I wanted to see a couple of national parks on the Outer Banks of this state. I had been to the the Wright Brothers site at Kitty Hawk before but that was before I started photographing the national park entrance signs. And nearby was the Fort Raleigh national historical site with its adjacent Elizabethan Gardens. Got to see both a bit after sunrise and before anyone else arrived. The Gardens were actually locked but the wrought iron gate allowed me to peek into the garden area.

On the other side of the state I planned to photograph the park signs of Smoky Mountain National Park, a park I went to as a kid while growing up in Tennessee. However, North Carolina closed the highway through the park so I was unable to continue to Gatlinburg to photograph the sign on the Tennessee side. And, I was forced to backtrack an hour to get to Knoxville. It was foggy driving in the higher elevations.