HAPPY AUTUMN 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ctyanky]

It's finally here! The first day of fall!!!!!!!!!!

Although it doesn't officially start until 4:44 this afternoon, I wanted to wish everyone an awesome season wherever you are and especially in the great state of Vermont! The weather is looking outstanding this coming week for those of you heading out for your Vermont excursions!

May the foliage and weather Gods bless you all this autumn season! Have a safe, wonderful, fun-filled trip to Vermont and I have a special message to Mother Nature! Make this 2013 foliage season the best one yet

[Rockwall Tim]

Thank you! We're flying in from Texas on the 3rd...sounds like the timing will be okay and early reports are promising!

[WXMAN76]

Happy Autumn to all. Cold front coming through now, then back to great weather! As they say, Have a good trip, see you in the fall! LOL

[deaner1971]

Nice to see I continue to be able to influence weather with my presence/absence...

Hope you all have a great VT Foliage season and keep an eye on Pennsylvania as the Gettysburg area experiences a weird weather phenomenon where foliage season is obliterated by a combination of rain, high winds, fog and a swarm of locusts (forecast says rivers turning to blood projected at 50/50).

Have a great year and please shares tons of shots of what I am missing. And take lots of pictures this year as weather system Dean is projected for next year.

[WXMAN76]

Yes take lots of pictures for me as well. Financially a trip from Florida to Vermont is too much this year. But Good news is that I will be able to make it to NC and the blue ridge parkway this year. (less than half the distance and substantially cheaper hotel rooms) It will not be the same as VT but should be beautiful in it's own way.

[ctyanky]

Tim: glad you are coming to VT again. I think your timing is perfect! Hope your Cartographic serves you well and maybe you will find your Jimapco! Let us know what you are doing/finding during your trip and you always have great photos!

[ctyanky]

Dean: Just love your sense of humor! I'm sure the sun will shine in Gettysburg and for your next trip to Vermont! You take great photos so I am looking forward to seeing them after your vacation!

[ctyanky]

WXMAN: have fun on your trip as well, sorry you can't make it to Vermont this year but it is probably very expensive from Florida. Maybe next year!

[deaner1971]

Dean: Just love your sense of humor! I'm sure the sun will shine in Gettysburg and for your next trip to Vermont! You take great photos so I am looking forward to seeing them after your vacation!

I am glad you enjoy it. Though, if my prediction comes to fruition, I am laughing to keep from crying.

Picture quality may pale in comparison to quantity as my trip plan is thus:

Day One - leave home at 11 PM and arrive at Gettysburg just prior to sun up. Enter park at (perhaps a bit prior to - shhh) opening and start shooting. Do not go to hotel, do not sleep. Eat "lunch" at some point and shoot until park closes at 10 pm (two days prior to full moon so planning to shoot after sunset until park actually closes at 10 PM). Eat dinner and go to sleep after 24 hour day (eating may be optional).

Day Two - unleash stream of profanity at 4 am alarm. Drive into park and test rangers' hospitality/patience/caffeine levels by setting up just a smidgen prior to 6 am open. Shoot until light is poor and then hit the museum and food. Return to park in the evening and shoot until 10 PM as will,be one day prior to full moon.

Day Three - test vocabulary by attempting not to repeat same profanities as prior day as alarm again goes off at 4 AM. Again set up to shoot just prior to park open. If caught being on grounds before open, pretend not to speak English and claim to be German tourist named "Heinz". If caught by same ranger as day prior, just beg forgiveness. Shoot until light gets bad. Attempt to find non-violent/non-choke hazard gifts from a battlefield for two children aged 2 and 4. Resume shooting until 10 PM under full moon. Buy large amounts of caffeinated beverages and drive home.

Day Four - try to remember that children are not alarm clock and profanities are unacceptable in their presence. Attempt to explain to wife why full-size replicate of Enfield rifle was an acceptable present for two year-old even with working bayonet.

[WXMAN76]

CT that's why we are doing NC/VA this year, to save money for next year so we don't have to skimp.Plus its 10 hours to Asheville and 24 hours to Boston. Yikes!!! NC should be interesting. While she doesn't have nearly the amount of sugar maples or mountain maples. Swamp or red maples abound. Also NC has a total of 100 deciduous tree species. And because of that, the foliage season is usually 4-5 weeks long. Enjoy the great week with rapid color changes coming on!!!

[Utah Baker]

Wxman, please post pictures of your trip to NC. We were going to go to Tenn. to see our son and drive over to Ashville, N.C. for our foliage trip, but our son said he is up to his eyeballs with Med. school right now and would not be able to spend any time with us, so we will put that trip off till spring break. But the area looks like it will be beautiful in the fall.

Dean, you make me laugh, and bring back precious memories of days gone by when our kids were small, times and seasons, this too shall pass.......all too quickly! (We had 3boys & 5 girls!)

Bottom line.....we are coming to Vermont! Fly into Boston Oct. 4th!!!!!!! Can't wait.

[Utah Baker]

Thanks Carol, my head is swimming with so much to do and sooo little time. Would have loved to come a week earlier, but I committed to do a catering job Oct. 3rd, but we'll be outta here the next morning crazy stuff! So far we know we have a week at Smugglers and one in Bartlett N.H.. No crazy weather please.... after enduring the hottest and longest summer on record here, we've got a real cold storm coming in wed & thur. Possible snow levels reaching the benches, yikes, but then back into the 70's. Color is starting to come on here nicely hope the weather doesn't spoil it.

[ctyanky]

Janice!!! So excited for you! You sound just as frazzled as I am and I've been packed for 2 weeks now! Been finding so many loose ends here and there and things I forgot! You are going to have a wonderful time in Vermont and you'll be there at a perfect time in the season! You'll be arriving just as Carol and I begin the Thelma and Louise On The Farm Scene so let's both keep each other up-to-date on our adventures!

I'm leaving first thing in the a.m. and hope I can sleep tonight!

[deaner1971]

Wxman, NC is one of my future fall destinations so, I would love to see some photos. Where are you going in VA? If any Civil War battlefields are on the agenda, I am always excited to see them.

If I may bother you with a non-VT question, the PA DCNR's foliage forecast has the southern region hitting peak between the 20th and 31st. That will be just a smidgen late for my plans. Do you see any weather for that region (anything you have seen for VA would be a close enough approximation) that would lead you to think the season might progress ahead of forecasts?

Janice, thank you. I am in no rush for my kids to get older. They are so adorable and each day seems to bring reminders that it all goes so quickly. If you plan to dine after your arrival in Boston and like pizza, let me know. I had a conference there recently and did a self-guided tour of the best of Boston's pizza offerings. There is an utter gem just a couple of miles from the airport, in fact.

Carol, if it must hit, sooner would be better than later. There has been very little coloration in Southern PA and no drop so, this is about as late as I would expect a storm to come through with out Deaning the foliage season. My assumption would be that it spends the next three weeks strengthening off the coast and waits to make landfall at the worst possible moment but, hey, I am an optimist. As such, I laid out a tidy sum on a very nice weather-proof jacket from Eddie Bauer. Might have to check on the matching pants...

[Utah Baker]

Dean, our flight doesn't arrive till midnight and we'll be heading out first thing the next morning, but I'd love some lunch ideas for the day we fly back home. Have a wonderful and safe trip, I'm sure you'll have a great time. Thanks, Janice