I love exploring. I love meeting people from all over the world. And I love hearing their stories, figuring out what’s “normal” for their neck of the woods, and trying to soak up the local feelings as much as possible.
So, for today, a quickie about 10 things I’ve learned about North Carolina on our week spent in Oak Island.
1. There is a supermarket chain called Food Lion but if you are from the area and are telling a Midwesterner, it will sound like Food Line. And this might be confusing to then find a Food Line. Because accents.
2. Every town on the east coast side seems to have an aquarium. And not like a little “look at these brown fish in brown water” aquarium. Like legit-real-animals-aquarium. And not every town… But close.
3. If you order tea, it will be sweet. If you order unsweetened tea, this could cause confusion. Just go with the sweet.
4. There is a drink called Cheerwine. It is not wine.
5. If you order barbecue, it will be delicious. And on the coast, it will also be vinegar-based sauce. And it. Is. Delicious.
6. To accompany McDonalds and Burger King, North Carolina seems flush with both Hardee’s and Bojangles. And Bojangles has boberry breakfast biscuits. These are amazingness in yo mouth.
7. There are 7.4 million pancake houses per capita. And I really don’t know if they even serve pancakes.
8. You cannot purchase hard alcohol in grocery stores. You also cannot find a liquor store unless you know to look for the ABC sign apparently. I don’t know if this is true everywhere [in NC] or just on the coast but it is like an adventure to attempt to get your drink on here.
9. Pimiento cheese. It can go on anything. A BLT. A cracker. A pancake. A shoe. It’s always good. No matter what it’s on.
10. The people are just as kind as Midwesterners. And they mostly have quite the southern accent. Which makes them even more charming right off the bat.
11. Something has been filmed wherever you are. And it’s either a teen favorite OR a Nicholas Sparks film. So in one week alone, I’ve been in Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, The Notebook, and Safe Haven… To name a few.
12. To-go cups. They almost always offer one if you’ve ordered a drink at a restaurant.
So, while most of my references are food, isn’t that one of the main differences regionally anyway?
If you’ve been to North Carolina, or live in the great state, what else would you add {and we’re just gonna leave that bathroom situation out of this convo, mmmm k?}?
