Who can argue that autumn is one of the most colorful times of year?

That was a rhetorical question.

Fall is pretty, mostly because of the glorious displays put on by the fall leaves changing color.  This phenomenon occurs all over the United States, but some spots offer better views than others.  Grab your camera and a road atlas and take a day trip to one of the 11 best fall foliage sites in America.

11 Places To See Fall Leaves

Fall Leaves on Carriage Road at Acadia National Park

1.  Acadia National Park – Maine

Of course anywhere in the North East is going to boast spectacular fall foliage.  The Acadia National Park offers gorgeous views and extensive Ranger-led educational programs so that you can learn more about what you’re staring at.  Make sure to head to Bar Harbor Maine before the end of October to take full advantage of the sights and services available.

Fall Leaves at Oak Mountain State Park

2.  Oak Mountain State Park – Alabama

Oak Mountain State Park is Alabama’s largest state park.  This nearly 10,000 acre forest is featured on several sight seeing lists.  Admission is only $3 for adults on weekends and holidays.  You can visit the park for fall foliage viewing from 7am to sundown.

Fall Foliage in New Hampshire

3.  Mt. Washington – New Hampshire

While it’s typical to see fall foliage while you’re driving, the Mount offers guided cruises on the M/S Mount Washington.  Starting Sunday, September 27, the Mount will offer Fall Foliage Dinner Cruises from 4:30 to 7 p.m. each Sunday through mid-October. The cruise departs from Weirs Beach, boarding at 4 p.m. Cost for adults is$43. Visit Cruise Mount Washington for more information.

Fall Color in Colorado

4.  Aspen – Colorado

It’s no surprise that Aspen, Colorado is the perfect place to watch the Aspen trees change colors with the seasons.  San Isabel National Forest offers extensive trails for viewing of some of the most fabulous aspen trees in Colorado.

New York Fall Foliage

5.  The Catskills – New York

The Catskills and Hudson Valley region is about a two hour drive from New York City.  One of the unique features of this area is that the color changing season lasts about six weeks, with colors rivaling those of its North Eastern neighbors, Vermont and Massachusetts.

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Tim helps prepare me for Hawaii in the only way he knows how.

You’re looking at how much I know about Hawaii.

They make decent beer at cheap prices.

I mean, I’ve heard all sorts of things about it, but have no opinion – reason being is that I was brought up poor, still am, and even if I wasn’t, it’s an expensive place…

And if I’m going to shell out, I might as well go back to Thailand.

But Hawaii got word of this and is set to prove me wrong – something that has proven easily done ever since I proclaimed the Counting Crows to be ‘the next Dylan’ – and have sent for me.

So tomorrow I’m off. Actually, in less than 4 hours I’m off and I’m just now packing.

I’m not bringing much – a carry-on bag and a small backpack, as these luggage fees ad up when you have to fly out of Bend, OR (if this makes no sense to you, just know that there are no direct flights from here to Honolulu…or, well, most places). But I also want to enjoy myself as much as anyone else, so there will be the obligatory cocktail-with-a-tiny-umbrella, some surfing, local music and cheap trinkets to pass off as archeological finds to my family at Christmas. I want a flowery shirt and to go on a boat. Hell, I’ll get my hair put into beads if I can find it cheap enough.

Why? ‘Cause when I come back, I want to look like I just did Hawaii.

I’m just not going to give it my money…which works out nice as I don’t have any.

More tomorrow – can someone call me at 4am?

You know what happened…

Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap.  We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.

This view was what started the whole ordeal.

Some would blame the 2 hours of sleep I was going on – I’m open to that being one of the catalysts for not one, but two airlines, and their passengers being upset at me.

It was kind of my fault.

That being said, how in the world I can go through 2 checkpoints, my shoes and belt being removed, laptop out of its case, bag scanned twice and then swabbed for residue, a pat-down and half of my toiletries being thrown away and still manage to board the wrong airplane is beyond me.

Seriously.

