Kids Korner

Visit Raleigh-Durham, NC! Museum of Life and Science Sports Hall of Fame Carolina Hurricanes Quick–name the place that's got it all–College Basketball and NASCAR, the chance to tube down a river, or mine for jewels in the mountains. That's not counting the cool museums and great food along the way. Welcome to North Carolina. Whatever you like to do, you're bound to find it here no matter what season you visit.

Did You Know?

• You can canoe or tube one of the oldest rivers in the world–the New River in Ashe and Alleghany Counties in North Carolina. And while you're there, check out the Mountain Farm Life Museum that shows you how the pioneers survived (visit www.ashechamber.com).

• You can race your own car at NASCAR SpeedPark at Concord Mills in Cabarrus County. Check out Lowe's Motor Speedway and Hendrick Motorsports, where racecars are built (visit www.nascarspeedpark.com).

• You can see the world's only Acrocanthosaurus in North Carolina at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, the biggest natural history museum in the Southeast. Meet Willo, the dinosaur with a fossilized heart (visit www.naturalsciences.org).

• The first racially integrated basketball game in the South was played in Durham on March 12, 1944, between North Carolina College (now NC Central University) and the Duke Medical School in defiance of laws of the time. NC College won. North Carolina Central University was the nation's first public liberal arts college for African Americans (visit www.nccu.edu).

• North Carolina may be known for college basketball, but the Raleigh-Durham area is also home to the NHL Hockey team, the Carolina Hurricanes (www.carolinahurricanes.com); an AA baseball team, the Carolina Mudcats (www.gomudcats.com); and the Class AAA Durham Bulls (www.dbulls.com). Starting next year, they will have a USL Soccer team, the Carolina RailHawks (www.carolinarailhawks.com).

• If you love to shop till you drop, The Streets at Southpoint Mall in Durham has been ranked as one of the country's “Top Ten Places to Spend it all in One Place.” (Visit www.streetsatsouthpoint.com.)

• You can create your own masterpiece out of someone else's junk at Durham's Scrap Exchange; where you'll literally find tons of fabric, cones, foam, boxes, tubes, and more (visit www.scrapexchange.org).

• A 12-year-old boy skipping Sunday school is credited with finding the first gold in the U.S. Conrad Reed found a 17-pound gold nugget at the Reed Gold Mine in 1799. His family sold it to a jeweler for $3.50.

• You can go “wafting” in Durham. For the uninitiated, that's on the water in rubber boats at West Point on the Eno River (visit www.wafter.org).

• North Carolina has the biggest variety of semi-precious stones in the world. You can try to find your own gem mining in North Carolina, especially around Franklin where there are ruby, sapphire, and emerald mines (visit www.franklin-chamber.com).

What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina . . .

Meet: Mackenzie (age 8) who lives in the Raleigh-Durham area. She is the daughter of two Southwest Airlines Employees. Her proud parents are Operations Agent Jerry and Baltimore-based Flight Attendant Lorrie. What she says about Raleigh-Durham: We have great parks with lakes for swimming and boating in the summer. In the winter, the parks have a "Celebration of Lights" to mark the holidays, and in the spring, there is plenty of room to fly your kites. Don't Miss: A hockey game with Stanley Cup Champions, the Carolina Hurricanes! Don't Go Home Without: Visiting the Life & Science Museum Best Place to Eat: Venero's Pizzeria Best Places to Visit Outside of Raleigh-Durham: Chimney Rock The Outer Banks The Biltmore Estate

Kids, Tell Your Parents . . .

North Carolina is a great place for outdoor and indoor fun whether you like mountains (Blue Ridge), beaches (The Outer Banks), sports (especially college basketball) history, or museums. The North Carolina website, www.visitnc.com, is a good place to start. For Raleigh visit www.visitraleigh.com and for Durham visit www.durham-cvb.com.

Here are some other guaranteed-to-please places:

• PLAYSPACE, in Raleigh, is for children ages six-months to 7-years-old, complete with a pretend grocery store, hospital, and water play. (Visit www.playspacemuseum.com)

• ADVENTURE LANDING has a go-kart track, mini golf courses, laser tag, and more. (Visit www.adventurelanding.com)

• SILVER LAKE WATERPARK has waterslides, bumper boats, and a spring-fed lake. (Visit www.silverlakewaterpark.com)

• EXPLORIS/IMAX interactive museum is designed to help kids appreciate different cultures. (Visit www.exploris.org)

• NC MUSEUM OF HISTORY/SPORTS HALL OF FAME. (Visit www.ncmuseumofhistory.org)

• THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL COMPLEX in Raleigh, has a collection of displays about African American history. In July, there's an outdoor drama about the mutiny at sea aboard the slave ship, Amistad. (Visit www.aaccmuseum.org)

• THE DUKE UNIVERSITY CAMPUS has the Cameron Indoor Stadium that houses the Duke Sports Hall of Fame. (Visit www.duke.edu)

• STAGVILLE Plantation has slave quarters. Before the civil war, it was one of the largest plantations in the South. (Visit www.historicstagvillefoundation.org)

• For History Buffs, you can visit Bennett Place in Durham, where the largest surrender of the Civil War was negotiated (visit www.bennettplace.nchistoricsites.org). Also in Raleigh, the North Carolina Museum of History, which includes the largest historical flag collection in the country and a replica of the Wright Brothers plane. (Visit www.ncmuseumofhistory.org)

• MUSEUM OF LIFE AND SCIENCE, in Durham, has an outdoor butterfly house and “insectarium,” and a new outdoor exhibit with black bears, red wolves, and Lemurs. (Visit www.ncmls.org)

See Past Editions of Kids Korner.

By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™