Leaf peepers

One photo shared today on Facebook was by my veterinary medicine librarian friend (also retired) and colleague  Mitsuko Williams (University of Illinois) sitting atop Cadillac Mountain. I had a flash back to the mid-70s when we drove to New England to see the fall color. Friends Scott and Tricia stayed with our children. It was off season so we thought we'd have our carefully planned sites of interest and roads to ourselves. We were stunned to see a whole world of retired people traveling and enjoying themselves. They were giggling, flirting and laughing like middle school kids, even with various frailties like low vision and walkers. Every restaurant parking lot was filled with their buses and the conversation inside was about the menu, which was often being read aloud. We'd quietly laugh. Now we know what fun they were having.