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Fall Family Vacation Ideas
Where to Enjoy the Colors of Fall from Coast to Coast
By Donna Smith and Shelly Hemig
"Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is the time to be in the Southeast," says Robert Ordner, a resident of Norcross, Ga. "The whole place is on fire with color."
In northern Georgia you have the Chattahoochee National Forest, between LaFayette and Rome on I-29. Dogwoods, sourwoods and poplars begin to turn first, according to the U.S. Forest Service's Web site. Then, the best color can be seen at Brasstown Bald (4,784 feet), Georgia's highest peak. Eventually, the color sweeps down into the lower elevations into Unicoi and Vogel State Parks in the north and Pine Mountain and Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in the south.
Peggy Smith, from the Georgia Department of Industry, Travel and Tourism, has a couple of suggestions for viewing the foliage. "Do wake early," she says. "The colors will be most vivid with the morning dew and morning light. Do linger to enjoy the late afternoon light. The deep shadows late in the day set off all colors against areas of darkness."
Ordner has another suggestion: walk. He says he prefers hiking to driving "primarily because you get the smells and the tactile associations that you don't get on a drive – the coolness, the breeze. It's a lot better to go out and be in it than to view it all through a glass world."
The entire country explodes with color every fall. Here are more suggestions on places to enjoy this glorious season!
"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." – George Eliot
