The Ryding List

by John Ryding

Here it is! After a few days of getting tips from friends, colleagues, comments, and twitter, I have found a wealth of great things to do in Raleigh.

The purpose of this is is that I want to explore and experience everything that Raleigh has to offer. I’ve come to really love the city and want to see everything all the new things I haven’t found in it yet.

As I go through this list, I have one simple rule:

Finish this list before I leave at the end of the summer

So without further ado, I give you The Ryding List:

———————————————————————————–

  1. Rush Hour Go Karting
  2. Outdoor Laser Tag
  3. Drive In Movie
  4. Drag Queen Bingo (yes, and apparently this is done in some churches)
  5. Outdoor Movie at Raleigh Art Museum
  6. First Friday
  7. Duke Gardens
  8. Big Boss Brewery Tour
  9. Dinner at The Pit
  10. Carolina Roller Girls
  11. State Farmer’s Market
  12. Ole Time Barbecue
  13. Flea Market on the Fairgrounds
  14. Cooper’s BBQ
  15. Frisbee Golf
  16. Take a Rickshaw Ride
  17. Paddleboat ride on Lake Johnson
  18. Take picture with the Andy Griffith Statue
  19. Couch Trip Bar Crawl
  20. Segway Tour of Raleigh
  21. Go to Goodberry’s
  22. Drinks at Boylan Bridge
  23. Walk from State Capitol to Executive Mansion
  24. Explore City Market
  25. NC Museum of Art
  26. Eat at Char-Grill
  27. Koka Booth
  28. See a movie at the Rialto Theater
  29. Explore Umstead Park
  30. Locopops
  31. See a punk band at The Brewery
  32. Sailing Class at Lake Crabtree
  33. Explore Raleigh Rose Garden
  34. Explore the area around Dix
  35. Eat at Flying Biscuit Cafe
  36. Eat at Neomonde
  37. Snoopy’s Hot Dogs
  38. See a plane land at RDU’s Observation Deck
  39. Eat at Poole’s Diner

———————————————————————————–

Wow, that is a ton of fun and amazing things that I will be experiencing this summer around Raleigh, NC.

I also received many recommendations for events and places that I have already done, if you are wondering here they are:

———————————————————————————–

-Downtown Raleigh Live: Free concert every other weekend in Moore Square

-Lily’s Pizza: hands down, the BEST pizza in the Triangle

-Coffee at Third Place and/or Cafe Helios: two amazing coffee shops with free wifi

-D.H. Hill Library: NC State’s community library, I have spent some time doing work from here and am constantly impressed by the wonderful, modern design and current technology offerings

-Cookout =  weekend nights + 2am + milkshakes, enough said

-Pizza and Pretzels at Mellow Mushroom: some great food to be eaten here

-Improv comedy shows and classes at ComedyWorx: i have been here a bunch and every show has been amazing

-Beers at Flying Saucer: hundreds of beers on tap (even root beer!), gret staff, great environment to catch up with friends at

-Karaoke at Napper Tandy’s Irish Pub: great DJ and fun times to be had!

-Stand up at Goodnight’s Comedy: every Wednesday night is Fajita Margarita night, $10 for fajita’s and free tickets to the amateur comedy show.

-Raleigh Beer Fest: 100s of beers to sample, went to it for the first time this year. Amazing

-Cary Wine Festival: same as beer festival, but with wine. Another great time with some really amazing wines

-North Hills Beach Music: every Thursday evening from 6-9pm is a free concert at North Hills outdoor mall.  I recommend getting there early, definitely not enough parking for latecomers.

-Tweetup: a meetup organized through twitter. It doesn’t even matter if you are on Twitter, I’ve been to them and met some really amazing people from all walks of life. Artists, comedians, film makers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and many more. If you want to branch out and get to know some fun people, go to one!

———————————————————————————–

There you go! The Ryding List, a list of everything that I have not yet done in Raleigh. Keep up with this blog through the summer, I guarantee I will have some amazing and funny stories to tell.

Thanks to everyone that helped out with this list:

Pat, Kristen, Seth, Jason, Robert, Melissa, Cliff, Allison, Kara, Katy, Allison, Paul, Matt M., Stephanie, Matt L, Taylor, Jess, @DeirdreReid, @steveburnett, @zy1125, @jillstacey, @Geistbear