Not that I blame the nice, healthy-looking staff of the Redmond, OR Airport, but somewhere along the chain of command couldn’t one of them raised a hand and, at least, suggested they leave little signs indicating which tiny plane went where?

See, this is where my sleep-deprivation comes in; I should have asked. And I didn’t. I chose the plane that looked most like it was about to make the 30-minute hop over to Portland.

I ducked into the machinery that surely didn’t fall under the ‘if you lose one engine, you can still fly on the other’ category and the attendant immediately could tell my bag wasn’t going to fit into the overhead.

“Why don’t you go ahead and take your seat and I’ll put it down below for you?.”

I took my seat – 3C, as requested, for a view of Mt. Hood at sunrise, followed by the ruggedly gorgeous Oregon Coast.

More filed in and I laid my head back. A man sat down in front of me and quietly asked the same attendant (there was only room for one) something to which she sweetly shrugged off:

“Oh, this happens a lot, don’t worry.”

I didn’t worry and closed my eyes again.

And then we sat.

And sat.

When a murmur begins in a cabin that small, everyone can feel it. For some reason, we weren’t going anywhere.

“We’re almost ready to go,” crackled the redundant intercom.  “Just a few more minutes and we’ll be getting you on your way to Salt Lake City.”

I didn’t want to go to Salt Lake City. Ever. But especially not this morning, as I had a connecting flight to Honolulu.

I repeated most of this to the attendant.

“You’re supposed to be on the Portland flight, right?”

Yes I was.

“They’ve been trying to find you.”

Trying to find me? In this day in age? Anyone could look at my blog, my Facebook, my Twitter and tell you exactly where I was, but the airline lost me?

In my twenties, there was a phrase having to do with a walk, and shame. I’ll spare you the origin of that, but just know that the exiting off of flight #1 and then the stroll to #2, was anything but confidence boosting. When the pilot’s face carries the same expression as the now late passengers, you know you’ve screwed up.

I got on the wrong plane this morning and have to admit that I’m kind of impressed.

If only I could say the same for the rest of those involved…

Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap.  We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.

“And back there is the soaking pool,” said Tim, continuing the tour.

“Where?”

“Walk past the theatre and take a right,” he said, motioning with his free hand, the other holding one of the beers that they make on-site.

I walked by a restaurant, pub, hotel rooms and an old meeting room before getting there.

This wasn’t your regular trip to the movies, the wood-oven baked pizza on our laps and pitchers of golden pale ale underneath the retro couch hinted at that – but then again, Bend, OR, isn’t your average town.

The McMenamin Brothers knew that. They were good at finding places like Bend. And inside these hidden secrets of towns, they were even better at finding things like this old Catholic school. Or sheds. Barley mills. Chapels.

You get the idea.

For more than 30 years, the Portland-based duo have been taking old run-down locales and transforming them into what they call ‘Kingdoms of Fun’ – historical buildings remade into pub-based spaces that usually include three-to-four star accommodation, breweries, conference halls and more. In fact, as long as it’s ‘not too formal, too complicated or too orthodox’, they’ll probably be interested.

So should you ever be passing through the Pacific Northwest, give one a try.

Chains? Well – sure. In theory.

But it won’t be long before you – like the others before you – consider experiencing the other 44.

Nearly every state in the U.S. hosts a series of beer festivals in the spring, summer, and fall months.  For a fee (varying by the number and size of the beer “samples” in which you wish to partake) adults can spend a leisurely afternoon in the sun, wandering from booth to booth obtaining libations of their preference, a few ounces at a time. Festival participants are also entertained with live music, crafts, brew-oriented merchandise, and local cuisine.

My husband and I have enjoyed festivals hosted in Arizona and Oregon (we specifically planned a trip to Portland for their annual Brewer’s Festival). I’m also hoping to coincide a road trip this summer with events happening in Denver Colorado. Unfortunately, I’ll just miss the Brewers of Indiana Guild Microbrewers Festival in Indianapolis in July – I’ll be in the area the week prior.

