Awesome! Very nice, Mike. I love that corn snake and mole kingsnake. And as always, your photography is spectacular. Especially that copperhead shot. That oughta be in a field guide. I'm driving from the Smokies to Wilmington in late June. If you know of any places that you could point me to (by email of course), I would definitely love to hear them. Or if you know of anyone that I could contact, let me know. I'm hoping to have a great two week herping adventure. Once again, awesome pictures, and thanks for posting. Definitely worth the wait.

I saved a large amount of money on a recent trip, shopped in Hickory and High Point. If I had to choose one place it would be Hickory. We purchased from many spots, The Hickory Furniture Mart and Catawaba Furniture Mall were the 2 largest. If you go to the chamber of commerce you can get a map that shows all the places and "30 miles of furniture" You should have a plan of where you will go and exactly what you are going to buy - I did a lot of research before going and had the whole trip mapped out - we stayed 5 days. You can buy a good book - "The Furniture factory outlet guide" (I'm not affilated) The book tells you where to shop and which stores to stay away from, this was my 2nd trip to NC for furniture and my 2nd time buying the book. You may want to call some places ahead and get prices over the phone to compare your local prices - just to verify it is worth the trip to "you". I think it is worth going just to see all the different furniture - and not have to pick something out of a catalog and order sight unseen! I have also heard some people think they didn't save that much - mostly (imo) because they were looking at lower end (not bad..just not the really high end stuff) furniture.

I have been buying furniture from NC for over 12 years. Originally, the NC dealers would sell at the very lowest price--as much as 30-50% off retail stores. But then most manufactures instituted "minimum retail pricing." So in order to sell their lines, retailers were forbidden from selling below the minimum retail pricing. (I'm not a dealer--this is just what dealers told me). So for a while retail stores were competative with NC. However, I found that if you have established a relationship with a NC furniture dealer they will in fact sell lower than the minimum pricing--they just won't admit it. They won't quote those prices over the phone but they will in person. If you are buying a whole house, it is worth a trip. But set up an appointment in advance with a sales person. If you do they will set aside the entire day for you. At a large store, you will need it. I have used Carolina Interiors in Kannapolis, NC over 4 times. They sell the high end lines like Baker at a significant discount. I bought a Babara Berry bed from them for 40% off. They also ship carefully. I sent friends there who did make the trip to buy about $30,000 worth of furniture. They estimated they saved 30-40%, even with shipping. I do not recommend Furniture Land South. They are big and sell mostly middle priced brands but everything I ordered from them arrived damaged and they did nothing. I later learned that they don't unwrap and blanket wrap their shipments--they simply ship them in the container. So if you have a problem, they blame the manufacturer. If you are looking for items like Baker, I would recommend setting up an appointment at one of the following: Carolina Interiors 115 Oak Ave. Kannapolis, NC 704-933-2261 Boyles Furniture 5700 Riverdale Jamestown, NC 910-812-2200 Rose Furniture 916 Finch Ave High Point, NC 910-886-6050 Hope this is helpful! Cruzangirl

Grass Root Gardens near lake Junaluska (west of Asheville): 1368 Dellwood Rd, Waynesville, NC 28786 The owners are friendly - we drove up from Atlanta to get a few Gold Rush Dawn Redwoods (...we went by Mr. Maple as well on the same trip). There was also another nursery in the area that has more hostas - but I can't recall the name.