Travel With Me To: Raleigh, NC with Toyota Prius

One of my favorite things about living in North Carolina is the fact that there are so many amazing cities to explore, all within driving distance. I travel to Raleigh quite a bit for work related stuff, but rarely have time to explore. I was stoked to team up with Toyota Prius last week to spend time exploring the Triangle Area, all while driving the chic (and economic!) 2016 Toyota Prius. Click through to read about my time in Raleigh!

My pre-road trip ritual always involves grabbing a coffee for the ride. But, forget the coffee, let’s chat about the badass interior of the Prius for a second! It’s certainly aesthetically pleasing (and worked perfectly as the backdrop for my photo haha!) The seats are comfortable, the touch screen is awesome for calls, radio, and navigation, and it’s super spacious. I can’t forget about the amazing gas mileage. I drive a lot so seeing it get anywhere from 49-54 mpg was insane to me. I drove from Greensboro to Raleigh (and everywhere in between) three times on one tank of gas for the entire week! That definitely doesn’t happen in my car- so I was loving it haha!

Naturally one of my first stops was the Streets of SouthPoint to do a little shopping! I had shopped most of the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale online, but did a little damage in store, too! Bonus: some of the items that were sold out online were still available in my size! If you’re ever in the area, SouthPoint has an awesome selection of stores including: Kendra Scott, Madewell, Loft, West Elm, lululemon, Free People, and more!

Some of my other favorite places to shop in the area are:

Cameron Village outdoor shopping area full of your favs + boutiques & restaurants
Furbish best unique home decor items
Raleigh Flea Market for antiques & one-of-a-kind items

One of our dinner spots was Basan, a modern Japanese and sushi restaurant, in Durham (right near the Bulls stadium) and it was delicious. I’m a super picky eater, but there were quite a few dishes I loved here. We even got to sit in the traditional tatami room for dinner! It was the full experience to say the least!

I headed to 42 & Lawrence one morning to do a little work and sip on a latte. My friend Mason had given me this suggestion and I am so glad she did! The coffee was good, the atmosphere was even better (super insta worthy haha!) and it was downtown, so I could walk around easily from there. There were so many coffee shops I wanted to try, but unfortunately I didn’t get to them all…. god that would’ve been an awful caffeine headache haha! Below are other coffee shop suggestions:

Jubala Coffee
Brew- Downtown Raleigh
Joule Coffee & Table
Yellow Dog Bread Company

I spent the rest of my time just roaming around the city and stumbling upon different spots. I hit up Boulted Bread, walked around the Capitol area, went to the North Carolina Museum of History, had wine at Vita Vite, and ended with drinks and apps with the Toyota team at Joule!