The Made in the Shade beer festival in Flagstaff, Arizona is one that my husband and I try never to miss – we’ll be going again this year, for the third year in a row. It’s always scheduled in the middle of summer; by that time we are desperate to get out of the heat in Phoenix and head up north to the cool pines and mountains.

BeerFestivals.org is a great website dedicated to keeping track of when and where any beer festival is scheduled, anywhere in the world. So find one scheduled near you and enjoy! Just remember a few things:

1. Establish a Designated Driver. Festivals often offer discounted or free entrance, non-alcoholic beverages, and food for those participants who have the distinction of being the designated driver. This IS a beer festival, after all. You can still get drunk, even one ounce at a time. So be smart, and be safe.

2. Sun + Heat + Alcohol = Dehydration. It’s summertime. You’re indulging in some fabulous brews, and may lose track of just how much you’re drinking. Alcohol dehydrates, so be sure to drink plenty of good old fashioned water in between samples. It probably wouldn’t hurt to get a bite to eat every now and then, too. I know this from experience.

3. Patience is a virtue. A lot of these festivals can get crowded, and combining crowds with long lines and beer is sometimes less than entertaining. Especially when the crowd contains some of those hooty types that like to holler, “Woooo! Beer!” every few minutes, like clockwork. Have patience, slow down, enjoy the day. The beer will still be there when you get to the front of the line.

4. If you have children, get a babysitter. As you surely have realized, beer festivals are limited to those who are of legal drinking age. While it’s a great and fun idea for grown-ups, festival attendance really isn’t appropriate for children. You can make it up to them the next day by taking them to an amusement park. I just wouldn’t recommend getting on any twirly rides if you have a hangover.

Word to the wise.

Everyone remembers the movie The Goonies, right?  As a child of the 80’s, the film is a firm fixture in my pop culture memories. The off-road race along the beach in the opening sequence… the jagged rocks that Mikey aligned the medallion up to… the creepy restaurant with Sloth in the basement… 

A lot of the beach and ocean footage for the movie was shot in Cannon Beach in Oregon, a mere jaunt down the coast from The Goonie’s home town of Astoria. Being such a fan of the movie, this was a natural destination for my husband and I to visit, during our vacation in Oregon a couple of years ago.

Haystack Rock is the immediate and dramatic fixture of the area that draws visitors and residents to the beach year after year. Upon reaching the beach (at the base of some very steep dunes), my husband and I couldn’t help but walk toward it, and get as close to it as we could. It was inhabited by terns, puffins, and seagulls vying for territory on its crest. To stand directly across from Haystack Rock is to be nearly deafened by the cries of the birds.

Of course, in my humble opinion, no ocean view is complete without a lighthouse. This is the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, as seen from Cannon Beach:

From the top of the aforementioned dunes (and rather close to those FORTUNATE people who own homes right on the beach), the entire beach can be seen:

Cannon Beach is located on the northern coast of Oregon, and can be accessed via Highway 84 if coming from the East, or Coastal Route 101 if coming from the North or South. Or, well, by boat if coming from the West. The town of Cannon Beach offers excellent shopping and dining, welcome refreshment after an afternoon spent in the sun, wind, and sand of the beach. Seasonal events, such as the annual Sandcastle Contest, offer another draw to the area and a new, fun idea to liven up your weekend.

The 6,000-foot Hells Canyon is not only the deepest river gorge in North America, but it’s also a part of a huge recreation area that includes over 650,000 acres of wilderness, three Wild and Scenic rivers, and 900 miles of hiking trails.

Beamers Jet Boats

The Hells Canyon National Recreation Area sits along the border of Oregon and Idaho.  It’s extremely remote, and mostly roadless.  I’ve been wanting to get a look at the canyon for twenty years, so I was as excited as anyone to board the Beamers Tours jet boat in Lewiston, Idaho, where Captain Dan waited to guide us down the Snake River and into this rugged land that has remained mostly untouched for thousands of years.

