Leaf Peeper

Yesterday my sister and I made the 8-hour trek from New Jersey to Vermont to spend Columbus Day weekend with our family. I love coming home on this weekend every year; the leaves are usually peaking with reds and yellows, the air has a brisk edge to it and home feels cozy and warm. Unfortunately Matt couldn't come up with us since he's in the midst of his soccer coaching season, but Amanda and I had a great time chatting it up during the drive.

Along the way, I spotted a farmer's market in the parking lot of a rest area, so figured we might be able to snag a decent lunch there rather than settling for typical rest area fare. I adore farmer's markets, and was excited to find a loaf of rosemary bread, local bright red cherry tomatoes, locally made dill cheese curds, and figs. Great car lunch in my opinion!

When we finally arrived home in the late afternoon, we met up with my dad, brother and sister-in-law for an early dinner downtown before playing card games and eating homemade chocolate chip cookies in our sweats before bed. It's great to be home. :)

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This morning I had one thing on my mind - leaf peeping! Whole wheat cinnamon toast and blueberry Greek yogurt served as breakfast before hitting the road.

After a little shopping (always a must with mom :), and a coffee pit stop (a maple skinny latte with real Vermont maple syrup for me) we took a long drive through the countryside to check out the fall foliage.

It was a little drizzly today, but that didn't dim the beauty of this place a bit. So serene.

Call me an old lady, but a good cup of coffee and a long afternoon drive looking at scenery is one of my favorite pastimes.

For lunch, we stopped at an awesome little nook of a place called Positive Pie, in the tiny town where my stepdad grew up, Plainfield. This is exactly the kind of place Matt and I always say we'd love to own, if we ever own a restaurant.

It's all wood and chalkboard with a funky atmosphere, 20 craft beers on tap (and a bunch more in the bottle), and simple yet delicious food made with local ingredients.

We ordered a few wood fired pizzas and roasted tomato salads to share.

The vegetarian pizza had artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, baby spinach, walnuts and feta. The walnuts were a really surprising addition - toasty and crunchy, so good!

Riker is becoming quite the little pizza fan himself.

I can't go to a place like this and not try a beer, so I ordered one I hadn't tried yet: Bobcat Brickwall from Bristol, Vermont. It's a double IPA brewed with 100% Vermont grown hops. It had a great bitterness and went really well with the pizza.

Now we're home and starting on some dinner. Hope you're having a great weekend!