North Carolina mid-October
 

We'll be traveling for about 10 days in NC after VA. We've been to Asheville, Durham and Henderson and want to see different parts of the state. Was thinking of 4 days in Winston-Salem area and a week around New Bern. We like to hike 5-8 miles is no problem) and visit cultural places. Because we live in AK, I thought spending some time on the east coast would be nice as we're heading into winter. Suggestions, please, on hiking and site-seeing options, either the ones we've chosen or suggest others.

Winston Salem is a worthy place with lots of history in Old Salem and the Southern Decorative Arts Museum. Be sure to get some Moravian sugar cake, bread and cookies from the Winkler Bakery.
Nearby is Seagrove where there are at least 60 potteries of all styles that are simply wonderful to see. There is NC BBQ in the area which you will not want to miss partaking of!! Lexington (near WS) is considered the king.
A day trip to Charlotte would give you a chance to see several world class museums--the Bechtler for a wonderful collection of modern art, the Mint Uptown (not sure what their exhibit will be then_. And the additional Mint Museum in our Eastover neighborhood has exhibits of ceramics/pottery among other things..
In New Bern there is hiking in the Croatan National Forest which a friend says was really lovely.

Agree with Gretchen. Also, while I'm not a beach person a lot of people come to NC for the beaches and October (assuming no hurricanes) would be a good time to go. I usually go to Wrightsville since it's an easy drive from the the Triangle area, and you could spend a couple of days in Wilmington as well, but other people love the Outer Banks. Beaufort is also popular.

I wrote a post about my sister's visit to the Triangle, which includes Winston -Salem - https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...n-my-own-town/ There's also a Tiger reserve in the area - https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/tiger/

I would say that going to the beach might be more "fun" than New Bern. Wilmington/Wrightsville has a nice historic district.
I also was going to say that after WS "how about Charleston" SC?

I spent two years in NC during college. I went to the Outer Banks about a year ago and enjoyed it.

Thanks! I think I'll cancel our reservations in New Bern and head further east. Appreciate your comments.