Hey there fellow travelers, Mark here with Walters World and today we are here at Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina
And today what we have for you are 10 things that shock tourists when they come to the beautiful state of North Carolina
And I think it's important we start with this one and that is just how many gorgeous mountain vistas and views you have when you come here to North Carolina
If you want to go up to the top of Pilot Mountain, you can go up there and have that beautiful view of the entire state and around here down to Winston-Salem
or you want to go see more of the Blue Ridge Mountains or the Smoky Mountains
The Appalachians here are just gorgeous when you're going around and just taking it all in
And it's just shocking how gorgeous it is. But the thing is, it's not just to look at
It's also to hike, to see all the waterfalls that are here, the natural water slides you can go on
I mean, it's just a really, really great adventure-y, outdoorsy state to be in
And having all these mountain ranges to enjoy makes it a shockingly gorgeous state to be in
And what's fantastic is if you're in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Smoky Mountains are really throughout the state
The colors you get to see with the outdoorsness, because my goodness, in the fall, we've been in the fall when the trees are changing, the leaves are changing
It is just gorgeous. But also in the spring where it's one kind of flower after another, after another, they're blooming, going away
Then another one comes, another one comes. All that coloration is just it's just gorgeous when you're here
So you get to enjoy a lot when you're exploring all this outdoor stuff
The second thing that might shock you is when you're exploring North Carolina, you're going to be driving
And the shock is just the driving in North Carolina. I mean, I know this is kind of like the heart of NASCAR country
And no, not everybody in North Carolina loves NASCAR. But I think everybody from North Carolina still likes to drive like they're in NASCAR
So whether you're on I-95 or 40 or wherever you're going to go or on the back roads, there's going to be some fast driving
Like, you'll be just keeping up with traffic and notice, oh, snap, I'm, like, going, like, 85, 90 miles an hour
What the heck? It is something you need to be ready for in terms of the traffic and the driving
You know, if you're in Charlotte, yes, you're going to have your, you know, rush hour traffic
And if you're going 40 from the Research Triangle over to Winston-Salem, just expect cars all the time
And I-95, oh, why? Why is it so much two lanes? Well, four lanes, two on each side
Why isn't it bigger? Florida, New York, New Jersey. I think you should pay for that because you're just kind of driving through
But I will say, 40 when you come through, it seems like that's more a North Carolina's highway
because there's a lot more space on it, a lot easier going. But yeah, the driving here, it'll get you
And if you want to do get a little NASCAR in you, well, there is the NASCAR Museum in Charlotte for you to enjoy
Now, my next shock for you is, do you realize if you're in the U.S
and you're watching this video, you're probably either sitting, laying, or putting stuff in
furniture made here in North Carolina. I mean, North Carolina is furniture country USA
So if you're gonna be buying furniture from the US and it says, you know, made in the USA
a lot of times it's made right here in North Carolina. And the shocking thing about it
if you go to places like High Point or Hickory, I've been to High Point a few times with Jocelyn
and they have showrooms for furniture that are like the Disneyland or Disney World of furniture where it levels upon levels upon levels just spread out of every kind of furniture
you could ever imagine. And it's crazy, but it's shocking just how much furniture is from here
and how much you'll want to get the furniture, because there's some really good stuff when you
are here, all right? Now, my next shock for you when you come here, this is probably the most
popular tourist destination when you come to North Carolina, and that's the Outer Banks. Just
your overall Outer Banks experience. I mean, when you go there, the beaches there are fantastic. Go
and enjoy it. But hey, do be careful because you'll be shocked how strong those riptides could be
So if you're going with your kids, make sure you're always paying attention to them, all right
Also, Outer Banks, can you say wild horses? Yeah, you'll see wild horses in certain parts
running along the beach. Like, that's totally cool. You don't like that? Oh, the lighthouses
that are there. Oh, you ever heard of the Wright Brothers and Kitty Hawk? That's in the Outer Banks
And if you don't even like that, well, just go to Duck Donuts and eat that because, oh my god
the donuts there, you see them make them for you and they're so, they're so good. And so you have
