The Faraway Nearby

It is October, and every chance we get, my husband and I go out "leaf peeping." This is a term that some of us use to describe the activity of driving all around trying to find and enjoy the best autumn foliage color displays.

As I mentioned in my Saturday posting, we intended to get out both days this weekend, but on Saturday, we ended up staying home and enjoying the colors in our very own backyard. (Thanks, by the way, to everyone whose views, comments, and favorites sent Saturday's shot to the Spotlight pages!)

On Sunday, we headed up the road a bit to check out the colors at Bald Eagle State Park. They were lovely in some spots, peak in a few places, and already passing in others. It's a very organic process: the color change.

We went on a number of small hikes around the park, and I took pictures everywhere we went. And then suddenly it was late afternoon, and time to head home. We made the drive on route 220 along Bald Eagle ridge, from Bellefonte to Port Matilda, enjoying colors - particularly oranges - that were absolutely at peak. "Wow!" my husband and I kept saying to each other, as we drove along.

The colors were especially lovely behind the gliderport in Julian. The train tracks along this section were used in segments of the Denzel Washington movie Unstoppable, filmed at about this time of year. If you see it, keep an eye out for a long ridge glowing in shades of bright orange in the background - yep, that's where we were!

We stopped and explored a little section of that area that abuts Bald Eagle Creek, and I found the colors there to be fine, as good as or better than anything we've seen to date. The light shone through the yellows and oranges and reds. It cast reflections upon the waters that shimmered and shone. A languid dragonfly flew above us, making lazy circles in the sun. It was a perfect fall day, sunny and beautiful, like an autumn day out of a dream.

With the colors shining upon the cool, clear waters like jewels, we felt like we'd stepped into the land of enchantment. Our world was transformed. It seemed almost as though we had gone somewhere exotic, somewhere far away. But as it turns out, we were not too far from home.

Welcome to the faraway nearby!

The soundtrack is a song from Cyndi Lauper's second album, True Colors, released in 1986: The Faraway Nearby.