Beautiful flowers. Cherry Bounce drinks. And great information about a wildly diverse and surprising part of the United States that's popular with Canadians.
Officials from Visit North Carolina rolled into Toronto this week and staged a series of events, including one for the state's new, official canine (yes, really) travel agent and a Thursday night reception that featured lessons in flower arranging for a group of travel writers. They also served a drink called a Cherry Bounce with vodka, cherries, soda water, lime and cranberry juice that's pretty much the official state cocktail (or at least the beverage of choice in the capital, Raleigh).
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the women's suffragette movement in the U.S. and North Carolina is celebrating by focussing on prominent women in the state, including top chefs such as Ashley Christensen of Raleigh, named top chef in the entire U.S. at last year's James Beard Awards.
"We're also focussing on women farmers and producers, makers and artists," said Eleanor Talley, Public Relations Manager for Visit North Carolina.
On a totally unrelated note, Visit North Carolina also has appointed an official canine travel agent to (well, sort of) advise other pooches on possible places to visit in the state. It's a tongue in cheek campaign that serves to put a spotlight on the state's pet-friendly status and highlights a lovely dog named Mo, a bouncy mutt with long red-orange fur.
Talley told TravelPulse Canada that North Carolina attracts a lot of "snowbirds and road warriors, so if they can bring their pet it's a bonus."
Talley said Canadian visits to North Carolina reached nearly 500,000 in 2018, up 3.7% from the previous year.
"Canada is our number one international market, and the 2019 numbers look good, too," she said in a chat with TravelPulse Canada.
North Carolina is an amazingly diverse state, with towering mountains, beautiful beaches, cosmopolitan cities and a thriving, local music scene.
"Sometimes it's hard to define," Talley said. "I sometimes call us the California of the East Coast."
In addition to Talley, a half-dozen local tourism reps made the trek to the Great White North to talk up various parts of North Carolina. Here are some of the highlights we gleaned from conversations with all of them.
- Raleigh, the capital, now has three flights a day to Toronto via Air Canada and is a vital part of the socalled Research Triangle, with tons of dot.com businesses and tech firms. It's a compact city where you don't need a car, which is great for Canadian urbanites. They also have the most award-winning chefs of any city in the state, I was told.
- Brevard County is a beautiful-looking, mountainous region a couple hours west of Charlotte and a little south of Asheville. There are 250 waterfalls in the area, which is classified as a rainforest, as well as tiny "blue ghost" fireflies, amazing rock-climbing, fly-fishing and road and mountain biking.
- Charlotte, the biggest city in the state, is undergoing a number of major changes, including a renovation of its airport and convention centre. They're also adding new hotels, including a JW Marriott, an Intercontinental Hotel, a Moxy hotel and a Grand Bohemian hotel. Uptown Charlotte is a walkable area with great restaurants and bars.
- The Outer Banks continues to draw nature lovers who want to walk lonely, quiet beaches and explore small towns. Fishing, biking and kayaking/canoeing also are hugely popular. The Outer Banks are a chain of islands that are roughly 160 kilometers long and two km's wide. You'll also find shipwrecks you can explore, great surfing, local seafood and hanggliding spots. There's even a 1902 museum-quality Wright Brothers glider you can ride in.
- Durham has a thriving arts scene and is a progressive city with tons of great restaurants, including places specializing in seafood and Korean cuisine.
- Just a few minutes outside Raleigh, Johnston County is right off Interstate 95 and is the home of renowned actress Ava Gardner. There's an Ava Gardner museum in town, and it's also where the legendary star is buried. It's also home to the town of Bentonville, which was the site of the last major battle in the U.S. Civil War.
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