Fall Into Color

New Jersey is surprisingly chock full of parks and hiking trails. When we first moved here I thought most of NJ was an overflow of NYC. It is like hot milk that boiled over into a mess: sprawling out of the Lincoln Tunnel, over the George Washington Bridge and into Newark, Elizabeth, Irvington NJ. But if you hop over the urban mess about half an hour it looks like Little  House on the Prairie. It is no wonder that all of the billionaire families of NYC built getaways in this area. Down the street is the home of Florence Vanderbilt (was the home, I should say) then the main streets in the towns are known as Millionaires Row because that is where the rich would come relax from the hustle and bustle of 5th Ave Manhattan.

Getting back to my point, I understand why they built here. Because the fall is absolutely perfect in every way. Mary Poppins couldn't have made it any more perfect. If you are at the top of a hill here you can also see NYC in detail, the Empire State Building, Freedom Tower, Donald Trump. You get the idea. But if you are not on a hill, and you wander a bit west for a few minutes you can meet the most gorgeous of parks in the world. Yes, in the world. I have seen many from the Grand Canyon to the Swiss Alps and let me tell you the fall in NJ could very well rival the beauty of Mont  Blanc.

Here are the pictures from our ramble in the woods yesterday.

Two colors, one tree

check out the horses. Did you know that NJ is the state with the most horses? We haven't made it riding yet, but it is on our list!

Not Monet

the sky is moody. tonight will be -5 c

no horsing around!

changing color changing mood

confetti

it's amore

my favorite leaf

in tandem

there was a toddler in the little yellow carriage happily sipping on her bottle. 

they call me mellow yellow

This tree is in the open so got hit with the wind before the ones in the forest.

 Fall is also a perfect time to whip up some all American favorites, like pumpkin pie.

my fancy recipe 

I really like that the butter comes in smaller containers now. No more slippery fingers!