I'm going to be out of pocket today because last night I went to the James Taylor concert and spent the night with a friend so I didn't have to drive home so late. I'll blog later and let you know how it was, but I wanted to share with you my absolute favorite JT song accompanied by pictures of my home state, North Carolina.
North Carolina is a vacation paradise with beaches on the eastern end and mountains on the western end. It has skiing, whitewater rafting and some of the best golf in the world. The central, or Piedmont, section is home to the Research Park Triangle, the largest research park in the world (and Huntsville's research park is second). This is the section of the state where I grew up. When I was young, the Piedmont also had a thriving textile industry as well as a large furniture industry. The textiles are mostly gone, but there's still a fair amount of furniture made in NC.
The state is home to a number of top-notch universities and boasts any number of famous sons and daughters, including the late, great Dale Earnhardt.
North Carolina is filled with history from the Lost Colony to Old Salem, the first manned flight of Wilbur and Orville Wright and the Trail of Tears when the Cherokee were forced from their homeland.
Want a great place to visit on vacation? How about the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which has the most visitors of any national park in the US. Or you can drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for some of the most beautiful scenery you'll ever see. Visit Biltmore Estate and see how the Vanderbilts lived or climb Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.
North Carolina is also home to Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Pepsi Cola.
The state bird is the beautiful cardinal, and the state flower is the dogwood.
The state motto is "Esse quam videri" -- "To be rather than to seem."
And we ARE the great Tarheel state!
Just in case you're interested, here's a list of the slides in the video:
North Carolina map
The Outer Banks
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
The Wright Brothers Memorial
Concord (my hometown)
A cardinal, the state bird of NC
Dogwood blossoms, the state flower of NC
Fort Raleigh, site of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony
USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial sign
USS North Carolina
Western Carolina University logo (my alma mater)
NC State Wolfpack logo (my sister's alma mater)
UNC Tarheels logo
Giant chair in Thomasville, which is representative of the state's furniture industry
Dale Earnhardt
Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC, a Moravian settlement
The Smoky Mountains
Biltmore Estate
Maggie Valley skiing
Rafting on the Nantahala River
#2 son and me at Newfound Gap
Blue Ridge Parkway sign
Cherokee Indian Reservation sign
Carving of Sequoyah, native American who invented the Cherokee alphabet
Great Smoky Mountains National Park sign
Grandfather Mountain sign
Mile High Swinging Bridge atop Grandfather Mountain
Linn Cove viaduct, part of the Blue Ridge Parkway around Grandfather Mountain
Mt. Mitchell, highest peak east of the Mississippi River
James Taylor
North Carolina sign
6 comments:
Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning...
I'm almost 57 years old and have lived in Georgia for 35 years, but when I meet someone and they ask me where I'm from, I always say "North Carolina." It never dawns on me to say "Georgia." It wasn't until my son picked Georgia Tech over NC State (my alma mater) that I realized he would answer "Georgia" to that question for the rest of his life.
P.S. I'm PM's sister.
Hope you had a good time at the concert. I love James Taylor! I am soooo jealous!
I have visited Biltmore and found it so interesting! I liked the gardens especially.
I'd have gone with you to that concert, ya know.
Sweet Baby James is my favorite JT song. :-)
My secret dream is to travel, and North Carolina is on my list. I WILL make it to the Biltmore sometime...
Angel
Error! Error! Error!
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is painted with a spiral stripe around it. The picture you have in the video is that of Bodie Island Lighthouse.
Sorry 'bout that.
Post a Comment