My cousin and her husband bought a nice place near the mountains near Murphy, NC that they like. we visited them, it seemed pretty decent place if you're OK with pretty rural areas. (My wife likes city life.)
Before I met her I had vague ideas about retirement, maybe 20 acres in north Georgia near the mountains with a lot of dogs. My other idea was to sell everything and get a small RV and see the country for a while. My wife is VERY VERY negative on anything related to RVs. It has to do with their image in France.
So, we stay at Hiltons instead.
I do like it here, fortunately, as we plan to be here a while depending on health etc. She worries what might happen if I go first but I have pretty well provided for her. She could sell this place and buy a 2 bdr in the same building if she wanted.
States that have mountains and beaches both are pretty nice I think. I like Virginia a lot (mostly). South Carolina might be underappreciated by a lot of folks. Greenville is a pretty nice small city I think.
I THINK that Triangle area in NC is where their growth is really taking off. It's in the piedmont region, hilly, gets hot, gets chilly.