it's fall in new england

It's that time of year again in Boston, where the nights are cold and people are putting lots of pumpkin and squash-looking vegetables on their porches for decoration.  The leaves aren't quite in full splendor, but there are a few early-turners showing beautiful colors.

A couple weekends ago, Joey and I went to Vermont to get a headstart on the season.  Around here, taking trips to little towns to see the leaves is fairly popular, and apparently is called "leaf-peeping."  I find that name to be truly odd, but the activity that it denotes is quite lovely.  We stayed at an adorable little bed and breakfast called Glimmerstone Mansion, which is a newly renovated old house, with a bar and restaurant on-site.  From there, we did a little hiking, covering a little part of the Appalachian Trail.  We did a route that's supposed to have spectacular views, but sadly for our viewing the weather was quite cloudy by the time we got to the top.  The hike itself was great fun, though.  Beyond that, we managed to drive through several lovely towns, saw a few covered bridges, poked around some small-town stores, farmers' markets and other fun stops, and all in all had a wonderful time.

Vermont Leaf-Peeping

Yesterday, to continue the fall experience, we went apple picking in one of the towns nearby as part of an outing put on by the company where Joey works.  It was a lovely cool-but-not-cold day, and the apples were very bountiful.  We again took advantage of being out of the city and in the midst of - well, orchards.  We came home with oodles of apples (which will hopefully last us much of the season), an apple pie, apple cider, fresh corn and other farmstand goodies.  For city-dwellers, we feel like we've done a decent job of getting out and seeing the season!

Apple Picking!