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| We kicked off our leaf peeping in Maine. The day was warm, wet and colorful! |
It is believed that the term "Leaf Peeping" originated in a Vermont newspaper back in 1965 to describe the emergence of fall foliage tourism. One thing I know is that you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who enjoys the fall leaf colors more than Beth. While I may not be quite as passionate, I'll have to admit that I enjoy them as well. Some of our favorite fall trips in the past have included the upper peninsula of Michigan and in various parts of Colorado. Our fall leaf peeping this year was in the northeast, which also gave us an added bonus of being able to spend some time with Ben.
One of the challenges when it comes to catching the peak colors is timing. While the leaves are nice for several weeks, catching them at their peak takes a little planning and a whole lot of luck. We had the luxury of being able to spend a little over three weeks and the ability to move around a bit in our quest for color. We were a little early in some places, a little late in some, but for the most part we were grateful to be able to catch the peak color in many locations.
We flew out the evening of September 24 after Beth's mom's birthday celebration, with visions of color dancing in our heads. Our flight took us to Portland, Maine by way of Baltimore. It was getting close to midnight when we arrived, so we spent the night at an airport motel.
While we only spent one night in Maine, we enjoyed starting the adventure there. We spent a good bit of our first day there and got our first glimpse of what was to come as we made our way around the Portland/Freeport section of Maine.
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| The drive gave us our first glimpse at what was to come. |
Our first stop was in Freeport, which is the home of a company founded by Leon Leonwood Bean back in 1912. You may not recognize the full name of the company's founder, but you're probably familiar with the company, LL Bean. There is a huge complex known as the Flagship Store. It is actually composed of several buildings (over 200,000 square feet) featuring various merchandise which extends well beyond outdoor wear and gear. The main store is currently being remodeled but it was still fun looking around. Cool stuff and they sure think highly of their products!
LL Bean Flagship Store
Before leaving Maine, we made a couple of stops for some essentials. Chocolates and Pizza!
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| Dark Chocolate Peanuts and Chocolate Covered Blueberries! Afterall, aren't Dark Chocolate and Blueberries "good for you"? |
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| Great Pizza and Cider! We enjoyed the Sausage and Calabrian Chile pizza. It certainly had some kick to it! |
