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Valentine's Day morning in North Carolina was the polar opposite of the previous day, which saw dark-and-stormy set waves scraping the bottom of Avalon Pier, pictured here. The combination of hard offshore winds and the rapidly exiting low translated to small -- but perfectly groomed -- surf. So life goes on the East Coast. Photo: Shaun Devine.
North Carolina’s a gem. For one, it has the Outer Banks. Do we need a second reason? Not really, but here’s another: Blackbeard the Pirate called it home. That means that somewhere beneath those perfect, barreling hurricane waves, there’s buried pirate treasure. There. Two reasons why it’s a gem. And there are 15 more reasons above.