Yesterday I went up to the White Mountains to hike. It has been years since I have been in New England during the month of October. All of my friends and family around here had to work, but I didn't want to miss out on the Best Thing Ever. It was a perfect cold and sunny day, and the leaves got brighter and brighter as I drove farther north. I hiked Mt. Willard (a little 3000 ft mountain), and when I got to the top, I drank some still-hot hot chocolate from my thermos and wrote in my journal. The colors and the smells of fall are just so good.
On the way home, I stopped spontaneously at lots of beautiful places in the moutains and in the lakes region to do a little extra exploring. If you have never made it out here to New England, you really should try to find a way to get here.