Leaf Peeping

Traveling in autumn always carries a little extra thrill for me: will there be leaf peeping? You know, the shameless activity of gawking at pretty orange, red, & yellow-colored leaves, hanging by a thread to the branch, ready to float down to the ground for their winter slumber.

Some of the best leaf peeping we’ve ever seen was during an October 2009 trip to Seattle. The city was bursting with orange & red leaves, seemingly around every corner. We spied golden orange trees, buildings with red walls of leaves & pops of color mixed in with still green trees.

Another favorite location for fall leaf peeping is New York City. A stroll through Central Park in October 2011 revealed a concrete jungle mixed with bright autumnal color. We were probably a week shy of peak color, but that didn’t matter.

Like planning your travels to DC around the cherry blossoms in the spring, it is notoriously hard to plan travel around the fall leaves (unless you’re headed to a reliably leaf-y place like New England). I think this is why seeing a little fall color on an October trip feels just a little more special.