Right from the start we spotted osprey, eagles, antelope, bighorn sheep, and even some old guy panning for gold. The kids had a blast with Captain Dan swerving back and forth along the river at an exhilirating 45mph. Along the way he pointed out unusual geological formations and a few pioneer homesteads, and even stopped to let us all get a close-up view of ancient petroglyphs that dated back at least 2,500 years.

Cache Creek Ranch

The turnaround point for the half-day tour we took is Cache Creek Ranch, where we had an hour to eat, lay in the grass, and watch the kids play. The Forest Service runs the ranch now as an interpretive center. While we lazed around, Captain Dan was down at the river catching smallmouth bass right and left.  The river is a fisherman’s paradise.

Even though this trip was just a taste of what the canyon has to offer, the kids absolutely loved it. They had no idea that just a few hours south of where they live is such a massive, and totally unique, wilderness area. There’s so much more to see and explore.

Wet and wild jet boat

You can choose to see the canyon in several different ways.  Traveling by jet boat is the easiest, and quickest.  Most tour operators offer half-day, all-day, or multi-day tours.  Hiking in is another option, with three major trails designated as National Recreation Trails.

If you’re looking for a rugged and remote wilderness that doesn’t feel overcrowded like some of our national parks, look into spending some time in Hells Canyon.  It’s a surprisingly short and easy drive from the large population centers of Portland, Seattle, and Salt Lake City.

All photos by Phil Corless

Ancient petroglyphs

Snake River

We are pleased to introduce our guest blogger, Lois Sealy, who runs a home exchange agency, Home Base Holidays, based in Great Britain and serving the world. We met because of a recent Kango blog on home exchange. Lois offers valuable insights into home exchanges in her blog and fosters home exchanges around the world through her website. In this brief post, Lois explains how you can improve your home exchange experience by giving detailed information on your interests in your exchange offer. Samples of just two of the many homes available for exchange are included to illustrate the topic.

Most home exchangers are very good at including information in their home exchange offers on attractions and activities available where they live. This is really useful as it helps potential home swap partners decide if the location, as well as the home, is likely to suit their needs and interests. It is also helpful to include information on your own interests and those of other family members. This will help those interested in your offer to tailor their exchange offer messages to you around your interests, needs or special requests.

Two members, both living on the West coast North America, joined almost simultaneously a few days ago and, as it happens, both not only provide excellent descriptions of their areas’ attractions but also give details of their own interests and thus, good clues to what they might like to do while on a home exchange. The first family live on the outskirts of Victoria, British Columbia, and the second, a retired couple, live in Eugene, Oregon:

“We are a very active family of four looking forward to our first house exchange. Don is the General Sales Manager of two local radio stations. He enjoys cheering on his favorite hockey team – The Canucks, gardening and hiking! Megan is a Financial Planner. She keeps busy away from work enjoying her many artistic projects. Tye, our oldest son, is in 10th grade. He is a passionate musician who is very active in the local music scene. Cory, our 15 year old is in grade 9 and spends his spare time perfecting his passion…magic. He works at a local restaurant on weekends performing close up magic! Our family is made complete with our quirky dog, Milo. Milo will be staying at Grandma’s when you visit.”

See the family’s attractive home exchange offer in the beautiful city of Victoria, BC, Canada.

“We are very active seniors, recently retired. My husband was an electrical contractor and I was an accountant. We are respectful of other people’s property and would treat your home with care. We love animals and would not mind caring for your pets, if you need it. We like to fish, go on walks, visit other countries and learn of different cultures. Our 3 bdrm house, with a large deck w/barbecue and view of local hills is located in a wooded area (deer munch on our flowers), yet just 15 minutes from downtown Eugene.”

See the couple’s exchange offer in Eugene, Oregon, USA

Both these profiles illustrate my suggestion about providing sufficient information about your family, home and the surrounding area to help the potential swap partner make a decision. For more tips, please visit Home Base Holidays.

Do have a home exchange story to share? Share your tips, stories and ideas about your home exchange experiences and your travels with us, we love to hear where you are going!

Related Information:
Home Exchange Blog
Home Base Holidays