New England Autumn Fun

New England is a great place for people who love seasons. We get hot weather in summer with plenty of thunder storms. Winters can be downright blizzardtastic. Spring is full of beautiful blooms and great sunshine. And fall....well that is like a red-orange-yellow-yougottabekiddingme color explosion. A few days ago we had some rather stiff winds off the coast of Massachusetts that whipped up the ocean. My husband took me to Gloucester, Rockport, and the Nahant area to look at the stormy seas.

I love photographing waves; I do it every chance I can when I'm at the beach or on the coast. It's a matter of getting the timing just right to catch the power and beauty contained in the water. It is addictive for me, and I lose track of anything but those beautiful, rhythmic waves. Thankfully my husband is excellent at preventing me from stepping off into oblivion while I blissfully snap picture after picture.

Waves crashing over rocks near the shore of Gloucester

The effect of high winds making the waves even fuller and more dramatic

After taking pictures near the Gloucester coast, my husband took me to an area near Nahant. There is a beautiful walkway that curves along the waterfront. The area is safe, as long as you remember that waves don't have much respect for staying behind walls, especially at high tide during a wind storm. I took several pictures, and we stopped for a bit to admire the crashing waves. All of a sudden, one of those waves came right up, over the wall, and all over us. We turned at the last minute and my cameras were protected, but we were soaked to the bone. All we could do was laugh at our dilemma. It really was pretty funny.

Rough waves near Nahant that go over the wall at high tide

This is what you see before you get soaking wet if you stand too close to the edge

There are other fun autumn things to do (aside from meeting the ocean) in New England, like gazing upon the beauty of deciduous trees during their color show. We drove west on highway 2 this past weekend to see what we could find. We stopped at some lovely towns along the way and did see the beginnings of fall color. Most places in Massachusetts have been warm and dry which has delayed the usual timing of the leaf color. But we found some beautiful places to visit and photograph. We also had lunch at a quaint little restaurant and grabbed fresh produce at a real farm stand. It was a beautiful day!

Bridge near Turners Falls, MA just off Highway 2

Old building in Turners Falls

Pedestrian bridge in Turners Falls with an old power house in the distance

Looking downriver from the pedestrian bridge

Fall color in the Colrain area

More beautiful colors

This gives a good sense of the progression of color so far

The leaves may not be changing according to the usual timeline, but there are so many beautiful towns and countryside in New England that beg to be explored. Happy Autumn!