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1. South Carolina (My homestate, made me who I am today)
2. North Carolina (My current state)
3. Tennessee (Make an annual trip there every year to the mountains.)
4. Florida (Love Orlando area)
5. Georgia
My Favorites:
1. North Carolina
2. South Carolina
3. Texas
4. Tennessee
5. Florida
6. West Virginia
7. Virginia
8. Georgia
9. Oklahoma
10. Alabama
Underline means I've been or lived there.
Neutral:
1. Louisiana
2. Arkansas
3. Kentucky
Negative Opinion:
1. Mississippi (It has teetered and tottered between neutral, and negative in my mind for awhile, and most likely will continue too until I visit it).
Least favorites:
1) Louisiana
2) Mississippi
3) Arkansas
4) Kentucky
5) Oklahoma (doesn't even count as southern..)
Fortunate enough to say I have been to every single one of the states in the poll above. However, with the exception of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and to a lesser degree North Carolina and Virginia, I haven't explored the vast majority of the above states enough to truly judge their beauty or lack thereof.
Charleston and New Orleans are alright but definitely not a fan of the rest of the surrounding areas, too much like Alabama (SC) or Mississippi/Arkansas (LA)
Can't say I like the rest of it.
I tried to warm up to Texas and I should probably like some of it on paper, but was just never feeling it there.
I really like the ocean, so Southern States that are on the coast (Atlantic or Gulf) have a big advantage for me.
Favorites:
Georgia: retains a lot of southern charm, has the beautiful city of Savannah and the economic capital of the southeast in Atlanta. There are even some small mountains in the northern part of the state. Good universities like Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Emory.
North Carolina: very diverse geography with the outer banks on the coast, the large cities of Charlotte and Raleigh in the piedmont, and the mountains on the western side of the state. Probably the best collection of schools in the south with Duke, UNC, Wake Forest and NC State.
Florida: Not much southern charm, but miles and miles of beautiful beaches on both the Gulf and the Atlantic. Miami, Tampa/St. Pete, and the Keys are all very interesting destinations.
Louisiana: unique culture and food distinguish Louisiana from anywhere else and New Orleans is one of my favorite cities to visit.
Honorable Mentions
The four above are probably my favorites, but I like most of the Southern States and think they all have something to recommend them. In particular I also like parts of South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. South Carolina offers some beautiful beaches and Charleston is a wonderful place to visit. Tennessee has some great mountains and Nashville which I think is one of the best cities in the South, my biggest knock on Tenn is the lake of ocean access. Virginia offers great geographic diversity, lots of history, excellent universities, and in Northern Virginia there is easy access to our nation's capital.
Being a native of NC, I'm going to have to go with NC as my top favorite with the four states bordering NC as my other favs.
1. North Carolina- My home state that I love dearly, amazing mountains and great cities to live in and visit, good amount of history and beautiful countryside, great beaches (OBX) compared to the rest of the southern states.
2. Virginia- Besides NC, this is the one southern state I have traveled around the most. Main reason I love it is for the history, but the mountains and Charlottesville area are also nice.
3. Georgia- I've always enjoyed the Atlanta area, to me it seems like the cultural capital of the south. Athens, Georgia is another nice place. Overall, Georgia is pretty similar to NC (Charlotte seems like Atlanta's little sister)
4. Tennessee- Besides Dollywood which sticks out like a sore thumb, the TN mountains are amazing. I love going to Cades Cove and the Smokies on the TN side. Never been as far west as Memphis, but Nashville is very interesting.
5. South Carolina- Historic in the very southern/antebellum type of way. Charleston is a great city and is always worth the visit.
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