Yes, I know how to search for travel ideas on a destination or attraction Web site, but a tweet or a Facebook Wall recommendation is a much more engaging and public way to spread the word.

Please don’t email suggestions to me; that’s nice but it is one-to-one communication. Tweet me and/or Facebook me, so that all of our networks can see what’s cool about your state.

We’re going in alphabetical order but started with the end, so our first state for the series was Wyoming, then we investigated Wisconsin,  West Virginia,  Washington,  Virginia,  Vermont,  Utah, Texas,  Tennessee,  South Dakota,  South Carolina,  Rhode Island,  Pennsylvania,  Oregon, Oklahoma,  Ohio, North Dakota and now we’re moving on to….North Carolina!

Their state tourism organization is on Twitter at @VisitNC, plus there’s a Visit North Carolina blog, a North Carolina Flickr Group for photo-sharing, a Visit North Carolina YouTube channel and here’s the NC Tourism Facebook page.

When I asked for ideas, here’s what came in….

Twitter Travel Tips for North Carolina

***  From the Wilkes County tourism office via @WilkesNCtourism on Twitter  –  [Wilkes] Heritage Museum is a great activity for families. Also 45+ miles of mountain biking trails, 8 sites on NC Birding Trail. Whippoorwill Village – collection of restored log cabins, 1-room schoolhouse, Chapel of Peace (here’s a TwitPic photo: http://twitpic.com/2e0yj)

***  From Barbra Rodichok via @NOCBarbra on Twitter  –  Don’t forget whitewater rafting as part of your visit to the coolest mountain town, Asheville NC!  [More from the Nantahala Outdoor Center - http://www.noc.com/index.php/french-broad.html]

***  From Shannon Lane via @Cajun_Mama on Twitter  –  My family loved gem searching in Cherokee. Found a 3 karat emerald!

***  From Maria Reed via @Maria_Reed on Twitter  –  Great family beach vacations in the Outer Banks! Jockey’s Ridge and Nag’s Head Fishing Pier.

***  From Sheila Beal [an NC native] via @GoVisitHawaii on Twitter  –  Family-friendly NC events? North Carolina State Fair is held in Raleigh each October for 10 days. Great family fun!

Facebook Travel Tips for North Carolina

***  From Irma Briggs Polster on Facebook —  My parents live in Winston-Salem. Old Salem is an interesting historic site as well as Historic Bethabara. We had a great time a few summers ago at Lake Lure – lots to do in that area that is family-friendly, but it’s a little pricey and touristy.

We have been on several rafting and canoing trips with Edge of the World Outfitters in Banner Elk. Great family-owned business and they run good, safe trips. Tweetsie Railroad was fun when the kids were little.

***  From Jennifer Douma Close on Facebook  –  Whiteside Mountain was our favorite family friendly hike – about a 2 mile hike that is perfect for even the little ones – I wrote about it here.  We loved exploring the Biltmore grounds with the kids.

Thanks so much for the contributions!

I have a Family Travel post on taking a Blue Ridge Parkway road trip, which I wrote while researching a NASCAR story in the state and also visiting some kid-friendly places around Charlotte NC.

The BootsnAll Travel Network has these stories tagged North Carolina.

The next state in the series is New York.

Send your New York highlights (with a chunk of them outside the ever-fab-but-already-well-known-New York City, please!) to @SheilaS on Twitter or write them on my Facebook Wall (please tell me you’re a 50 state-er if you want to friend me.)

My purpose for this series is not only to highlight worthy kid-friendly vacation destinations in all 50 states, but by using Twitter and Facebook I want to also encourage tourism organizations to learn more about connecting with their visitors using social media and online networks.

Please add your own North Carolina suggestions in the comments below, if we’ve missed anything. Thanks!

Everyone has different criteria for an awesome beach. My perfect seashore has warm water, protected/calmer areas for babies and toddlers, enough wave action to keep experienced swimmers busy on a boogie board, family-friendly entertainment and decent food nearby.

I don’t mind a little commercial development if it’s not too grotesque, and it would be nice if there were safe, fun places (like a boardwalk) for a preteen or teen to hang out when not on the sand.

Here is where I would take my children if I was feeling beachy:

*** Florida’s Gulf Coast –  Once you’ve been spoiled by Florida beaches, it’s hard to put up with grungy sand or chilly water elsewhere.  The Atlantic coast of the Sunshine State has pretty good choices in Daytona, Cocoa Beach and Jacksonville/St. Augustine, but my vote goes to the Gulf Coast because the water’s warmer, the sand is usually nicer and the wave action is gentler for younger kids.

Try Clearwater/St. Pete for lively urban beaches, nearby Caladesi Island State Park for isolated beauty, or Siesta Key near Sarasota, an all-around winner.  (Alternative:  The northwest Florida Panhandle for even better sand and clear, warm water but sometimes a bit too much tacky commercialization.)

*** San Diego –  Southern California is known for its surfside culture, and it’s a well-deserved reputation.  My only gripe is that the water is too dang cold for me and the wave action can be frightening for younger swimmers.  Still, Coronado Island near sunshine-filled San Diego has some of my favorite, most pristine and kid-friendly beaches.  (Alternative:  Santa Monica, near Los Angeles;  it is tough to beat that famous pier.)

*** Maine –  I’m almost ready to forgive the cold water simply because of the charm and natural beauty of Maine islands and coastal villages.  Make no mistake, the beaches are generally pebbly and rocky (the southern coast does have sand) and your best bet to avoid freezing may be to dabble around looking for critters in tidepools, but there’s no doubt that it’s a perfect world when you spend crisp summer days Down East.

Make your kids try a lobster roll, and then eat theirs if they’re so foolish as to dislike it! (Alternative:   Misquamicut Beach in that small state with a big heart, Rhode Island.)

*** North Carolina’s Outer Banks –  Miles of barrier island coastline, some very remote and beautiful (Cape Hatteras National Seashore, with the famous swirly black-and-white lighthouse) and others teeming with cheesy beachside overbuilding (translation – plenty of miniature golf places for kids) means that you can probably find just the right affordable spot for your beach towel on the Outer Banks.

Kids adore the creations from Kitty Hawk Kites, too; buy, then step out the door and fly ‘em. Don’t miss the founding-of-America history at the Lost Colony, and the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills.  (Alternative:  Go north to Virginia Beach, Virginia, which is OK but a little grubby and somewhat too raucous for younger ones.)

*** Hawaii –  Too many people only consider travel to Oahu and Waikiki, but there is an island and a beach (or two!) to suit every family.  Cast a wide net in your Hawaiian vacation planning.

Hanauma Bay on Oahu is noted for snorkeling opportunities, and Kailua Beach Park is nice as well. The Oahu North Shore is dramatic, but waves can be dangerous in winter. Kauai is particularly lush and tropical (try Hanalei Beach, Poipu Beach Park or Kekaha Beach Park.) The Kona Coast on aptly-named Big Island is full of kid-friendly resorts. (Alternative:  There IS no better alternative! The islands have plenty of variety to suit every age and disposition.)

That’s my beach roundup; hope you found it helpful.

I’m not as familiar with the Great Lakes but don’t want to leave my Midwest readers out, so if you have suggestions for beaches there or anywhere else in the US, please tell us in the comments below.

I’m home from the North Carolina research trip for Automotive Traveler magazine, but have had a deadline looming for an article on the Old Coupland Inn and Dancehall honky-tonk for Texas Highways magazine, so blogging’s been pretty light.

Finally, here we go….

As always when setting out on a road trip, get a good map. If you are a member of the American Automobile Association (AAA,) remember that you can swing by your local office and get a stack of no-cost U.S. maps and guidebooks.

For North Carolina, I also contacted the friendly folks at the NC tourist Web site and they sent a travel planning packet right to me.

Just Google “XYZ tourist Web site” when planning a trip, and you’ll usually get an official government-sponsored Web site instead of someone trying to sell you a tour or real estate.

I made a loop that started and ended in Charlotte, since I was in that city for NASCAR-related activities (and thanks to the current Carnival of Cities for featuring the related post!)

Enroute the Parkway from Charlotte, I stopped at author/poet Carl Sandburg’s house in Flat Rock NC, discussed in a bit more detail in my NC family fun post.

A map of my basic Parkway route is here. Make sure you gas up your car ahead of time, since there are no stations directly on the Parkway. Not that I didn’t follow this advice myself….:(

At just about the southern base of the Parkway, I spent the night in Balsam NC at the venerable 1905 Balsam Mountain Inn. If I’d had kids along, I probably would have made time for a trip on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad and a family-style Southern meal at the Jarrett House Inn in nearby Dillsboro.

The next day, I was up and at ‘em after breakfast, heading north. The Parkway has a 45 mph speed limit, which is terrible if you’re in a hurry and divine if you just want to see what the heck you’re driving through. I stopped at the Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art Center near Asheville; what a wonderful place. There are carefully-screened North Carolina craftspeople demonstrating all sorts of things (it was a broom-maker and woodworker the day I was there) plus stunning crafts to buy. I’m not sure how I escaped with my wallet intact.

The Blue Ridge mountain vistas on the Parkway were stunning, and fortunately there are plenty of designated overlooks to take it all in. Try to pack a lunch before you leave your hotel in the morning — really pretty picnic spots include Craggy Gardens and Crabtree Meadows, but there is also food available at Mount Mitchell, Crabtree Meadows and Grandfather Mountain (just off of the Parkway.)

In the early afternoon, I found myself low on gas, needing a bathroom, needing food, and needing an ATM and contact lens solution, in roughly that order, so I managed to stumble upon a Wal-Mart off of the Parkway in the town of Spruce Pine. For heaven’s sake, get it together better than I did!

I would much rather have had a leisurely lunch in pretty Little Switzerland.

With kids, I would also recommend stops at Linville Falls and/or Grandfather Mountain. The falls are very pretty but you need to hike a ways to get to them, and Grandfather Mountain is privately-run so there’s a nominal entrance fee.

I think kids would enjoy seeing the small mountain creatures zoo at Grandfather, plus a walk on the Mile-High suspension bridge (those with vertigo need not apply.)

My Parkway journey ended near the town of Boone, in the tiny village of Valle Crucis, where I stayed at the lovely Mast Farm Inn.

A highlight of Valle Crucis is the sprawling old-timey Mast General Store, which is sort of like LL Bean in Freeport, Maine, but with tons more character. They even have little “gift packs” of RC Cola/Moon Pie or Coke/Lance Peanuts, “for the Yankee visitors” said the guy at the cash register.

Boone is home to Appalachian State University, so there are lots of inexpensive lodging/dining options for families. This is a big ski area in the winter, if you are into that. There’s also the family-friendly Tweetsie Railroad Wild West amusement park, especially for younger children.

This route took me a full day, and that was hustling without much time for stops. I’d certainly recommend at least two days if you aren’t a frenetic travel writer! It’s a beautiful drive and you don’t want to rush it.

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, North Carolina, Blue Ridge Parkway, road trip

Obviously there are plenty of NASCAR-related activities in the Charlotte NC area, but I’d like to mention a couple of other worthy attractions.

You don’t have to be a big outdoorsy jock to enjoy the US National Whitewater Center, just outside of town. It’s the largest and only man-made recirculating whitewater venue of its kind in the world; 12 million gallons of water flow through it.

They offer guided rides in everything from two hours of flat river paddling (all ages, on the Catawba River) to rock climbing (age 4+) to whitewater rafting (ages 12+) to mountain biking on 11 miles of trails (no age specified, “technically challenging.”) You can rent everything you need right there, or bring your own gear.

The US Canoe and Kayak teams train here — pretty cool. It’s an amazing facility.

This past Sunday, I walked through part of Charlotte’s pretty downtown (did you know that it’s the #2 banking center in the US behind New York? I didn’t know that, either.) The very well-executed Levine Museum of the New South does a terrific job of detailing the rise of this area “from cotton fields to skyscrapers” using interactive exhibits and voice and music recordings. See the inside of a sharecropper shack, some original cotton mill equipment (this is the home of Cannon towels, among other mills) and a section of an old Belk’s Department Store.

At the start of my 3-day road trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway this past week, I stopped at the former home of noted author and poet Carl Sandburg, in Flat Rock NC.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for both his multi-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln and his poetry (“the fog came on little cat feet”) and his home is preserved by the National Park Service to look exactly as it did when he and his wife Lillian lived there, down to the period magazines, furniture and calendars on the wall. Lillian also raised championship goats on the property; kids love playing with their descendants, who are still there.

The Parkway deserves its own post, so I’ll do that early next week, although I did discuss a couple of neat mountain train rides over on Kid Trippin’, my family travel blog on Disney’s Family.com.

Tomorrow, it’s the Coca-Cola 600 race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway! The NASCAR site has all the details.

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Charlotte, North Carolina

For transportation, I’m zooming around in a Dodge Avenger, which is sort of a moderately souped-up sedan that just came out from Chrysler this year. The tie-in with NASCAR is the role that the Avenger is playing as the new Car of Tomorrow (COT) for many of the Dodge racing teams.

I may have interviews lined up with two of the more famous Dodge Avenger drivers — details to follow!

My itinerary is pretty jam-packed with both NASCAR events and investigating attractions that have nothing to do with stock car racing.

Last night I enjoyed dinner at the family-friendly Cabo Fish Taco restaurant, followed by a stroll through some art galleries during the twice-monthly Gallery Crawl in the hip NoDa arts district in Charlotte. NoDa is the “North Davidson Street” area of the city; it’s a National Register Historic District and former textile manufacturing hub (one of the mills has been converted to swank lofts and apartments.)

The galleries were fun and something that older kids would enjoy; I liked the caffeinated paintings by artist Tony Java! but am trying to save my pennies for next week’s Southern Highland Craft Guild Folk Art Center in the NC mountains.

I was particularly interested in the Neighborhood Theatre, which bills itself as a “non-smoking all ages live music venue.” I could hear famous white-haired blues/rock guitarist Johnny Winter wailing away in there last night, so I stood on the sidewalk for a minute and enjoyed my own mini-concert.

Today I’ll attend the NASCAR All-Star event (a fun race for big bucks) then tomorrow I’ll check out the Levine Museum of the New South for a cultural twist.

Monday is the US National Whitewater Center (if there’s a family-friendly angle there, I’ll post about it) and a visit to Pit Crew U, where they train members of NASCAR pit crews to magically refuel a car, change all four tires and make other adjustments in just a few seconds.

Tuesday I head out for a three-day road trip in the western part of North Carolina, driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Friday through Sunday I’m back in Charlotte for racing activities and the big Coca-Cola 600 race on Sunday May 27th.

Whenever I can post, I’ll certainly try to get you some North Carolina family travel info “hot off the presses.”

Technorati tags: family travel, Charlotte, North Carolina, NASCAR