Yes, there are walls, floors, and other clues that say you're inside a building. But there are signs to the contrary too. Birds. Bugs. Big whales. The museum staff wants you to be overwhelmed by the fabulous diversity found in North Carolina's great outdoors. As the largest natural history museum in the Southeast, this one gives you four floors filled with dioramas simulating North Carolina from the mountains to the ocean.

"North Carolina's Natural Treasures" is a small gallery near the first-floor entrance. Here you meet plants found only in North Carolina as well as salamanders--the state is home to 58 species.

Stroll along a Carolina salt marsh and shoreline, then walk under a 65-foot skeleton of a blue whale. Watch the 17-minute movie Wilderness North Carolina in the auditorium. Make time for the gift shop too.

The second floor takes you to the heart of the museum, an elaborate two-story diorama representing Carolina from mountains to sea. A 20-foot waterfall tumbles into a trout-filled pool lined with trees and rocks and populated by turtles.