Moving to the Triangle area

Hello,

I am an experienced (5 years) RN. I've worked in the ER for a few years and most recently inpatient psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital. My bf and I are planning to move to the triangle area in the fall. I've looked around at various hospitals in the area. So far I feel most drawn to Duke, those UNC and WakeMed also look nice. Duke is intriguing to me since they offer relocation assistance, loan forgiveness up to 25K, and a huge discount to Duke University for MSN or DNP programs.

Any insight into local triangle hospitals? How early should I apply? What areas should I look into living. My bf is really into living in an apartment that's within walking distance to restaurants/cafes/etc. Are there any cute downtown-ish zones we should look into? We're moving from the Baltimore/DC area and he's a little nervous about moving to a smaller city.

I'm looking to get away from psych and back into more critical care or acute care work. ER, ICU, maybe even Ortho. I really love all kinds of nursing and want to be challenged in my role (something that I've been missing in Psych despite being a board certified mental health nurse) I'd love to get back into a challenging field of nursing, but also a field that allows me to go back to school for my MSN and possible DNP. I'm up to date on ACLS certification as well. Would love to hear about the area, the hospitals, the specialities, and really anything around the triangle zone. I'm super excited to move!

Thanks!