TripCart :: The Travel Blog

2009 Fall Color Staycations

Well, its that time of the year again and for our readers in the right parts of the country - a compact vacation on a tank of gas. Sure, the fall festivals and quaint white church steeples make Vermont Fall Foliage a world-class destination, but, with the right timing (check out our friends at Foliage Network) and a warm sweater - you are ready to hit the parks and forests of the United States and watch the transition from Green to Yellow to Orange. (And we are not talking about the Terror Alert Status!).

Thanks toCheapOair Buzz for this picture:

Here is our 2009 fall foliage destination guide:

Fall Foliage around Boston:

Massachusetts Fall Foliage  is a no brainer - early in the season - head north to New Hampshire, later follow the coast south - from Maine to Connecticut. Nearest to Boston - try Lexington, Concord and Walden Pond. To really see the fall colors in style, consider one of the many Fall Foliage cruises leaving from New England ports - Rhode Island up to Maine.

NY Foliage:

Each borough - Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens (Alley Pond Park - Leaves and Tashlich), Brooklyn and even Staten Island has good and accessible leaf peeping - just hop on the subway (or ferry). Feeling a bit more adventurous, but still no car? You can get a hour-long moving show of Hudson Valley Foliage  from the train (Metro North). Make sure to get a seat on the left side of the train going north or the right going south. Skip rush hour for better fares and less cellphone chatter.

If you have a couple of days to dedicate to New York State fall foliage (and wine tours and more) head north early in the season, while Central Park is still green and check out the Adirondack fall foliage in September.

Chasing Fall Foliage South:

Global warming or not, the leaves change later as you go south. If you'd like to combine some foliage viewing with an urban weekend and maybe take in a show or get tickets for a football game - pick a different city each weekend from Boston down to Washington DC. Philadelphia is a good place for your Fall Foliage PA headquarters and a drive up the Potomac is a great way to see the Maryland Fall Foliage 30 minutes out of the Capital.

Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Mountains lose their crowds and turn yellow, gold and red in the fall and late October is a good time to close out the West Virginia fall foliage season.

And for the 3 people a year who search for "Pittsburgh fall foliage" - we have two pointers - Grandview Avenue and Fallingwater.

For our fans out west:

Its a different experience, the Colorado fall colors, the wild-west towns, the snow covered peaks (and sometimes even, the snow) and the mix of evergreens and aspens. Fall Foliage in Colorado  can be less than an hour outside of Denver - try Georgetown, or a bit further, Estes Park.

Further south, you can even find some decent New Mexico fall foliage spots near Albuquerque, Santa Fe  and in the Four Corners region of the state.

And what would a back to school season trip be without visiting the shopping malls?

Well, its that time of the year again and for our readers in the right parts of the country - a compact vacation on a tank of gas. Sure, the fall festivals and quaint white church steeples make Vermont Fall Foliage a world-class destination, but, with the right timing (check out our friends at Foliage Network) and a warm sweater - you are ready to hit the parks and forests of the United States and watch the transition from Green to Yellow to Orange. (And we are not talking about the Terror Alert Status!).

Thanks toCheapOair Buzz for this picture:

Here is our 2009 fall foliage destination guide:

Fall Foliage around Boston:

Massachusetts Fall Foliage  is a no brainer - early in the season - head north to New Hampshire, later follow the coast south - from Maine to Connecticut. Nearest to Boston - try Lexington, Concord and Walden Pond. To really see the fall colors in style, consider one of the many Fall Foliage cruises leaving from New England ports - Rhode Island up to Maine.

NY Foliage:

Each borough - Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens (Alley Pond Park - Leaves and Tashlich), Brooklyn and even Staten Island has good and accessible leaf peeping - just hop on the subway (or ferry). Feeling a bit more adventurous, but still no car? You can get a hour-long moving show of Hudson Valley Foliage  from the train (Metro North). Make sure to get a seat on the left side of the train going north or the right going south. Skip rush hour for better fares and less cellphone chatter.

If you have a couple of days to dedicate to New York State fall foliage (and wine tours and more) head north early in the season, while Central Park is still green and check out the Adirondack fall foliage in September.

Chasing Fall Foliage South:

Global warming or not, the leaves change later as you go south. If you'd like to combine some foliage viewing with an urban weekend and maybe take in a show or get tickets for a football game - pick a different city each weekend from Boston down to Washington DC. Philadelphia is a good place for your Fall Foliage PA headquarters and a drive up the Potomac is a great way to see the Maryland Fall Foliage 30 minutes out of the Capital.

Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Mountains lose their crowds and turn yellow, gold and red in the fall and late October is a good time to close out the West Virginia fall foliage season.

And for the 3 people a year who search for "Pittsburgh fall foliage" - we have two pointers - Grandview Avenue and Fallingwater.

For our fans out west:

Its a different experience, the Colorado fall colors, the wild-west towns, the snow covered peaks (and sometimes even, the snow) and the mix of evergreens and aspens. Fall Foliage in Colorado  can be less than an hour outside of Denver - try Georgetown, or a bit further, Estes Park.

Further south, you can even find some decent New Mexico fall foliage spots near Albuquerque, Santa Fe  and in the Four Corners region of the state.

And what would a back to school season trip be without visiting the shopping malls?

"Over The River": Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Colorado

Sometimes, we see things while covering them up. That’s what the legendary couple of artists, Christo and Jeanne- Claude, propose with their work over the decades: finding iconic urban places, such as the Reichstag in Berlin, or impressive natural landscapes, like Little Bay in Australia, and wrapping them up. So we can’t see them anymore. But we see them more than ever; we see things about them that we never saw before. Curiosity and art, and the act of revealing: the three things that keep the work of the two artists still alive.

Their new project "Over The River", is about covering up with fabric the Arkansas River, in the state of Colorado. The search for this river took them years: they started in 1992, walking through the Rocky Mountains, where most of the rivers in the United States are born, and after coming back every year, they selected the Arkansas River in 1996. After that, they have been working with their collaborators in life-size prototypes, in order to make this project come to life. The work will take them at least three years: they will begin installing anchors in 2010, for finally having it covered up with fabric for two weeks in 2012.

There is no such thing as small scale for Christo and Jeanne-Claude. We will be able to see this project from many points of view: from above by car, from behind by kayak, or walking. People will actually be part of this work, in this fusion between art and nature, two words that should be heard more often.

Picture from Crystal Cove State Park

Absolute stunner of Catalina Island from Crystal Cove State Park in Orange County, CA.

(thanks Automania)