Our annual fall trip to the mountains this year was probably the best one we’ve had yet. This is mostly because the kids are getting bigger and we’re able to go to cooler hiking locations than in previous years. We didn’t have to backpack one of them or worry they would likely fall to their demise. We also had a better planned schedule this year than on previous trips.

Like in previous years, we went to the Boone/Blowing Rock area, which we really love. We honestly intend to try different places each year — the goal is to find a retirement location for when the kids move out in 15 years — but we suck at this and just keep going to the same general area. This time we were in Seven Devils and rented one of three or four houses that are actually on the summit of Seven Devils Mountain. The view from here, which is more or less 360° around the house, would have been amazing during peak leaf colors, but we missed that by a week or two. It’s hard to get mad since this week has put us right in the middle of peak for the past four years, and the views were still pretty incredible, but still…