Leaf Peepers

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine

My husband, Roger, and I enjoy seeing natures’ beauty whenever we can. We decided to see the fall foliage in the six New England states where I heard it is magnificent.

During the first week of October a few years ago, we traveled to New York and the six New England states during one fall foliage season. People who invade these states at that time are called “leaf peepers” by the locals.

The hardwood trees in northernmost Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont start to change in early to mid-September. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island begin to change soon afterward. The peak leaf peeper season usually happens during the first two weeks of October. Our timing of this adventure was perfect. The millions of beautiful red, orange, gold, yellow, and purple leaves among the evergreen trees didn’t disappoint us.

We previously traveled to Vermont and New Hampshire together, but this time we wanted to visit these states on the same trip. What better time than during the lush fall foliage season?

We left Michigan taking the bridge into Canada and spent the night in Ontario near Thousand Islands. We had a full breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the St Lawrence River. Refreshed, we continued to our scheduled stop in Vermont where Roger has family members. We took pictures of the colorful hillsides, rustic barns, crossed one of the few remaining old-fashioned covered wood bridges, and picked fruit at an apple orchard. His sister baked a scrumptious pie for us using the fresh raspberries we picked at a raspberry farm. We also ate decadent maple syrup ice cream at Roger’s favorite Vermont ice cream stand.

Our four star-filled nights in Vermont were followed by a short stay in New Hampshire where Roger has family. We played on a beautiful leaf-covered golf course and lost a number of golf balls under piles of colorful leaves. We made several stops to take pictures of the awesome pallet of natures’ colors. After eating dinner with his family and spending the night, we headed for Maine. 

After a long drive over winding roads, past colorful hillsides, we parked at a tourist spot south of Kennebunkport, Maine. Before shopping for souvenirs, we decided to walk on the beautiful sandy beach right into the Atlantic Ocean and I immediately jumped back out. The waters off the shores of Maine were way too cold for me to take a real dip in the waters. At least I could say I got in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. Our souvenir shopping included t-shirts and postcards for our grandchildren and a magnet of the state of Maine for ourselves.

Following a lunch of fresh seafood, we drove through Massachusetts enjoying the lovely foliage on our way to Providence, Rhode Island for an overnight stay. From there we stopped in Connecticut for lunch. After driving around New London, we headed up through Hartford, Connecticut to Springfield, Massachusetts where we turned west onto I-90 which took us through Albany, New York on our way to Niagara Falls just north of Buffalo. We saw Niagara Falls from both the American and Canadian sides. Colorful lighting enhanced the American view of the awesome cascading waters. We stayed one night in Niagara Falls before heading back home by way of Canada.

Once we left Vermont, we covered the remaining New England states and New York in four days. New England is not an expansive area. This trip helped us fill our magnetic map of the United States.

How many states have you visited?