all these great, shackily, wonderful things to do when you are by the Outer Banks or in the Outer
Banks or on the Outer Banks. And if you go a little bit off the Outer Banks, you can go see
grave digger one of those famous monster trucks their base is right outside of there but honestly
the Outer Banks is just a fun family beach vacation getaway and you'll be shocked how packed it gets
in the summer and during spring break time so make sure you're booking plenty of head to make sure you
do get a place to stay and do be ready for some hecka long lines when you are there and speaking
of hecka long lines my next shot for you is the line that you'll see on the drive-through going to
Bojangles. So for those who don't know Bojangles famous chicken and biscuits it is a fast food
chain chicken and biscuit chain that's from here in North Carolina and they love it here as well
they should because Bojangles is awesome. Their biscuits get ranked as some of the best biscuits
you can get at a fast food place anywhere and so the thing is everybody wants to go and so the
lines there it can take a while. So the fast food version you think that you know it'll be
it's not necessarily going to be super fast but it's so worth it okay so so get the chicken when
you're there or or if it's the morning why not grab a cajun biscuit oh my god it's basically like
fried chicken and a biscuit at cajun spices oh it's so good it's so good so you have that but
yeah the wines for for bojangles um it might put you off but don't let it put you off go and enjoy
the the true treat of north carolina well there's more treats but i'll talk about that later now my
next shock for you is when you realize there's a castle here in North Carolina, but it's not the
fact that it's an impressive castle. The Biltmore Estate, it is phenomenal. It's gorgeous from outside
inside the rooms, the tours. It is just so amazing. It's majestic. It's incredible to visit, but that's
not what's going to shock you when you go there. It's the sticker price to go and see the Biltmore
because when I'm filming this, the spring like minimum is like starting at $64 per person
In the summer starting per person is per person So it can really you know eat up a lot of cash really quickly But man it is an awesome setting If you going to go I think kids nine and under are free and it reduced
for 10 to 16 year olds. But yeah, I mean, you're going to burn through a lot of cash when you go
there. So just know the Biltmore, sometimes it's better to just go, oh, that looks pretty from
there. I'll get the postcard and not pay 150 some odd dollars for my wife and I to go there
just saying all right now the next track you're going to have you come here is just how much
they love college basketball when you're here and you'll hear all kinds of sayings all kinds
of funny things one i i kind of liked i got a chuckle out of is is duke is puke wake is fate
but the team i hate is state i'm like oh my goodness and i said that to my friends who are
nc state grads i'm like i don't have anything it's nc state i just heard this and like yeah yeah we
got some rivalries here. So whether it is Carolina Blue, you know, going for the Tar Heels, the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where Michael Jordan played, or you got the Duke Blue
Devils, you know, you can go see them in the darker blue, or you got the red at NC State. I mean
college basketball is legit a thing here. So if you can get tickets, go to a game because it is
I mean, you see some really dang good basketball too, and it's really a thing here in North Carolina
Now, my next shot for you, I'm going back when I talked about those tasty treats I was going to
let you know about well one thing you need to know is we all need to thank north carolina right now
for the joy and wonderful and happiness of krispy kreme yeah krispy kreme donuts they're from here in
north carolina and if you ever see them and the hot you know donuts are sign is lit up that red
lights are on go get one or two or a dozen you won't be upset because they're fantastic okay
but the thing is there's other carolina treats when you are here their barbecue yeah the sauce
it's a vinegar based sauce so if you're used to like the tomato kind of stuff the sweet stuff or
maybe the mustard stuff kind of sauce from south carolina it's different here it's more vinegar
based and there are two different styles you know when you are here i mean you do have the the
lexington style which is vinegar with tomatoes so you have that and that's usually mostly shoulder
um if you have the eastern style that one is no tomatoes but it's with the vinegar and and they're
both fantastic. You won't do wrong with either of them. Just know vinegar does play a powerful part
in the barbecue here. But whatever barbecue you get or heck, whatever you get when you're here
