It’s been cold and rainy here at the north end of Florida, so I needed some color in my life. Maybe you have snow or wind and you need some too. If so, this post is for you…
The prettiest fall drive I took this year was the five miles out of a campground in Virginia. It was so gorgeous that I kept stopping to take pictures through my windshield. (Don’t worry, there wasn’t another car on the road that entire five miles, it’s that deserted a spot!)
As someone who grew up with the two seasons you get in Los Angeles (brown for 10 months and then 2 months of green), I still marvel at the changing of colors in autumn. This year, my timing was good and I had continuous displays as I moved across Virgina for almost a month.
As the last of the leaves fade and fall, I know winter is coming. I’m not ready for it; I never am. The early darkness, the late dawn, they both deprive me of the sunshine that I feel (again, Los Angeles…) is my birthright. This year, though, I think I’ll go back and look through photos of summer months and autumn leaves when I start to feel diminished by the darkness or by cold, wet weather.
Yeah, I’ll be looking at this image a LOT in the next few months. I might as well go and print it out right now and stick it on my wall to remind me that winter doesn’t last forever and blue skies are in my future.
No darkness lasts forever. And even there, there are stars.
Ursula K. Le Guin
So beautiful!
As always, thank you for sharing.
(Great idea on the blue sky pic.)
<3
Winter used to be a difficult time for me (growing up in Canada especially) and a few years ago a friend bought me the book “Wintering” by Katherine May. Through that book I realized the joys and benefits of our darker winter months, and now I’ve come to enjoy this period. Remarkably, I find it my most productive and thoughtful these days.
Wow. I live in Michigan and our fall colors were amazing this year. I’m never gone over to Virginia, but we’re pretty flat here and I can see how adding hills and little mountains makes it even more spectacular. I’m glad you got to see it like that! And thank you for sharing it with us! Yes, I’m not looking forward to winter either. It might actually be here already, a bit early. It’s been in the 20s for a couple days and snowing. Not like it’s snowing in Buffalo, but still… But spring is coming! I made reservations for CAMPING in May!!! Only 6 months from now!
We’ve been having some chilly nights, but the days, though cold to me, are nice. Like yesterday, the temperature was 55°, but the “feels like” temperature was 54°. My daughter’s heading to Ohio for Thanksgiving. I’m sure it will be a shock to her system.
It is a chilly rainy day here; thanks for the beauty break!
Gorgeous! I may have to print these myself.
Let me know if you want higher-resolution, I downsize for web posts.
North Florida is a large area but just in case, I’m camping outside Pensacola for another day if you happen to be around here. Would love to meet you at some point. And yes I agree, it’s 2 o’clock and it’s 49° outside. It’s cold!!
Ah, you’re about 300 miles west of me, too far to meet up for lunch 🙁 Safe travels heading west!
Beautiful! What campground in VA?
Goose Point Park, on Philpott Lake. It’s an Army Corps of Engineers park, reservable on recreation.gov. Really lovely, small and pretty quiet.
I must say, that was the most beautiful exit from a park I have ever taken! It is definitely print worthy to make you smile.
It was a beautiful fall here but now it’s just, well, November. Spring will be here soon enough