Autumn vacation: Pumpkins, leaves and mountains

In mid-October the autumn leaves are at their colorful peak in the North Carolina mountains we like to visit.  They are magnificent on the mountain sides and trees in single bursts of color. Unfortunately, we also had rain and fog, but that's the mountains in the fall.  We did our best to ignore both, but some days it was hard particularly on twisty mountain roads.  
We still had a marvelous visit and, of course, took photos.  A few follow:
Double click on photos for an enlarged view (depending on your computer type).

Pumpkins newly picked.  Note those dark

clouds in the sky.  It did rain soon.

We walked a corn maze until the rains started.

A sweet little creek crosses the meadow.

View of leaves from our cabin's porch balcony.  To us 

Floridians, seeing them is a treat.  Florida does not look

like this in the fall.

An autumn berry, whose name I do

not know.

Of course, there were mountain apples.

This barn has a field of pumpkins behind it.  I read recently

that country barns are disappearing.  This is the best one

we saw.

Magnificent Mountain Holiday--a Photo Album

The mountains around Blowing Rock, NC were the setting

for our family holiday.

My husband, daughter, son-in-law, and three adult grand

children love the mountains.  

My daughter and family purchased this cabin in the woods.

It has two bedrooms plus a finished loft and basement, room

for all of us.

  It seemed very cold to us Floridians.  My husband and I took the warmest clothes we had, but they were Florida winter clothes.  The cabin has a fireplace and heat, but we were cold

weather wimps.  Well, it was in the low to mid 20's with lots of wind.  

This interior photo shows my husband on the sofa in his

puffy jacket, but my grandson is in short sleeves and my 

daughter is wearing a light sweater.  

We enjoyed a plentiful Thanksgiving dinner cooked by all

of us.  

We went to a Christmas tree farm to select a tree for the 

cabin.  

Back at the cabin, we warmed up with a huge bonfire. The 

grandsons loved it and spent a lot of time gathering wood.

A highlight of the weekend was the Blowing Rock Christmas parade.  This year, it featured vintage cars and the usual Christmas scenes.

This vintage blue truck was a favorite for me.

Sugar Mountain Ski Resort is a few miles from Blowing Rock.

This float is a representation of the resort.

I was never sure if this woman dressed as a

Christmas tree was part of the parade or just

a bystander.  I did not see her in the actual parade.

This woman got into the spirit of the car theme with her tiny

pull car, vintage of course, with a tiny tree on its roof.

This old Ford with its rumble seat could be F. Scott Fitzgerald

and Zelda.  The hat is perfect.

Many floats, vintage cars, walkers, the Wautaga High School band, banjo players, cloggers, tap dancers  made up the parade.  It was absolutely wonderful!  The big, shiny new Blowing Rock firetruck was there too.  The parade ended as all Christmas parades do with Santa waving to the crowd. 

 We had a lovely weekend which put us in the Christmas spirit.