Leaf Peeping

We are making a northeastern national parks tour to view and photograph the leaves. To be impressed, fall foliage in this region will need to meet a high standard. Our lake home in northern Wisconsin provides our comparison and I need not venture off our deck to view a large maple that turns a beautiful red. I have large collections of photographs from our place.

The peak season has yet to arrive in Maine and I have taken to photographing leaves I find on the ground. The changes that have happened to this point are not spectacular and we will likely miss the peak of the season.

You can't blame the trees for functioning on their own schedule. However, as is typical of my personality, I found something to annoy me. The "in thing" here is to refer to visiting to view the fall foliage as leaf peeping. The folks here have a strong accent and I was not certain what I heard when I first heard leaf peeping. Cindy and I have since spent considerable time to come up with something we regard as superior. Leaf peeping sounds like something an advertising executive would think might draw tourists and their money to an area. Leaf peeping does not sound like a way to describe those of us who search for beauty in nature.

I am a fan of alliteration when attempting to promote. How about "leaf looking"? Leaf looking is kind of catchy and has a more obvious meaning. Peeping sounds kind of sneaky. For those fans of "peeping", I have also given some thought to your needs. For example, "people watching" suffers from the same lack of imagination as leaf peeping. People peeping would be a better description. People peeping is kind of surreptitious as in "don't stare". So by switching leaf peeping to people peeping I have restored balance to the universe and all should be well.

Leaf looking at some bland leaves in Maine,

Mark