Even though I have been to the American West and even lived in California for 5 years, my Fall Break 2026 trip to New Mexico was my first encounter with Aspen trees in the Fall. I am the last person to discover this but happy to be on the train. The piercing blue sky of the High Desert makes a stunning frame for the gold trees. Double the beauty by going into local art galleries in Santa Fe to see paintings of the same. I found my phone camera roll to be disappointing compared to the real thing. ChatGPT helped me produce this map for you.

Here’s a .gov https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/aspen/fallcolors.shtml

Some people have a similar encounter with New England in the fall, but I already knew about that.

Fall in the Southeast means getting a break from the heat and being able to enjoy sunshine again outside of water sports. I don’t mean to undersell it. There are many really nice days in the Southeast, it’s just hard to plan ahead of time when they will occur.