I'm heading to North Carolina on Friday. My wife and I are stopping in Asheville on Friday, hoping to visit the Biltmore. Saturday evening will headout towards the Outer Banks to meet with family.
We will spend a week at the Outer Banks where I'm hoping to do a lot of photographing. I am hoping to spot out good spots for early morning landscape shooting. We will be staying in a community in South Duck. I'm not familiar at all with the area so maybe someone on here can offer suggestions for places to check out.
I'll post photos when we return

the biltmore house, the gardens, and surrounding areas are lovely. you can't miss there. there is a lot, so take your time. I think you are limited to photos outside - inside they won't let you take pix.

asheville is a pretty cool town in some ways. there is some interesting achitecture, despite the chessiness of it you might head to the Grove Park and surrounding area - again, lovely, and some phot opportunities.

if you get a chance, drive some of the blue ridge and get out of your car and take some photos.

Chimney rock park is not directly on the way back but also is not far out of the way and worth a stop and hike. Near lake lure and lovely landscape and falls.

The outer banks I am less familiar with (I am in durham). I like the historic part of Wilmington, but for landscapes I think the southeast corner of bald head island is pretty cool. you'll literally get waves comingfrom the west and south meeting at the corner of land. Lots of birds, a lovely river area on the north side of the little island, again, lots of opportunities.

have fun!

Thanks for your reply. I look into these locations. I think my only regret is that we aren't spending more time in Asheville, but we'll make the most of it.
Thanks again!

you are most welcome

btw, downtown durham has some funky spots, too, like the old durham bulls park and the new one, old tobacco complex (now condos, etc), ad the duke chapel is lovely. not like the the other places, but it's home!

You should head a few miles southwest of Asheville to Brevard where we have over 300 waterfalls in our county.

Or just get on the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville and head southwest and get off of it on Highway 276 to Brevard and then drive back to Asheville.

Their isn`t much to shoot in the way of landscape around Duck other then incredible Sun Sets over the sound. But you are close to some of the best in the east. Head south to Oregon Inlet and the North end of Hatteras Island. With the right light and clouds it doesn`t get any better then this. Take a few days and head down Hatteras Island in the early morning or evening....it is a Landscape paradise.
Take a look at my web site....these are all shots of Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.......Have fun and good luck on the magic light.......Peter

Peter and Pandorf thanks so much for the tips. It'll be tight packing in so much while we are in Asheville, but thankfully we'll have plenty of time at the Outer Banks. I'll start looking today to map out drives to these locations. I might forgo the Biltmore Estate to check out Brevard and the 300 waterfalls!
Thanks again all.

The North Carolina Arboretum is FREE and it is just a few miles form Asheville. I just visitied a few weeks ago and it was worth a stop.

Made it to Asheville, gonna meet up with an old friend. We had a crazy morning...
Woke up to the worst Thunderstorm of the year so far, but it was to late. My HDTV, Wireless Router, and DSL modem were all dead. Fortunately my PC, 24" Monitor, and external HDD were all connected to a battery backup. This was a nasty strike, it popped two breakers, and tripped the surge protector to take out the router/modem. The TV is on the same circuit and was connected to a Tripplite surge protector. Our insurance will cover it and AT&T will replace the modem under warranty. Trying to decide if we are going to let the claim go through. In the end after our $250.00 deductible the damages only come to around $700.00.
Of course they want us to take the TV to a repairman to get his statement and an estimation of cost to repair. I honestly wouldn't trust the TV again given the nature of the damage in our building. Our neighbors were saying that the building was struck by lightning. I'd expect more damage, but I may be wrong? I was just relieved that my Computer / HDD were all in good shape.
Either way, I get the feeling that my pre-order for the e-p1 will be canceled. The camera can wait, and may not be worth the $$$ anyway.
We are going to focus on having fun this week, enjoying the scenery, and looking forward to getting some nice photographs. EVERYTHING is unplugged at home, so no worries about what storms hit at home.

Bummer on the storm, we had some roll through here like that, as well, but fortunately no damage at my house. The area had about 445 strikes in a 5 minute period, if I'd been up I may have tried for a shot or two. Go have fun and share the shots when you get home.

I just came back from a week in the corner of carolina, relaxing in the mountains and doing a bit of shooting too - in Cherokee county in and around Murphy. Spectacular there!

Now I'm in Florida .... doing the same. Too bad the timing ... I'd love to have had a few beers with an FM'r.

Tonight I got to catch up with an old friend from the military. We were stationed together in North Dakota and he's living in Asheville now. We had a great time, and I realized how fortunate I was to have the opportunity to meet with him years later. It's one thing to talk to another Vet, but it's another thing to talk with a Vet you worked with. You can share stories and remember events together. There's no need to explain who relates to who, and why this happened because there's a deeper level of understanding. We were stationed together for almost 6 years, so we had a lot of stories to share and a lot of you know what happened to so-and-so? As bad as the day started it out, the end totally made it a great day.
As soon as we're done with the trip I'll share photos, don't worry

Well it's been a fun and interesting week that is now winding down to an end

Saturday was fun in Asheville with just my wife and I.

Gardens


Winery where we snagged a couple of bottles after doing a wine tasting. Awesome wine!


We left at 2pm and headed down to the Outer Banks, aka OBX. 8 1/2 hours later we made it to Duck, NC. The next day after some beach time, nap time, we went out for dinner at a place called Renditions. Nice little place, sophisticated atmosphere and great food. We had a party of 15, and the waitress forgot my order. No worries, my wife ate half of her sandwich and I got the rest. The owner felt so bad that he only charged us for drinks (wife and I), and then "slammed" us all with free deserts. Let me tell you, wonderful service, extremely good deserts.

Monday I woke up at 4am with my wife, brother & sister-in-law. We headed out to the Oregon Inlet to try for some Sunrise shots. None of us had been before so we didn't know where to start. Fortunately we had had bug spray and I had pants. The mosquitoes were horrible. We then came home and took a nap. (I'll post some of these later)My wife's grandmother was leaving the next morning so we all spent the day with her.
Tuesday made the mistake of leaving for Ocracoke at 9am. We arrived sometime around 3pm after waiting for the ferry. Unfortunately all 12 of us were traveling as a group and I never got a chance to explore the island We didn't even stay 2 hours.
On they way back some of us stopped at a beach on the north side of Hatteras island.

Wednesday was better. I slept in, couldn't get up to save my life and was a little burned. The wife and I went out in the afternoon, visited the Bodie Lighthouse and got the family together for beach side portraits.
My wife took the following photo while holding onto my D70 / Tokina 50-135. I'm so proud of her

My wife and her siblings

Christmas card

Thursday was the best day in OBX. We went to Curituck lighthouse, Wright Bros. Memorial, and Jockey's Ridge for some kite flying.

I'm the dummy in the glider


I forgot, sunrise photos from the beach on Hatteras Island
Teaser I'll post more when I get home and work the photos in CS4

Tonight we are going to Corolla to check out the wild horses, have a family dinner and then head out in the morning.
Thanks to all those who informed me of good locations to check out. The OBX islands are beautiful and hopefully I can make it back to Ocracoke someday. I'll post a few more after I get home and properly work on the photos. Bibble on a 14" gateway is horrible. I miss my quad-core with 8GB ram and 24" screen.