Autumn in Shenanadoah

In late October the leaves were fully changed and Shenandoah got really busy.  The main attraction at Shenandoah is the fall leaves and we had people from all over the world visiting the park.  I met people from Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, and lots of Canadians!  It was so fun to interact with people from other countries and hear what they had to say about America.  I probably met at least 1 person from every state while I was there as well and it was pretty funny to hear people's reactions when I would tell them I'm from Utah.  "Are you Mormon?"  "Are you a Jazz fan?"  The funniest comments were from people from Florida and coastal regions where the elevation is pretty much zero.  They would get in the Appalachian Mountains and freak out because the elevation was so high. haha.  I would just laugh at them.  The elevation in that area is around 2,500 to 3,000 feet, so coming from Utah I would mostly describe the Appalachians as rolling hills.  So when I would tell people that my house sits at almost 6,000 feet, they were a little shocked.  They would ask how I stand it.... Call me crazy, but I love the dry air that doesn't turn my hair into a frizzy mess.  *My hair is so naturally straight that the humidity doesn't make it go curly, it just makes it super frizzy.  However, my skin was always really soft with all the moisture in the air*

Fall is my favorite season.  I love the crisp morning air and the leaves and everything that autumn time brings: soup, sweaters, hot chocolate, Halloween, etc.  Being back east during the fall season was amazing!  Autumn in Utah is great, but it is so short and there is not an over-abundance of trees.  But autumn in Virginia.... whole 'nother story.  Every day I would just walk out into the forest and stare at the trees.  According to my manager, who is a local to the area, that year wasn't even a good year as far as the leaves go.  He said it had been a dry year and the colors were duller than they usually are.  Even with the 'dull' leaves, I loved experiencing the autumn time in Shenandoah.

This picture is in Northern Virginia, pretty close to the Maryland border.  This was pretty much what it looked like everywhere.  Even though it's not a great picture and not very close up, you can still see how many trees there are and all the different colors.

  

This is Skyline Drive.  We drove this road pretty much every day. [I did not take this picture though.  Found it on google :) ] The first time we saw a tree that had started to change colors, Brittany and I freaked out a little.  We were so excited to see the full effect of all the trees with colorful leaves.  

It seems like such a silly thing to get all worked up about, but there are not a lot of things in this world that make me happier than fall leaves.  If I could choose how the seasons go, I would probably make it be fall for like 6 months out of the year.  I love it!