I know Winter doesn’t officially start until later in December, but with most of the leaves off the trees (or else brown and about to fall off) it really feels like Fall is over and Winter is here. But it was a lovely fall this year and I feel like I took advantage of it and got outside to see and photograph a lot of it. I do wish I had gone out for one last hike in early November, but I didn’t get a chance so these photos from late October are the last pictures of Fall that I have.

Last year I completely missed the Fall peak around here and many of the leaves were off the trees before I got out with my camera. I was determined not to let that happen again, so I made sure to go out and enjoy nature as much as possible this month. This past weekend it actually snowed here! It melted by the morning, but it was still too cold to venture out much into nature so I’m glad I got to take advantage of the beautiful weather earlier this month.

This week I have lots of photos of our drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway here in Virgina. When Brandon and I visited North Carolina a few years back we also did a lot of driving on the Parkway, so it’s fun to see another section of it and think about how long it is! We’ve driven down Skyline Drive quite a bit but haven’t been down this way before. Plus, even though they are technically the same road, the Blue Ridge Parkway is free, whereas you have to pay to drive on Skyline, so this saved a little money.

The colors up there were gorgeous so I think I definitely lucked out with the timing!

The top photo was taken back in May while the other two were from a few weeks ago. It turns out I like to take shots of this lake at Sunset! (I think I’ve probably already posted at least 2 or 3 but I’m afraid to look.) I can’t help it, it’s always pretty!

We randomly found this nature preserve a few weeks ago on the drive out to the house of one of Brandon’s coworkers (he had agreed to take care of their birds while they were out of town). I immediately googled it when we got home and found a trail map. We went out for a hike that Sunday which happened to be 9-11. It seemed like a good a day to be outside enjoying life and the world around us. The sky was absolutely beautiful that afternoon. This field was at the entrance to the hiking area and someone had carved a path down the middle so you could walk through it. All the goldenrod just looked amazing.

I love this trail because it’s only about 15 minutes from us, but it’s still far out in the country and very secluded. I’m excited to have a new place to hike! Before we were having to drive all the way up to the mountains to hike but this is the second nature area I’ve found in town this summer. Hiking in the summer is never that fun because it’s so hot and humid but I plan to do a lot of hiking once the fall weather gets here.