Overlooking Franklin Street is Chapel Hill’s most popular restaurant Top of the Hill, best known for serving excellent food, providing a sophisticated atmosphere and being the place you take your parents when they’re in town and you don’t know what else to do with them.
We at UNC love the place, but after you’ve had your nice family dinner, figuring out how else to entertain your folks can leave us all a bit lost.
Should you give them a tour of campus? Invite them to relax in your dorm? Tell them to get in the car and go the heck home? The decision can be a stressful one to make.
The area around UNC may be small, but it is home to plenty of other locations, events, and activities that will keep your parents happy all weekend long. Give mom and dad the full Chapel Hill experience and remind them exactly why they’re paying all that money for their precious child to come to school here in the first place.
Source: TripAdvisor
Take them to a show
Amongst thousands of other things, UNC students excel at putting on a show. Showcasing the talent of your fellow students is a perfect way to show off to mom and dad the talented people with whom you are spending your college days.
There are various locations on campus where you can find performances going on — to name a few, Carolina Performing Arts and Playmakers Theatre are perfect for evenings of entertainment and both host a variety of shows that anybody can enjoy.
Source: Wikipedia
Check out the Morehead Planetarium
The Morehead Planetarium hosts “live” star shows, in which the stars in the sky are mapped and explored each night, and multimedia shows that explore the universe, the human body and other scientific topics of interest.
Both educational and visually stunning, the Morehead is another perfect way to showcase the research being done at UNC while simultaneously making for an exciting family outing.
Source: Chapel Hill Recorder
Visit the botanical gardens
The North Carolina Botanical Garden is one of the largest botanical gardens in the Southeast and is bursting with natural beauty. Featuring sites like the Coker Arboretum, Battle Park and the Forest Theatre, you can schedule a tour of the gardens or choose to take a stroll on your own.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Beautiful day for ice cream! <a href="http://t.co/GcEbBG0ELR">pic.twitter.com/GcEbBG0ELR</a></p>— Maple View Farm (@MVFIceCream) <a href="https://twitter.com/MVFIceCream/status/580104412049354752">March 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Head out to Maple View Farm
Located about 20 minutes from campus by car, Maple View is a farmhouse in Hillsborough, NC and is one of most relaxing locations to visit in the area. Inside the house, which is surrounded by rolling hills and green farmland, is a small ice cream shop that is listed as one of Food and Wine’s best ice cream shops in the U.S. Kicking back with your parents in a rocking chair on the shop’s porch and enjoying a delicious afternoon treat is ideal for quality family time.
Source: UNC
Check out the Ackland Art Museum
The Ackland Art Museum, located on S. Columbia Street, has been featured in the New York Times and was was awarded TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence. Not only does the gallery boast an impressive 17,000 works of art, but it also hosts a variety of events open to the public, such as Family and Friends Sundays and Yoga in the Galleries - all at absolutely no cost.
Source: East Chapel Hill Observer
Eat and shop in Carrboro
Just a few minutes' drive outside Chapel Hill is Carrboro, where plenty of opportunities for fun afternoons exist. Restaurants and shopping centers can be found throughout the area along with places like Weaver Street Market and Cat’s Cradle, both of which are great sources of entertainment. One of the best things try out, however, is the Carrboro Farmer’s Market, which takes place every Saturday and hosts over 70 local farmers and artisans.
Source: Bleacher Report
Take them to a game
Carolina is known nationwide for our accomplished athletes and fast-paced sports events. If you plan far enough ahead in advance, you can certainly do your best to win tickets to a basketball game.
However, since it often seems easier to win the actual lottery than the UNC basketball lottery, there are plenty of other teams that are also amazing at what they do and who the community supports just as strongly.
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