Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Pleasantville NY is one of our favorite day trips—only about an hour north of the city and a world away.

We headed out early on Columbus Day and had a good five-mile walk from the Bedford Road entrance, around the Stone Barns (closed for the holiday), down to Swan Lake and back.

We took a wrong turn on our way to the lake, lucky us, and ended up walking a big loop through sunlit leaf showers along a winding leaf-carpeted path.

The lake itself was beautiful.

We got lucky with the weather, too: crisp air, sunshine, blue sky, puffy clouds—a perfect fall day that turned cold, gray and windy just as we were heading home.

Happy Autumn