I know this is going back to posts way way back, but as a Raleigh, North Carolina native, I feel like it's absolutely ridiculous to say that a major part of North Carolina is that it has the mountains and the sea. First of all, to go from the mountains to the sea is almost a 6 hour drive (from Wilmington to Asheville), that requires you to go through South Carolina. Second of all, it's 2.5 hours to the closest beach from Raleigh and 3 hours to the closest "mountains." The Appalachians are some of the shortest mountains in the world due to how ancient the mountain range is. So yes, it's a great state for having both the mountains and the sea, but if you're a local, you rarely get to see both.
The closest beach to Greensboro (where I live now) is about 3.5 hours away. Upsetting that making a day trip is kind of not worth it.