[Cerek]

Originally posted by Elif Godson: Anyone hring in NC ?

Probably not much that would interest people here in the mountains. We are very rural and the nearest "big cities" are all 2 hours away (Atlanta, Chattanooga & Knoxville TN, and Asheville NC).

Of course, there are larger cities. Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh and Durham (Research Triangle - lots of "tech" jobs there), Fayeteville and Wilmington come to mind off the top of my head.

Asheville isn't really very large - but it's the biggest city in the western end of the state (where I live). Charlotte, Winston-Salem and Greensbore are in the Piedmont area (middle of the state). Raleigh, Durham and Fayeteville are towards the east and Wilmington is on the coast.

The funny thing about NC is that the Piedmont area often gets the worst weather. Our winter here in the mountains was relatively mild last year (lows in the 20's; highs in the 30's and 40's). I run the Purchasing Dept of my hospital and have to unload all of our trucks by hand - but I only wore a coat to work about 6 times last year. The rest of the time I just wore a sweatshirt with a regular T-shirt underneath. Meanwhile, my friends that live in Charlotte and surrounding areas got BLASTED with two major ice storms and some of them were without power for almost a week.

You HAVE to like a slower pace of life to live in the mountains. Many people come here and are horrified to learn the nearest mall is over 100 miles away. Wal-Mart is our biggest store in town, but the internet does help bring the world closer (through forums like this and for buying stuff not available around here).

The upside is that our crime rate is relatively low. We do have our share of drug dealers and the like and there have even been a couple of "gangland style" murders that the police believe are the result of disputes between drug dealers and some of the people selling for them. But there are still plenty of people who leave their doors unlocked at night and even more who leave their cars unlocked when they go into the stores.

The weather is fairly nice all year round (though I would personally like to see more snow) and the people are some of the friendliest you will ever meet.

Just depends on what you're looking for.