Fall Colors

After spending 25 years in Southern California, we had both forgotten how incredible autumn can be. Despite the current drought situation in Georgia, which many say has dampened the fall colors, we were totally blown away by the brilliance of the season. Atlanta is a beautiful city literally built in the middle of a forest. Soon after we arrived and were awed by all the trees and foliage, we began to look forward to autumn. We were not disappointed.

We used the fall colors as an excuse to make our first visit to the North Georgia mountains. Within an easy hour's drive of Atlanta we were in the Appalacian Mountains which stretch from Canada to central Alabama. We just happened to stumble across the beginning of the famous Appalacian Trail and enjoyed talking with two young backpackers who were setting out to do a small stretch of that trail on a very cold and windy day.

Of course we couldn't visit this area of the state without making the climb to the top of Brasstown Bald. At 4,784 feet, it is the tallest peak in Georgia. From the top of the mountain you can see four states: Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. The view was indeed magnificent, especially with the yellows, oranges and reds of the hillsides.

Brasstown Bald is also a classic climbing stage during the annual Tour of Georgia bicycle race. The year that Lance Armstrong raced, he said that Brasstown Bald was one of the most difficult climbs he'd ever done. We walked the final mile to the top of the mountain and were both confident that it would have been impossible for either of us to pedal up such a steep grade. We tried to capture the pitch on film, but none of our photos do justice to the steepness of the climb. You'll just have to settle for some leftover paint from a previous race.

We were also treated to nature's autumn spectacular during our drive from Atlanta to Champaign, Illinois, for Thanksgiving. It was bright and sunny during our 9-hour drive and the colors were amazing the entire distance. We had a good week in Champaign with Michael's Mom and our cat, Lucy, who has become a seasoned traveler. During our visit we celebrated Mom's 79th birthday, Thanksgiving (vegetarian lasagne) and our 33rd anniversary. While we were in Champaign we had a few days of rain, some very cold weather and high winds. As a result, the trees were nearly bare on our return trip to Atlanta.

Oh yes, on Thanksgiving morning Michael and I braved 30-degree weather to take part in the 40th annual Urbana Park District Turket Trot. Fortunately for us the course was only 1 mile. We're not runners, but the cold temperatures assured that we did, in fact, trot rather than walk. The free hot chocolate at the finish line tasted great!