Favorite Vacation Spots

With 90-degree temperatures coming this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to talk about favorite vacation destinations. What is your favorite getaway along the N.C. coast? How about the mountains? Please share your choices. Also, name a North Carolina vacation spot that you would like to visit this year for the first time. 

My top three choices for a coastal vacation are: (1) Ocracoke, (2) Bald Head Island and (3) Beaufort. Ocracoke is just plain cool. You feel like you’re in a different world living on Jimmy Buffet time. Bald Head Island offers the seclusion I sometimes crave. Plus, I love the maritime forest and golf carts replacing automobiles. Beaufort has that pretty white picket fence feel and is drenched in history. 

My favorite mountain vacation spots are (1) Roaring Gap/Glade Valley, (2) Linville and (3) Asheville. Roaring Gap/Glade Valley is the area where I have a cottage just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The peace and quiet and remarkable beauty are intoxicating. Linville takes me back to my childhood to pimento cheese picnics and trips to Wiseman’s View and Grandfather Mountain.. Asheville has a little bit of everything – great restaurants, tourist attractions and glorious mountain scenery. Plus, Montreat is just down the road. 

I have visited just about every place in the state. However, I have never made it to Hot Springs in the mountains of Madison County, and I have put that on my list for 2011.