A Big Day Out to The Met
With Heather back from a family trip, we headed into NYC to explore. After riding the subway to the Columbus Circle, we grabbed a cuppa and enjoyed a stroll through Central park, with the late fall leaves just about hanging on!
Falling for Shenandoah
On Friday we set off for a weekend adventure to my tenth national park of the year. We drove through five states on our way down to Shenandoah—ticking off NJ, PA, MD, WV, and VA. After a suboptimal motel sleepover, we awoke early and entered the park in darkness. We followed Skyline Drive towards Thornton Gap and the trailhead for St Mary’s Rock. The hike was stunning, with the sun rising over the forest and illuminating the full autumnal palette. At the top I mustered up the courage to propose: a beautiful view and, thankfully, an affirmative response!
Johnson's Locust Hall Farm
Fall is the most beautiful time of year in NJ! With the autumnal palette beginning to sweep across the leaves, it also marks the time to return to our annual pumpkin-picking tradition. Heather and I drove to our favorite local spot, Johnson’s Locust Hall Farm. We started out with apple picking, quickly filling a half-peck with Red and Golden Delicious, Empire, and Fuji varieties. Next, we found three pumpkins — little, large, and middling in size — to decorate our living room for a harvest festival. After conquering the corn maze and snipping a bouquet of sunflowers, we settled down to some country music and lunch. The visit would, of course, be incomplete without a ride on the hay wagon, so we duly boarded for a circuit around the pond. If this is our last fall in the U.S., I will truly miss these days out!
Collegeville Soccer
This Saturday we maintained our yearly tradition of catching up with our old IAS neighbours to watch their daughter play in college soccer. We drove down to Collegeville, via the quaint village of Doylestown, where we grabbed a bite and drink at the Troubles End Brewery. The match was great quality…the weather, less so! The rain clouds, which had held off for so long, decided to focus their attention on us during the 90 minutes of game time. Thanks to our last minute purchase of thrift shop waterproofs (forgetting our own back home) and Olive Garden bags for mats, our spirits were not dampened. Swarthmore produced a great performance to get the 3-1 away win!