North Carolina

Year of First Visit – 1999
Point of Entry – Great Smokey Mountains National Park

After our hike we got into the car and drove across the state line just to be sure. All indicators said that we'd crossed into North Carolina while hiking in Great Smokey Mountains National Park but there were no "Welcome to North Carolina" signs along the trails.

Since then I've been to North Carolina many times, mostly traveling I-95 on the way to and from Florida. I've also crossed the state on I-85 and via Amtrak.  I've as had a couple of layovers at Charlotte-Douglas as well.

On one of those trips we were headed north on January 2 after a Christmas break in South Florida. We pulled into the outlet center in Smithfield to stretch our legs. We ended up stretching our wallet, too, as we stuffed our rented Prius with bargains on some necessary wardrobe updates. We were back on the road in under 90 minutes.

For many years we've collected refrigerator magnets of the touristy places we visit. Some friends visited the Outer Banks and brought us a magnet featuring the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Therefore, North Carolina has the distinction of being the only state featured on our fridge with a picture of a site we haven't seen. I guess we'll need to drive back across the state line just to be sure to we see what's there.