By Lee Scott
Having grown up in the north, I am used to seeing rolling hills of colorful leaves this time of year.
Although the live oaks in my yard have shed their fall leaves and are replaced now with green leaves, they never provide me with colorful fall colors.
So my spouse and I decided to go in search of some fall foliage.
The warm fall we have had delayed some of the leaves changing in the South Carolina and North Carolina mountains, so we headed farther north. But even Maryland was behind in changing seasons and we only saw a few trees with colors.
The decision was made to go farther north until we hit Quebec City in Canada. There, at the end of October, we finally entered fall-like weather with its colorful foliage.
It was so much fun to walk on the sidewalk, look down and see the fallen Canadian maple leaves. We decided to try our luck and head farther north. As we traveled around Saquenay, Quebec, we realized we we had gone too far. The bare trees reminded of us of why we moved south to our beautiful Palmetto trees and live oaks. Winter can be so dreary without any leaves on the trees.
We then headed over to Nova Scotia and there in Halifax found our fall foliage all around. It was spectacular!
It was during our drive over to Peggy’s Cove, the sight of a spectacular lighthouse perched out on some large rocks, when my spouse said, “Did I mention to you that we’re getting a visitor here?”
“What visitor?” I asked. “Who do we know in Nova Scotia?”
“Phillippe,” he said calmly.
“The hurricane?” I asked in shock. He nodded his head.
“Are you telling me that we traveled over 1,500 miles only to have a hurricane follow us?”
I have really had it with hurricanes this year.
But he echoed my sentiments when he said, “At least it didn’t go to Beaufort.”
Fortunately, Philippe was slowly dissipating so we were not impeded in our trip. However, those 70 mph winds coupled with a strong rainfall sure felt like a hurricane.
After the front came through and the leaves were stripped off the trees, we began our trek south.
The Maine coastline did not disappoint us and one can guess why maple syrup is so popular in Canada and Maine. There were maple trees everywhere.
But the post-hurricane weather was followed by cold air and we began to layer on our clothes in the brisk fresh air.
Time to head south we agreed. Our fall foliage excursion was over and we headed home.
