I used to live in Greenville, NC, a couple of hours east of Raleigh. If you're a basketball fan, you will be in prime ACC country, with NC State in Raleigh, UNC in Chapel Hill just a few (15-20, maybe?) miles to the norhtwest and Duke just 8 miles west of UNC.
The Duke Botanical gardens in Durham are very nice. In the 1990s, Chapel Hill was a mecca of young bands, ala Seattle, Austin, or Athens GA. Don't know if that still holds.
Don't know about the nightlife. With our newborn, the night life we see now is Carraba's, Olive Garden, etc... Actually, I will be meeting some family in Raleigh on the weekend of April 8, as it's halfway between us (northern VA) and them (Georgia).
Oh, and there's a nice outlet mall on I-95 between exits 95 and 97. It's about 30 miles east of Raleigh.
Just my $.02 of ramblings...