make sure you don't forget to get the hush puppies and the coleslaw because yum, yum, yum, yum, yum
and maybe throw in some banana pudding too. You can't go wrong there. And if you want to like
just throw everything on there, I will say being from Illinois, knowing about the Chicago dog
knowing about the Carolina dog is something that you really need to know when you come here and
what it is it's a hot dog and on it it's got you know coleslaw and it's got onions and it's got
chili and there can be some mustard in there and it's and it's fantastic and you don't put anything
extra on there because the balance of all the flavors just make it awesome so when you're here
Krispy Kreme right you want to get that you want to make sure you get a Carolina dog you also want
make sure you get some barbecue when you're here. Yeah, I mean, there's just so much to enjoy
And you'll get so pumped when you are here. And the thing is, I'm just talking about the food that'll shock you
What about the drinks And my next shock for you is the fact that Coke isn the biggest thing out there here in North Carolina I know when you in the southeast of the U and the south you kind of think oh Coke is a de facto soft drink when you here
Oh, no. In North Carolina, they invented Pepsi here. So I actually see Pepsi quite often, which sometimes seems kind of odd when I'm used to seeing Coke so much after we've been down here for a few weeks
So that's one thing. But they also have another soda called Cheerwine
and I'm going to tell you, Cheerwine, it can shock you when you have it for the first time
because for me, it still tastes like kind of like a cherry soda mixed with some cherry cough syrup
Connie. I'm not a fan, but I have friends that love it. My buddy Mark down in Texas
I know he was getting some, he got, I think, 22 liter bottles to take back with him to Texas
because they didn't have it. You know, it's just like, oh my God. But the thing is, when you're here
try some of that Cheerwine. You might get a Cheerwine float and you'll have places, you know
Maybe you go to cookout. They might have something for you to try it. But, yeah, I mean, Cheerwine, Pepsi, the way to go when you are here
And another shocking thing is how good the beer is here in North Carolina
especially if you're going to be in Asheville. Because Asheville, I know, for me, the water in Asheville, Asheville is gorgeous
And I guess that'll be another shock I have for you is your Asheville experience
So Asheville, if you go way over to the west of the state, you'll see, you know
in the Blue Ridge Mountains, there's Asheville and there's the waterfalls and the natural water slides
And it's just this cute town, this cute city really now. It has great boutiques and cool stuff
And it's more of a laissez-faire kind of place. People can be whatever the heck they want
And it's just a really crazy experience because it can be kind of crazy when you're downtown
And sometimes it's in a good way. And sometimes that Asheville experience might not be in a good way
It does have one of the highest crime rates in the state of North Carolina
But I know a lot of people go there because it is near the Biltmore. and it is one of the most beautiful parts honestly of the u.s when you go there i mean we've been
there like five or six times and we still go back even though sometimes you're like oh downtown
interesting especially in the evening so do have a heads up so if you are there you will enjoy it
with the outdoor stuff and the beer there is the best i mean great like i said great beer all over
the state but the beer in ashville's got like a next level kind of taste of this i think it's the
water maybe but it's just amazing but do have a heads up when you do go to ashville because the
overall experience could be really great or really interesting when you are there all right so these
are just 10 little things that might have a fun way of shocking tourists when they come here to
north of carolina what shocked you when you first came to north carolina was it visiting charlotte
and see how much it's grown whether it was it going to see the museums in raleigh i mean dude
it was so cool to see there's so many good museums in raleigh are going to the outer banks i know for
liam is when we drove down the highway and all of a sudden he's like there's gravedigger and he went
crazy. He's like, yeah! So you'll have a good time when you're here because this state is fantastic
from the mountains to the ocean. I mean, it's just great. And there's wonderful cities in between
Just know that driving through it can be a bit hectic. So I wish you all the best. I hope you
have a great time here in North Carolina. If you want to learn more what to eat in North Carolina
Jocelyn's got a video on that. We've got the don'ts of visiting the Outer Banks to help you have a great time in this great state. And I'll say bye from here in North Carolina