When I lived in Michigan I took a 1600 mile road trip on my old Gold Wing down through Ohio to WV over to VA, then rode the Parkway from south to north 15 years ago. Fabulous. Ended up in Pennsylvania at Hershey for a chocolate factory tour and a 5-pound Hershey bar to take home then went back across to the West Virginia panhandle where I have friends. It was late enough in the season that by the time I got to within 40 miles of my home at night I had hypothermia, was shaking almost uncontrollably, and had to get a motel room for the night because I couldn't go another mile.

I also have a friend with a Harley Softail near Charleston WV and he and I would ride the mountains over in that direction 150 miles a day for a week when I visited him in the Fall for many years. You eventually get overwhelmed by the beauty of the area and the colors because there's just so much to take in, but you never get tired of it. Your photos make me long to get back there again in the near future.

If you have the opportunity, take in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the Fall sometime. The colors are even more outrageous there and there are two mountain ranges. Everybody focuses on the ocean and seaboard because that's what Maine is known for, but if you look inland at those three states instead the area is awesome.

Very nice work. I didn't see an Elaine in there though. That was the point I was hinting at actually. My tendency is to explore friendship, companionship, and the potential of a found soul mate to the fullest by being in close proximity. But that's just me.

If you don't mind my asking, why are your North Carolina photos exposed (or maybe processed) so much brighter than your Alaska photos?

While my experience in landscape and wildlife is nowhere near yours, I have a tendency to shoot Fall colors like the sample I've attached, most times with a bit more color saturation than this sample.