Planning Fall Foliage Trips

How do you plan your itinerary?

The Willard Twin covered bridges in Hartland Vermont are only one of maybe two sets where both covered bridges are so close that you can see the other from inside the other one. You can get this framed print or canvas gallery wrap to hang on your wall or as home decor on totes, pillows, or even mugs.

Did you visit New England this fall? Maybe you’re planning on next year! The key to having a good visit is planning. Too many folks come to New England with one thought,

“I must Find Peak Fall Foliage,” and that is about it for your plans!

Right from the start I will say, “You are setting yourself up for disappointment”.

Unless you are a pro photographer filling the need for a magazine article, you should plan to arrive and have a comfortable trip that involves having fun and seeing the sights.

For example, take this year’s fall foliage… Please someone take it… 🙂 (I wrote this in Oct 2011, a bad year) It started out so promising in early September, but then Mother Nature thought we were getting complacent. We ended up with 14 days of rain/clouds, 9 days of mostly cloudy, and 5 days of partly sunny, plus 2 days of snow. Basically, little color develops in these conditions.

So she changed the rules over the span of two weeks between late Sept and Columbus Day Weekend. Before this, the color didn’t move or develop, and during the first week of October, those of us who THOUGHT we knew where to look for color was a bit lost. The week prior to Columbus Day, the lows started dropping, bottoming out into the 30s.

View from Cloudland road across the Vermont hillsides — Cloudland road view on a Vermont scenic drive View Larger

Then overnight on Columbus Day weekend, it changed again and cold temps brought on the colors. The calls started coming in on Columbus Day telling me that overnight their neighborhoods were popping! But for those who had come early, and gone home without seeing great colors… Well, there is always next year. (And what a year 2012 was, but that’s another story).

Overall, the warm temps and cloudy and rainy days delayed the leaves from turning, and they were about two or more weeks late. Heck, I was finding colorful leaves in the middle of November.

Without planning there’s no blaming

I know you are looking for a colorful tapestry of fall foliage, but what if that doesn’t happen? Are you going to blame the tourist bureaus? Maybe you blame me, for not warning you?

You can, but I warn you with every prediction I make, that I am not Mother Nature and she does not confide in me… The reason she doesn’t tell me is that she knows, I can’t keep a secret… 🙂

All through my blog, you will find me saying “Have a plan B!”… I try to live up to this myself, and expect you to do the same. We can’t fix the rainy days that come our way, but we can get out and explore and look for unique opportunities. I will admit if it’s pouring down rain, even I am at a loss to find much to do. But the rain will run out sooner or later and that is all we can do…

Caveat Emptor-Quaestor Fronde Cave! (definition is at the bottom)

When asked in the foliage group about plans

a Maple with a few orange and red leaves still on it allow you to see the churches steeple with the blue sky surrounding it — View of a church steeple

Aaron on my fall foliage forum asked about coming to CT with his kids. I told him where I would go, and then I made suggestions for places the kids might like since most kids don’t find driving long hours to see colorful leaves a good reason to go somewhere.

So your first goal is to make a plan. Sound tough? Where to start? All you really need are a few locations to start with (My blog has hundreds of suggestions) and then add in some alternatives in case whatever your primary objective is, doesn’t happen.

Turn the foliage trip into a scavenger hunt adventure to find as many covered bridges as you can. Or how about finding lighthouses? Just start brainstorming to come up with some ideas. A lobster roll every day… What do you think?

I say to make reservations for a reason!

I was just reading in the Globe about a Montreal woman who was bringing her niece down to Maine for her 14th birthday. Why am I telling you this? They decided to do this on Columbus Day Weekend, which as all of you should know, is the busiest weekend during the leaf-peeping season. (That was error #1)

Next, I bet you can guess what their next error was… No reservations for overnight. (error #2)

They drove from Montreal down to Ogunquit, Maine, and started looking for lodgings. They kept getting told to go one town further south. In the end, they drove all the way down the coast, ending up in South Boston.

They still weren’t finding a place to stay on this 70-degree weekend and were about to sleep in the car.

At about this time, a police officer came into the picture to help them find a place. He also wasn’t having any luck and he had them follow him back to the station in Southie. (look it up!)

The final act in this story has the on-duty police staff making mac & cheese with ginger ale for their dinner, and they slept in the officer’s community room overnight. (We do not in any way recommend not making plans in the hopes a kindly beat cop is going to take pity on you!)

The next morning, they got directions to explore Boston, Quincy Market, and the Paul Revere House. The officers were just happy they were out before their captain came in that morning. 🙂

So when I say get those reservations early, I mean it… Now I have used my affiliate for Thrifty Lodging which you can find at this link. First I have used it many times in the past few years and most times I got good accommodations. A few autumns past, I got my first bad room (not up to my or my wife’s clean standards) So, while I do recommend it when you don’t have reservations…well…

We can’t complain “much” when we make last-minute reservations that may be less than stellar. Complain to the lodging, definitely!

If you need a travel agent

I often make the comment that “I’m not a travel agent” and this is not due to my being an A&&hole. (Lisa says, “Well maybe…” 🙂 It’s more due to the fact that we only will recommend places that we have stayed at.