Generally, I have travelled through North Carolina, although, on occasion, I have traveled to a specific locale in the state (photo gallery). One of the highlights of the state, from my perspective, is the Blue Ridge Parkway. Of the three eastern parkways (The Natchez Trace, The Blue Ridge, and the Skyline Drive) the Blue Ridge Parkway is the longest.
The southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway is near the eastern entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the northern end is in Virginia, 469 miles to the north. I always try to spend some time in the Asheville area of North Carolina when I travel the Blue Ridge, there is a great arboretum (photo below) there and a craft center which will keep you stocked with Christmas gifts for years. On November 2, 2014 however, the North Carolina portion of the parkway was closed because of snow. I managed a visit to the arboretum and the craft store but it was cold outside, something that I really was not prepared for. Traveling north I connected with the parkway just north of the North Carolina/Virginia border, finding the parkway open I continued north to its end.
North Carolina Arboretum - Asheville, North Carolina, USA