North Carolina was state 24 for our RV roadtrip (almost halfway to 50!) and is a state I hadn’t spent much time in before. So it was really special to get to experience it – from the beach, to the cities, to the mountains! Here are our favorite things to do in North Carolina!
The Outer Banks
I’d describe The Outer Banks as a combination of history and romance. One of my favorite parts of our time there was getting to see The Wright Brothers Memorial and learn about the history of flight! Can you even imagine what they’d think about airplanes now?!
The Outer Banks also seems like a romantic place, in part because Nicholas Sparks’ “Nights in Rodanthe” was filmed there. And then of course there are the beaches :) But since it was a little cold there in March, it’s a good excuse to “have to” go back!
Charlotte
NASCAR
We had SUCH a wonderful time in Charlotte! In part because of the incredible weather, but mainly because we got to DRIVE A NASCAR on the Charlotte Motor Speedway!
The NASCAR Racing Experience was the coolest and one of the highlights of our trip! I still can’t believe we had the opportunity to do it…and we went almost 150 MPH?!?!?!
I was a little nervous about driving a NASCAR but thankfully the team was wonderful about reassuring us that we’d be completely fine, it’s very safe, and we SHOULD go as fast as possible! I was even more nervous after they told us the cars were only manual (yeah never driven a stick shift before…) but thankfully they gave us a crash course (lol except not involving the crash part!) and we were on our way in no time.
The feeling of driving an actual NASCAR is hard to put into words, but I highly recommend it. (That’s me on the left and Hud on the right in the below pic!)
We did The Rookie Experience and as I was going around the track, I was thinking how real NASCAR drivers must feel with thousands of fans there cheering you on! Such an exhilarating experience and one I’m so glad we did.
The experience is available at various speedways across the country, but it was extra special getting to do it in Charlotte – the home of NASCAR :)
After driving an actual NASCAR, we went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and it was really neat to learn more about the sport of racing. There are some really cool cars there – and I have a lot more respect for NASCAR drivers now, that’s for sure!
NCAA March Madness Basketball
87% of what we do on our trip is combo super spontaneous and very intentionally planned. 11% is all planned and the last 2% (let’s hope that adds up to 100!) is all spontaneous.
It just so happened that while we were in Charlotte, the March Madness basketball tournament was going on and there were games in Charlotte! Going to a NCAA March Madness game has been on our bucketlist, so we decided to buy tickets and go! It was SUCH a fun night!!
Billy Graham Library
It was really neat to visit the Billy Graham Library and learn more about his life. So inspired by the way he lived for Jesus, was genuine and confident in who he was, could relate to anyone, and boldly shared his faith with the world.
At the library,they had this “decision card” there from the day Billy Graham became a Christian. They talked about how there was once a guy named Edward Kimball who told someone about Jesus, and that guy told another guy…and another few guys down the chain there was a speaker who Billy Graham heard. And after that he dedicated his life to Jesus. Really inspiring!!
Raleigh, Durham, and Winston-Salem
We love seeing cities and universities as we travel across the country, so we did the North Carolina college tour :) Got to see UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, and others!
We also love seeing company headquarters, and one of my personal favorites was coming across the Krispy Kreme headquarters…can you believe that prior to our trip I’d never had a “hot and ready” Krispy Kreme?!
Asheville
Food Tour
We had heard so much about Asheville’s food scene, and figured that the best way to experience it is through a food tour! We love food tours because there’s so much you can learn about a city through experiencing their food, and also the tours typically include a lot of history about the city as well. (And who doesn’t love eating food while learning history?!)
We so enjoyed our Eating Asheville Walking Food Tour! Our tour guide was so incredibly friendly and we got big portions, which we’re always a big fan of ;) AND we went to a CHOCOLATE lounge…like why does every city not have one of those?! Definitely do a food tour if you go to Asheville!
The Biltmore
Another must-do is obviously the Biltmore. Or in other news we did some house hunting while we were in Asheville and decided we might just have to stick with the RV for now ;)
The Great Outdoors
Near Asheville, there are so many beautiful outdoor places to explore! Two of our favorites were…
1. Chimney Rock – a lot of stairs to hike, but a beautiful view at the top!
and 2. Sliding Rock – when it’s 43 degrees outside but hubby says he’s going down Sliding Rock…good thing our RV has heat!
Wow, North Carolina…you were FUN! So many great mems that we are so thankful for <3
