A picnic by the river

Last Thursday we ended up with a little bit of free time in the late afternoon, so we planned a supper picnic.  It was a chilly evening, but we weren't complaining.  After a September pretty much filled with heat and humidity, this first day of autumnal weather was a pleasant change.

I didn't have time to plan ahead, or I would have brought a warm main dish like chili or even a casserole.  Since there wasn't time for that, I made sandwiches with turkey, provolone cheese, and baby spinach on onion rolls from the supermarket bakery.  With chips and pickles, this was our supper.  Above you see our dessert -- Honeycrisp apple slices (in the plastic bag) and a jar of Carol’s Apple Spice Mix -- that would be the open jar with the spoon in it.  The other jar is cream for the coffee.

Since it was so chilly, hot decaf coffee was definitely in order.  I filled an insulated carafe with it and brought along a little jar filled with half-and-half cream, feeling quite like Gladys Taber as I did so.  Remember how she and Jill would set out for a picnic spot with a thermos of coffee to accompany their al fresco meal?  I would imagine there was a little jar of cream involved too, though I can't remember for sure.  It's been ages since I've read one of her books, a situation I need to remedy soon!

My hubby had been up in this area on a work-related errand earlier in the week, and found this nice day use area in the White Mountain National Forest.  He determined we needed to have a picnic here as soon as time allowed.  So time allowed, and we did!

I liked the look of the river as seen  through these pretty red leaves.  

We were in bear country!  Wonder if those snapping twigs we heard could have been a bear?

The little dirt road just curves back onto the state road.  There's a little path there to the right, but it just follows along the river a little way and then fades out into the woods.

The sun was fading fast.

There was a little bit of fall color here. 

Longtime readers will remember how Mr. T and I used to have a picnic by the river every Wednesday night!  A different river, and many years ago.  It was so nice to enjoy supper at a riverside picnic table again.