Iinaytanii is right (and so are you). The mountains are nice, and North Carolina isn't the worst, but Virginia is much better.

I'm from Richmond (hence my being in this sub), and it's my preferred mid-sized city.

Raleigh/Durham is a vast suburban hellscape that will seemingly never stop growing. The people here are largely transplants because of the biotech industry. This causes it to feel very southern-in-name-only to me.