A First Taste of Fall ...

I know that autumn doesn't officially start until this Friday (Sept. 23), but I caught a glimpse of it this weekend when Peter and I went canoeing in Seneca Creek State Park.

I was so excited to see that little bit of red foliage! Fall's a'comin' :)

 Except for the persistent cloud cover, this weekend's weather was great - temps in the 60s every day! I wore my first long-sleeved shirt and fleece jacket of the season :)

I haven't been canoeing since our St. Mary's 7th grade (or was it 6th grade?) class trip to Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky (where my friends and I were stuck on the lake for hours since none of us could figure out how to paddle back to shore!) so we thought it best if Peter handled the steering (very capably too - I might add).

I became quite the nature photographer on this trip. I expect National Geographic to be calling me with job offers any minute now :)

This crane (or heron? I never know the difference between the two) let us get really close to him and never flew away. It must be because of my awesome photography skills and Peter's awesome steering :)

 If you look really closely, you can see two really cute, little wood ducks standing on that log in the water. And yes - the water around the log is fairly disgusting - partly from algae and partly from garbage that people have chosen to decorate the lake with (Seriously, people! Find a trash can!)

We call these "the ducks that kind of have heads and necks like snakes," but I'm pretty sure that's not their real name :) These guys were very nervous as we approached but tried their hardest to pretend to be cool with it!

I'm looking forward to other fall activities - long hikes in the woods, apple picking, a trip to the pumpkin patch, etc. And, of course, sipping my first Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks of the season :) What are you looking forward to this fall?