Days Of Wine & Roses

The late summer and early fall is harvest time in North Carolina's vineyards. It's a hectic time during which winery owners keep a constant eye on the weather, and workers stay busy picking grapes at just the right time to ensure that 2009 is another vintage year.

This week's theme during the ten-week Fabulous Fun Fall Getaways promotion on Visit NC is "Prime Time For Wine", with an inside look at the wine harvest, several self-guided wine trails to download, and an article about guided Yadkin Valley Wine Tours. In this week's giveaway, you can actually win one of those tours, as well as an overnight stay at the Manor House B&B in Clemmons, golf at Tanglewood Park, and a tasting, tour, and lunch at Childress Vineyards. Cheers!

Fall is Here!

Well, OK... not officially. The actual equinox happens Tuesday at 5:18 pm. But there are definitely some color changes going on in the mountains of NC already!

I spent much of last week driving around the High Country of North Carolina (Boone, Blowing Rock, Jefferson, Sparta, Grandfather Mtn, etc.) and I can tell you that while the predominant color out there is still green, there are some trees out there getting an early start! The picture above was taken last Wednesday in Linville near the Old Hampton Store. Everywhere I went, there were small groups of trees that were getting pretty colorful even before summer had officially ended.

That, of course, is just one person's observations. For the complete scoop on where the fall color is the best, check out the fall leaf reports on VisitNC. There, you will get the facts from official leaf peepers and scientists who will tell you when and were to go to get the best looks at the state's spectacular fall color.

Happy Autumn, everyone!

Fall's Coming Attractions

September is here, and it won't be long before the air starts to cool in North Carolina and the leaves begin their annual display of bright reds, yellows, and golds... with fall color starting at the highest elevations of the Smokies and slowly working its way through the foothills, the piedmont, and the coastal plain. Meanwhile, NC's coastal waters bring a bounty of fish to catch, and its farms and vineyards yield harvests of apples, corn, pumpkins... and eventually Christmas trees.

Fall is a spectacular season in North Carolina, and the folks over at VisitNC.com have cooked up ten weeks of Fabulous Fall Fun Getaways to celebrate it. Beginning September 14, the web site will feature a weekly autumn theme, complete with listings, stories, and videos that explore all the events, activities, and ideas that make the fall such a great season. As always, the site will also have up-to-date fall color and fishing reports, and will be expanding those reports onto VisitNC's Twitter feed as well.

But, as they say, "there's more!!" Each week, the site will be giving away a great NC trip based on that week's theme. At the end of the promotion, a Grand Prize winner will receive a "Mountains To The Sea" prize package that includes stays at amazing places in each of the state's three regions. There's even a Pirate's Life For Me video contest that invites visitors to dust off their best "puffy shirt" and win a treasure chest of coastal pirate booty!

Expect more details soon, but the themes will range from the harvest to the holidays, with plenty of fall fun in between. So be sure to check it out when it all starts in two weeks!