The Fallen

Though I may not have been accustomed to autumn most of my life, it has now become my favorite time of year. Changing leaves mean it's time to break out the sweaters, buy the hot cocoa, and start counting down to the holidays and family gatherings. To my great dismay, the leaves here have not been pretty. I have seen a few trees here and there that have lost their leaves, yet I don't remember their leaves ever being orange or red or even yellow. According to this map from weather.com, we were at peak as of October 28th. I don't understand. I've heard that the leaves this year may not be as pretty as normal because of the dry spurt that we had. I'm no expert, but it seems as if that 2-week period of non-stop rain should have made up for it.

Luckily, I went to Massachusetts 2 weeks ago. It was the most beautiful fall that I have ever seen. You know, in my whoppin' 3 straight falls. The area had to have been right at peak because it seemed as if every tree had color. One day when Hollis and I were driving to the mall (drinking our pumpkin spice lattes), I made her pull off so I could take pictures of these two trees:





A few miles later we were detoured off the main street to a long and winding road through the woods. We were thankful that the car in front of us seemed to know where they were going. Driving through the woods was beautiful:



This weekend I am going to Great Fall Park on the Potomac here in Northern Virginia. I'm crossing my fingers that the trees get their act together between now and then.