus, we headed back to our hotel where Lindsey was getting ready and doing some homework, and then headed to an early dinner! My college had no football culture. I mean like didn’t even have a football team. I imagine it would’ve been really fun to get the whole campus together for these events if you were a student here. (Plus, basketball games! Though I was never a player, growing up in the Philly area, I got surprisingly into the 76ers during Alan Iverson’s peak. Watched them ALL.)  During meltdowns, walking on walls are good diversions for little boys.
So is riding on Dad’s shoulders.Lindsey holding the Lula’s menu. Here’s where you’ll find some of the delicious southern cooking you might be seeking. Like fried green tomatoes, fried chicken and biscuits, collard greens, etc. The biscuits with the spun sage honey are very, very good and you would be a fool to go to Chapel Hill and miss those. Anders, kid you not, just asked today (over a week later) for more of “those biscuits.” Also, can I just give a shout out to the very enthusiastic, friendly, amazing staff here? Seriously, I hope they read this. Our waiters were amazing. Dark and stormy was a special. Don’t mind if I do.Get it Anders.The beautiful Carolina Inn at night. Just to the right of the frame was outdoor dining with fireplaces. The Crossroads restaurant takes up the bottom right of this picture. One of the best parts of staying in a hotel. Chapel Hill has several murals unexpectedly on store walls, along the perimeters of parking lots. This one is right next to Carolina Coffee Shop and is by Michael Brown. It’s called Parade of Humanity.  Breakfast time!  I don’t think he’s intending to give his waffle a thumbs down, because he finished all of it. Acai bowl for Lindsey.I ordered a mocha and didn’t realize I was getting a mug as big as my head. WELL DONE, Carolina Coffee Shop. Steve and I both got gravy and biscuits. When in the South, my friends! Back to campus for a tour with Spencer, a fantastic alum who’s now working on campus. He was super informative, telling us some of the history of the campus, how they came to be called the Tar Heels, where the blue and white colors came from, and the most notable spots on campus–like the gazebo we are standing at above! It’s called Old Well, and tradition has it that if you drink from the water fountain at Old Well (just behind us) you will get straight A’s when you’re at Chapel Hill. (Though Spencer says he did so, but did not get straight A’s.) It’s designed after the Temple of Love at the Garden of Versailles.  Chapel Hill had just celebrated 225 years when we were there. They’re the oldest public university in the US! Their library! Can you believe that? The buildings on campus were just beautiful.All I can see here is Parker, once again, flexing in the back. When the tour ended, we headed over to the Morehead Planetarium. The boys really enjoyed this. During the Cold War, this was an actual celestial-navigation training location for several astronauts and only in the early 2000s did that information get de-classified! A whole room dedicated to water conservation with a lot of things geared towards kids. The boys are playing with that cool moon sand stuff here. P.S. this museum is also free. You can pay to see a show in their full dome theatre though, which Steve, Parker, and Lindsey did! It was on blackholes. Anders was getting tired and needing to eat, so he and I headed back down East Franklin Street to find some lunch. Sutton’s it is! Upon walking in, you get the sense that this place is a real Carolina institution (the website says as much!). It’s used to be a pharmacy (you can still see remnants of it!) and now it’s an old-timey burger + shakes restaurant–plus vintage candy and sodas. So throwback. Positively full of pictures of alums and other visitors. I think this place is a must-do when visiting Chapel Hill. It was fitting that the Duke v. Carolina game was on while we were there! Anders had a burger and fries and I got a fried chicken salad.Get some food in this boy, stat!After we all made it back to our hotel for a little quiet, Steve and I headed to the North Carolina Botanical Garden. This would be a perfect family activity to do in warmer weather when the flowers are really in bloom. It has an art element too, with various sculptures in the gardens–and the gardens are expansive! Different windy trails. You could spend some good time here. After that we headed back to the hotel (but not the room; we opted for a bit more child-free time!) to go straight to drinks at Crossroads. I got a Doing Thyme cocktail and Steve had an old-fashioned while we warmed up at the bar. Last day! We went to Caffe Driade after hearing really great things about this coffee shop. It was departure day so we weren’t able to do a long breakfast, but I also heard great things about Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen and Weathervane (with the adjoining kitchen store, Southern Season). I also heard if you want a great BLT or just love bacon (so, all of us) go to Merritts. And for dinner, next on my list is Lantern and Kipos! Needless to say, there was just not enough time to do it all. So many great restaurants in the area–and even more if you consider Carrboro, Raleigh, and Durham. Can you imagine how dreamy this place is on a summer evening?
Caffe Driade roasts all their own coffee and is independently owned by a guy who travels all over building farm-direct relationships with different producers all over the globe. My cappuccino was excellent. So meta. This is a proper use of meta, right?

Thank you so much Chapel Hill for inviting us on this trip. We had such a great time, and look forward to visiting again!

Outfits: jeans: madewell / boots: vintage shop / jacket: nordstrom / vans: nordstrom