McKinney is in Durham, North Carolina, one of three cities that, along with state capital Raleigh and The University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill, make up "The Triangle."
The Triangle is a pretty smart place, with the highest concentration of PhDs in America. Many of those folks are in Durham, at Duke University or in the Research Triangle Park. Or they’re part of the renaissance of downtown Durham that McKinney helped ignite when we moved here in 2004 to take advantage of the city's great vintage warehouse space and urban funk.
Dr. Richard Florida, author of Rise of the Creative Class, found a higher concentration of Creative Class and Supercreative Class people in Durham than in any other city in America. But it's not just about smarts. It's also about the arts and sports and eats and the outdoors.
There are some 120 separate arts organizations in Durham. Durham's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, whose board includes Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Ken Burns, Martin Sheen and John Sayles, is the world's leading documentary festival.
Right across the street from McKinney is the brand-new 2,800-seat Durham Performing Arts Center, North Carolina's largest stage for music, comedy and full Broadway performances. The Durham-based American Dance Festival splits its performances between the DPAC and Duke, which is just two miles from McKinney.
Duke is also home to the Nasher Museum of Art. Time magazine named the Nasher's "El Greco to Velasquez, Art during the Reign of Philip III" one of the top three museum exhibits of 2008. After the Nasher, head to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. Or go to the Ackland Museum of Art at UNC in Chapel Hill and then fill up on shrimp and grits at Crook's Corner before popping into Cat's Cradle or one of the area's other great music clubs.
Across the street from McKinney, you'll also find the Durham Bulls of "Bull Durham" fame. The Bulls, Tampa’s AAA team, play in a field designed by the architect of Camden Yards.
If you're a basketball fan, there's nothing to compare to a night with Coach K and the Cameron Crazies at a Duke-Carolina game. If you lean Carolina Blue, the Dean Dome and Kenan Stadium are just a few miles down the road. Just know that at some point you’ll have to pick sides.
We also appreciate the oxymoronicity of place that barely sees winter having a Stanley Cup Champion hockey team, the Carolina Hurricanes, down the road at the RBC Center.
When it comes to eats, Bon Appétit ranks Durham (along with neighbor Chapel Hill) America's "Foodiest Small City." Gourmet put two of ours (Durham's Magnolia Grill and Chapel Hill's Lantern) on their list of the best hundred restaurants in America. They've also praised Durham's concentration of traditional Mexican eateries and the area's leadership in the growing farm-to-table restaurant movement.
When it's time to work off those calories, there's plenty to do at Falls Lake, Jordan Lake, the Eno River and Umstead Park. If you want to get out of town, the ocean is a couple of hours east, the mountains are a couple of hours west and Pinehurst is barely an hour south.
If you really want to get out of town, Raleigh-Durham International offers 450 flights a day, with direct flights on 10 major airlines to 36 destinations, including London. RDU is fifteen minutes from our front door.
But Durham regularly tops so many "Best" and "Favorite" lists, you’ll be happy to hang around: