North Carolina is a state that has something for everyone. In the world of tourist attractions, North Carolina remains a modestly outstanding place of beauty, history, and modern luxury. Here in the middle of the East Coast, the traveling couple will find mountains, beaches, flatlands, and major urban areas, all filled with romantic things to do.

If the beach is your thing, Carolina Beach is a "secret" destination on the East Coast. Carolina Beach is a relatively small town with a laid back feel. While tourism is up in the summers, it is still unlike the wild "Spring Break" beach towns filled with noise and drunken revelry. The main drag, known simply as the "Boardwalk", is full of shopping, novelty attractions like haunted train rides and pirate's lounges, and some of the world's best seafood in quaint, unpretentious restaurants. Here you can take in a delicious seafood meal ...

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Radiant symbol of a bygone era, when fossil fuel seemed happily inexhaustible, Winston-Salem's shell shaped service station is the last of its kind.

Eight were originally built in the late 1930s by the Quality Oil Company, a Winston-based marketer of Shell Oil. The station, modeled on the brand logo of Royal Dutch-Shell Oil, was constructed of concrete stucco over a bent wood and wire framework.

The clamshell stations serviced gas guzzlers for decades, but were gradually pumped into oblivion by the twin engines of Development and Progress.

The Shell station is a worthy photo detour, just a little north of Interstate 40.The station on Sprague Street survived through the 1970s and '80s as a lawn mower repair place. It slid into disrepair towards the end of the 20th century. A state historic society, Preservation North Carolina, stepped in and restored the faded highway icon in the late 1990s ...

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