Take a look around, Fredericton looks good in fall
By October, the city has traded patios for Uggs and trendy coats, iced drinks for coffee you can warm your hands around and green for every shade of rust, gold and red.
The Saint John Wolastoq River moves quietly beside it all. Fall here is brief, which makes the whole season feel slightly more urgent.
Start at the Boyce Farmers' Market on a Saturday morning. It smells like coffee, Grandma’s homemade baked bread, crisp apples, with pumpkins and squash piled high outside. Buy breakfast, wander around and resist the temptation to make a schedule.
Let the market set the pace, then hop in the car.
Everett Family Orchard is just 15 minutes from downtown, but it feels considerably farther.
The city gives way to open fields and rows of apple trees, with the river in the distance.
Pick your own apples, say hello to the horses, then stop at the farm shop for pumpkins, squash and cider.
For a bigger fall outing, Laughing Apple Farm is about half an hour away in Scotch Settlement.
There’s Honeycrisp apples, tractor-pulled wagon rides and a three-acre corn maze complete with a lookout tower. It is the sort of place where you arrive for an hour and somehow lose an afternoon.
But is an afternoon really lost if you spent it among autumn smells and sights?
Back in the city, walk through Odell Park while the leaves are at their peak. They crackle underfoot; the air smells damp and earthy; the temperature drops just enough to make you glad you brought the coat. Later, follow the river as the afternoon light dips everything gold.
The next morning, do it again, only slower.
Maybe breakfast downtown. Maybe another coffee. Maybe a drive with no particular destination. Fall in New Brunswick is perfect at making an ordinary road look worth taking.
That is the real luxury of Fredericton in October. You don’t need much: a full tank of gas, a good coat and a little time.
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