Fall in full force.................

Fall is in full swing, and we are enjoying the colorful foliage and the fresh harvests. The day before leaving for a week in NJ, we relaxed at our campsite and read our books watched football while enjoying a nice warm acorn squash dish. It was steaming hot and tasted really good. Perfect for the chilly weather.

the best acorn squash dish!

steaming hot dish to warm us up

Hhmmm....must be half-time

As usual, we had a packed agenda for our week in NJ, and we were really looking forward to seeing everyone. The fall foliage was spectacular along the drive, and NJ was "peak". How lucky we were able to catch the colors in their prime! It was icing on the cake, so to speak. Our week went very well, considering all of the appointments we had, most of which were medical and not fun. The highlights, of course, were visiting friends and family. SOOOOO great to see everyone! (Sorry no pics to share here).

lunch on the road ....sweet potato, kale, tomato, lentils....really really good!

ummm...that's good too?  (foregoing solid food for a few days before a Dr. visit)

I know that some of you that read this blog have never been to NJ, and have no desire to based on a preconceived notion that it is, well, not the nicest....and I just want to let you know that it is not all pavement, crime and traffic here. Its actually quite nice! Best of all, the shore (beach) and the big city (NY) are all within an easy drive of just about anywhere in the state. Just sayin'. Maybe you want to put it on your travel list? 

heading out to appointments in NJ

the pumpkin patch still has a few pumpkins left

lovely scenery along the highways and byways in NJ

heading to Motor Vehicles to renew a license

The week back in NJ just flew by (miss my friends and family already!), and before we knew it, we were back "home" in Virginia. Just in time for another football game! The games echoed throughout the campground, with most people watching outside. It seemed like everyone was watching football! (Except our neighbor, who was into Nascar, and me-reading).

Football fan! Go Giants!

Since the weather forecast for the week is not the best, we decided to go apple-picking our first afternoon back home. We had a great time, especially since two very special people came along with us! What a perfect fall afternoon.

enjoying an excursion with our grandson (and daughter!)

Staying warm in Grandpa's arms

what a fun afternoon!

enjoying the views

so pretty

I've never seen so many white pumpkins

these are all pretty big too!

love the red (hoping its not poison oak or sumac!)

next year's apples starting up

There were all sorts of varieties of apples in different sections of the orchard, but some were already picked with not an apple left on the tree. Actually, we thought we were out of luck with the apple picking-there seemed to be no apples left. Ah. We hit paydirt in the Granny Smith section, and came out with a nice bag of "fresh from the tree" apples.

lots of apples here

Tom getting the highest apples

oh so many apples!

here's another good one

don't they look great? 

this section is just about empty of apples

we followed the sign to the Granny's....(how appropriate!)

the view over Charlottesville

Blue Ridge Mountains (or Shenandoah?)

the vineyards

Apple cider donuts! Oh boy....where is my will power?

The weather is starting to chill up a bit, with lots of nights in the 30's and 40's. Though the chilly days feel great to me, it is a signal that we need to start thinking about hitting the road again soon.