Autumn arrived in the East just as soon as I turned the page to September 22! So much color, so much beauty. I hope you won't mind the repetition...seems like every time I turned a corner, there was another tree to photograph. And photograph I did -- just in case the impression later escaped me! Besides, I'm a West Coast girl whose home was surrounded by evergreen forests of redwoods, fir and live oaks. These glorious, radiant Eastern forests were new to my wondering eyes.
Unfortunately, I had turned Southwesterly to start my journey homeward, away from Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, so the as-far-as-the-eye-could-see-Fall-color did not quite dovetail with my timetable! I'm not complaining, mind you! Here's why.
On the first day of Fall, I happened to be in the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, where Autumn color was just starting to put on a show.
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Shenandoah National Park
Skyline Drive
It seemed as though Brigadoon could be found hidden just behind those trees.
Virginia Creeper
Fall Webworm silk. As soon as the larvae hatch, the caterpillars construct a silken web and consume the leaves within the web, expanding their silken house to take in more foliage, more food. Fisherfolk harvest the wriggling black and green worms for bait! Moths will emerge in the Spring to start the cycle anew.
This Springy little bouquet didn't get the "It's Autumn" memo!
The next two photos were taken on the same day but at different elevations on the Skyline.
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Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
Appalachian Pioneer Farm at Humpback Rocks -- Music and demonstrations on the day I visited. How lucky can one get?
Drying season for tobacco, herbs and raw material for brooms
Wild and plentiful after the rain.
Stewing the apple butter.
Free range chickens, looking for a handout.
Little hands and eyes, mesmerized by Fall color.
Sherando Lake Campground - Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
Drying season for tobacco, herbs and raw material for brooms
Wild and plentiful after the rain.
Stewing the apple butter.
Free range chickens, looking for a handout.
Little hands and eyes, mesmerized by Fall color.
Sherando Lake Campground - Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
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Virginia Countryside
This reminded me a little of a Currier and Ives print.
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Paint Branch, Virginia
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Beckley, West Virginia
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Crossville, Tennessee
Some small towns put as much merry energy and creativity in decorating for the Fall season as for the Christmas season! Crossville is one of them.
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Cumberland State Park, Crossville, Tennessee
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Museum of Appalachia, Tennessee Homecoming Festival, Norris Tennessee
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Lexington, Kentucky
"My Old Kentucky Home" State Park, Kentucky.
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Land Between the Lakes Trace, Kentucky
The Homeplace - 1850
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Land Between the Lakes Trace, Tennessee
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Natchez Trace, Tennessee
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Natchez Trace, Mississippi
At this Southerly point on the Trace, exactly one month after its equinox, Fall colors were just beginning to materialize.
