That was some wicked good maple syrup!

It had been a long time since I'd been in Upstate New York during the Fall. Although the leaves hadn't changed yet, I could start to feel the chill in the air at night. We had a few 90 degree days and some nights went below 40 degrees. It was a perfect time to go home to visit family and friends. Eric and I had the chance to see our nieces and nephews who are all getting so big and have hilarious personalities! It's crazy to see how much they change in a years time. While at home, we spent a lot of our time going out to our favorite Italian restaurants, and of course our moms were constantly cooking. Every morning we had a feast - homemade pancakes with fresh picked blueberries and maple syrup, or NY style bagels or french toast. We pretty much ate our way through New York and Vermont during our two week stay.

One of the last days in our hometown, Eric and I drove with our parents to the NY wine country (and of course we had to hit up an airplane museum). The photos below are of one of the many roadside stands in Amish country where you can buy fresh fruits and veggies, pumpkins, honeycombs and apple cider. One of my favorite photos is one my dad took of the Amish family getting into their buggy. That's not something you see everyday!

One day wasn't enough to explore wine country though - that is a definite must-do for our next trip home.

We also had a chance to go visit Sarah and Jarad in Vermont. Their place is adorable, nestled in the mountains near Stratton. It was so much different than our busy lives in California (we didn't have cell phone reception at their house and it was great!). We cooked out, had a bonfire in the backyard (they've actually seen moose back there!) and the next morning, we woke up to Jarad's homemade waffles and maple sugar lattes! Or second stop was to see our very good friends Ann and Travis in Plattsburgh! We got a chance to see their new house (finally!), hung out with Molly and Bailey
and even went cliff jumping of a 20ft cliff! It was pretty cold out the day we went but it didn't stop us. During our stay, we also visited a tiny little winery near the Canadian border. The winemaker had us taste some of his creations and walked with us around the vineyards, letting us taste the different grapes. It was especially cool because we were the only people there that day. We learned some interesting facts about making wine, but mostly we were excited to go home and drink the bottles that we purchased! Below is a photo of Ann standing next to the huge bags of grapes that were about to be pressed. It was great to be back in Plattsburgh where Eric and I used to spend so much time. We spent our last night in Lake Placid at one of our favorite restaurants and it was a perfect ending to a great couple weeks.