fall

I just had a fabulous fall weekend. On Saturday I made some homemade apple sauce in the crockpot that turned out amazing. I don't have any pictures or even a recipe, but basically you just peel, core, and chop about 10-12 apples, put them in the crockpot, and sprinkle about 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon over the top. Of course you can adjust the measurements depending on how sweet you want the applesauce to be and how strong you want the cinnamon flavor to be. Then just cook everything on high for 4 hours. If you like your applesauce smooth with no lumps, you may want to put it in the blender for a minute, but I like chunks of apple so I just stirred mine. Delicious!

Sunday afternoon I went for a drive not knowing exactly where I would end up. I just knew I wanted to see the changing leaves. On my way...

Getting closer to where I finally stopped...this picture doesn't show the fiery oranges and reds I was looking for, but I love all the different shades of green along the road.

 

I ended up at a park with a mountainside walking/bike trail near my house, and my walk started on a bridge over this little stream.

Starting out on the trail. All I could hear was nature sounds, and occasionally another person. So calming.

 Every once in awhile there would be a break in the trees and I would get a nice view of the beautiful houses across the canyon.

The leaves were just starting to change and I think in a couple more weeks there will be a lot more color, but I loved seeing hints of the bright colors that are coming.

 

It was the perfect day to be out enjoying fall before the long, cold winter hits. I love how bright blue the sky is in this shot behind the gorgeous yellow, orange, and red of the leaves.

 

 

Beautiful

 

These next two are a little creepy if you're a spider hater like me. There was a group of 3 trees that were completely covered in thick spider webs. I'm just glad I couldn't see the spiders, because the webs alone gave me chills. 

Back to pretty...

I love that one tree that just couldn't wait to turn fiery red

   

 

 

 How would that be? A castle with the mountainside in the backyard and sweeping views of the valley in the front. Not bad.

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the stream at the bottom

I would have gone farther and faster if it hadn't been for this...

but really it was just nice to relax and breath in the mountain air. No rush to get to the top, no worries about getting home at any specific time.

Along the way I picked up some of branches and brought them home to display in my house. This one I stuck in a vase with some pine cones. 

And this one I just laid across the table next to my couch. 

I love the touch of nature in the house, and the reminder of my little hike (can you call it a hike if you're wearing flip flops?) that took me away from the world for an hour and helped me clear my head a little bit. I can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks (in better shoes!) and see how the canyon has transformed as the leaves continue to change colors. Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year!