It's the season for leisurely Saturday afternoon drives under canopies of reds and golds, the windows down and the air damp with wood smoke and maple; the season for wandering through orchards, filling paper sacks with juicy apples, some to eat, some to turn into bubbling pies and creamy apple butter; it's the season for hauling home bright orange pumpkins to carve into funny, scary, or lopsided jack-o-lanterns. Oh my.
Fall is rich with ways to enjoy the natural world before it's time to hibernate for the winter. If you're looking for an orchard or scenic drive to experience this autumn, here are some national and regional directories to check out.
Please feel free to include any places or drives you know of and love in the comments as well!
Apple Orchards
• Orange Pippin is a comprehensive directory of apple orchards across the U.S.
• Travel and Leisure featured "America's Best Apple Picking Farms" in 2009; see if your favorite is listed!
• Apple Journal's The Orchard Trail is a global listing of family-run orchards.
Pumpkin Patches
• The Pumpkin Directory features a clickable map to find pumpkin patches in your area.
• Pumpkin Patches and More is a very comprehensive (if a little convoluted) site listing pumpkin patches by state.
Scenic Fall Drives
• USA Today featured "Seven Sensational Scenic Drives for Autumn", all of which look stunning.
• Byways.org is a great resource for scenic byways all throughout the U.S., and also features a clickable map to help narrow your search.
• For those in the Northeast, check out Independent Traveler's article, "Scenic Autumn Drives in the Northeast".
• If you live in the Midwest, Midwest Living featured "28 Great Midwest Spots to See Fall Color".
• For those in California, Chiff.com lists notable spots to experience fall foliage throughout the state.
• About.com's Travel Guide features drives in the Mid-Atlantic region to see fall colors.
• The Foliage Network is an entire site dedicated to fall foliage reports throughout the U.S., so you can check to see when leaves in your area will be showing their burnished beauty.
(Images: 1. Flickr user Muffet licensed for use under Creative Commons, 2. Lyman Orchards, 3. Kuipers Family Farm Blog)
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Any place in Vermont is gorgeous in the Autumn!
When planning a leaf peeping trip, plan by elevation because the trees turn color at the higher elevations first. Check the online foliage reports. Think Green Mountains vs Champlain Valley. If you travel along the Connecticut River, then New Hampshire's White Mountains, and foliage are close. If you are near Lake Champlain, then Upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains aren't far away. Leaf peeping in Vermont offers a lot of options.
We were just in the Door County peninsula in Wisconsin - pretty now - gorgeous in weeks to come. It was a great grown-up getaway.
If you're local to the Sacramento/Tahoe, California area, there's always Apple Hill. It's usually open year round, but it's a FANTASTIC drive, and during the fall there are all sorts of craft fairs and local events. Not to mention the dozens of family run orchards and fresh pressed apple cider. Plenty of pick-your-own options too! http://applehill.com/
Then of course there's Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, California, with the Guinness Book of World Records holder of largest corn maze - 53 acres this year. Make sure you wear good shoes! And going at night is even better for those not too worried about a good spook. http://coolpatchpumpkins.com/
Annnnnnnnnnnnd for those who live outside the USA, here's a link for the autumn foliage in Canada; coast to coast.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/storm_watch_stories3&stormfile=Fall_Outlook_2012_22_08_2012
Pardon! here's the correct link!
http://gocanada.about.com/od/canadatravelplanner/tp/fallfoliage.htm
If you are in the Boston area, come up to Russell Orchards, on Argilla Road in Ipswich (http://russellorchards.com/). Pick-your-own or buy already harvested apples. It's also a lovely time to have a long walk on Crane's Beach, just down the road. And, why not make a day of it and visit the Crane Estate, and the properties owned by the Ipswich Museum.
Because there is nothing as good as a fresh apple.
I grew up in Northport, NY, where Richter's Orchard was the place to go for apples, pumpkins, and lots of other good stuff.
Your opening paragraph just made me swoon at my desk--oh how I LOVE this time of year. I'm lucky to live somewhere exceptionally beautiful in autumn (and often featuerd in the kinds of "best of fall" articles mentioned above)--the northwest corner of CT (Litchfield County). I highly recommend it to New Yorkers looking for an easy getaway from the city! The upcoming Columbus Day weekend, in particular, has several local fall festivals on the calendar, but any autumn weekend is sublime.
The fall foliage is fantastic, beginning right now up here in NH. As for pumpkins.... there's the Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Goffstown on October 13th & 14th - http://goffstownmainstreet.org (or http://www.goffstownmainstreet.org/pump_schedule.html ) - where along with weekend-long festivities, 1,000+ lb. pumpkins are hollowed out & equipped with outboard motors then raced up and down the river!