Fall is my favorite season. I love the colors.

In my fifteen plus years in Savannah, I have missed the northern fall seasons.

We are fortunate to now be able to divide our time between Savannah and the Western North Carolina mountains. This weekend, we ran to the mountains for a quick two days with dear friends.

It had been a rough week for me at work and I questioned my ability to make it to the mountains several times. By the time I got up there on Friday at noon, I was so glad that I had come. I was greeted by these views in our yard and off our deck:

We had one day to hike while up there and, even though we had been on this hike before, I chose Roan Mountain. The Roan Mountain trail has the most panoramic views of any hike that I have been on in Western North Carolina. I hoped that the colors would be spectacular.

As we approached the start of the trail, it appeared that we were about a week or two late for the Roan Mountain views. Most of the leaves were off the trees at that altitude (which is about 6,000 feet – compared to our house, which is at 4,000 feet). It was still beautiful, though. While for the most part it felt wonderful to be outside in the brisk air, there were portions of the hike where there was nothing to break the wind and it was somewhat brutal. We all had four layers of jackets and were constantly taking off and putting on due to the changing terrain.

Here are some views from the hike:

It was a wonderful weekend and satiated my thirst for fall colors. After nearly freezing to death on Roan Mountain, I must admit that it feels good to be back in Savannah, where the temperature is in the 70s, sunny with low humidity.

Have a great week!