Red, orange, and gold leaves are beginning to appear with the cool autumn days in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia—a welcome relief from the summer heat. I know there is plenty of yard work to do this time of year, but all I want to do is take a drive to the country and bask in the beauty of the season. I check the fall foliage maps online to locate the peak colors and plan my adventures from north to south as the leaves change. Peak fall foliage in Virginia is mid-to-late October, depending on the elevation of the land. Coastal areas are predicted to be at their peak from late October to early November.

Did you know that the leaves don’t actually change colors? All of those vibrant colors have always been there. When the days shorten, trees produce less chlorophyll, the green pigment that masks other colors. This process allows the pre-existing yellow, orange, red, and purple to become visible.

Along with fall foliage quests, October is a great time to find apple harvest festivals in Virginia. An average of five to six million bushels of apples are produced annually by Virginia growers, and some orchards invite visitors to pick their own baskets of apples. Some celebrations took place in September and early October, but there are more to come next weekend, October 18th: Drumheller’s Orchard Apple Harvest Festival in Lovingston, Graves Mountain Apple Harvest Festival in Syria, Amherst Apple Harvest Festival, Silver Creek and Seaman’s Orchards Apple Butter Festival in Tyro, and the Apple Dumpling Festival in Stuart.

Visiting a pumpkin patch is another way to celebrate the change of seasons with your family. Pumpkins represent the abundance of the harvest, and you can pick your own in a pumpkin patch. Choose the perfect pumpkins to decorate your front porch or carve a scary jack-o’-lantern for Halloween. Include a variety of gourds and mums to brighten your doorway too.

Whatever you are searching for in autumn, whether it’s pumpkins, apples, colorful leaves, corn mazes, hayrides, or spooky Halloween haunts, I hope you make time to get out of the house and enjoy the vibrant colors and invigorating weather of this gorgeous season.