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Pumpkin picking & Leaf Peeping – Upstate New York in Autumn

Emma De Fry | November 6, 2015 | 8:08 am | Comment

New York is a city that is defined by the seasons. As soon as the calendar clicks over, life changes immediately, and this year, as soon as 23 September hit, the festival of Autumn began.

I think it might be this city’s favourite season of all. The humidity drops (yay!), scarves some out (sometimes when they are truly not warranted by the weather but FASHION) and everything is suddenly pumpkin flavoured (and I mean everything).

Apple cider hits the shops, Halloween decorations appear and everyone starts talking about ‘leaf peeping’.

Hang on, what?

Leaf Peeping. It’s a thing. When I googled it, I found it was “an informal term for people who travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where foliage changes colors”.

Well, this was something new.

In Melbourne, we largely just complain about the piles of leaves that build up and make our front paths and footpaths slippery.

But here, it is an experience. And not just one that we could quickly slip into Central Park to have. We needed to travel.

So, we chose to combine this new venture with another new experience, ‘pumpkin picking’. Having been asked countless times by locals when we were going to take our 2 year old daughter to pick pumpkins, we finally decided it was obviously worth doing so I combined a weekend getaway Upstate (where we were assured we would be inundated with leaf peeping opportunities) with a visit to a farm in the Hudson Valley where we could go pumpkin picking.

I love new cultural activities, especially in places where I don’t exactly expect to find them.

So, with good reason, here are 21 photos to show you why it is totally worth making a little road trip to Upstate New York in Autumn.

Upstate New York in Autumn

The Catskills are full of little towns like this one, Margaretville, where we stayed. Surrounded by hills and valleys in incredible shades of autumn, these villages are full of quaint galleries, food stores, antique shops and more, all with that unmistakable American flavour.

Upstate New York in Autumn

Airbnb offers a tonne of little cottages to rent like this one, our home for the weekend. It is the perfect way to ‘live like a local’ for a weekend, experience what the townsfolk do every day and have perfect privacy.

Upstate New York in Autumn

You will see American flags in everyones yards.

Upstate New York in Autumn

And everyone is in the spirit of Halloween with pumpkins sitting happily alongside their flags.

Upstate New York in Autumn

Even Mr Pumpkin Head seemed to be enjoying a few cold ones as he kept watch out the front of his house.

Upstate New York in Autumn

Simply looking up into the trees (yes, leaf peeping!) was an eyeful of incredible colour. Everywhere you looked.

Upstate New York in Autumn

Locals seemed to be taking their pumpkin carving pretty seriously.

Upstate New York in Autumn

And the local butcher shop wasn’t shy about getting into the more gruesome side to Halloween….

Upstate New York in Autumn

Autumn is a celebration of the harvest, with scarecrows, hay bales, and corn stalks frequently decorating many of the buildings (along with pumpkins of course).

Upstate New York in Autumn

Once you get in the car to explore the region, you are greeted with this. Around every bend and turn. Our car was full of gasps and ‘look! look!’.

Upstate New York in Autumn

Even in the middle of ‘nowhere’ you can find amazing food. Phoenecia Diner, with a history since 1962, is serving up some of the best food I have found in the state (including Manhattan).

Upstate New York in Autumn

A modern take on the classic Rueben sandwich, this is classic American food, done amazingly well.

Upstate New York in Autumn

And outside, the view was just as delicious.

Upstate New York in Autumn

Further down the road, we couldn’t go past a mirror lake. The colours reflecting so perfectly in the still waters, it was like a painting.

Upstate New York in Autumn

But we finally ended up at Du Bois Farms, in the Hudson Valley (around an hour and a half out of Manhattan). I finally saw what ‘pumpkin picking’ was all about and this was a celebration of Autumn at it’s finest.

Upstate New York in Autumn

There were tractor rides…..

Upstate New York in Autumn

Farm animals to meet….

Upstate New York in Autumn

Apples to pick and eat…..

Upstate New York in Autumn

And try to take some home….

Upstate New York in Autumn

An apple cider doughnut eating competition… (of course)

Upstate New York in Autumn

And a very cool method of transportation for the little ones, their apples and their pumpkins (and a 12-pack of apple cider doughnuts).

So do yourself a favour, if you are planning a trip to the city that never sleeps, include a couple of days in upstate New York in Autumn if you can – it’s a whole other world full of great American culture that is just waiting to be explored.

About Emma De Fry

Emma has been exploring the ends of the earth since she was a teenager, notching up adventures in more than 60 countries and living in 5. Now, with a 5-year-old daughter and baby son, Emma is passionate about family adventures. As producer of Places We Go, Emma helps dream up where we go next, and loves to share our adventures through our stories.

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