Leaf peepers, listen up: Here are 5 camping spots across the US to take in the fall foliage

Leaf peepers, listen up: Here are 5 camping spots across the US to take in the fall foliage

"Year in and year out, the earth continues to turn, and the seasons inevitably change. When it comes to the transition into fall, the symphony of colors and changes is a familiar one, but it never ceases to impress.

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From any angle, fall foliage is breathtaking. Photo: Layne Lawson/Unsplash

Leaves changing hues, sliding from bright kelly and evergreen shades to warm yellows and golds, fire-toned reds, and deep browns.

Why stick to driving past these leaves on your way to wherever you're headed, when you can relax beneath them? Pitch a tent, take a hike and wallow in these colors.

Here are some of the best places to camp and take in the spectacle of fall foliage.

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Letchworth State Park, located in Upstate New York, is one of the most recommended areas to check out fall foliage, among other year-round outdoor recreation pursuits.

Coined the "Grand Canyon of the East," the state park is 14,350 acres of gorges, waterfalls and of course, amazing fall foliage.

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Hang out with goats and see pretty leaves? Deal. Photo: La Lu Farm Goat Yurt/ Hipcamp

Vermont takes their fall foliage very seriously, and for good reason - the state may be small, but it packs quite the punch.

According to the 2017 fall foliage report, this year's color is late in coming, with extended warmer temperatures pushing its debut back later than usual.

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The Northeastern region of the United States is renowned for its foliage during the fall season, with Mt. Monadnock standing out from the crowd as one of the premier destinations for leaf peepers to take in the changing colors.

The Monadnock State Park Gilson Pond Area is only open for camping until Oct. 28, so get there while you can.

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Not red and gold yet, but just wait. Photo: Grey Owl Hollow/Unsplash

Located just 45 minutes from the main entrance of the Olympic National Park, this secluded 1-acre campground is one of Hipcamp's recommendations for best places to check out fall foliage this season.

The campground is home to a variety of wildlife and plant life, and conveniently located to a number of national and state parks. Maples and alders on the property are changing their color right now, according to camp host Seth.

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Go the distance for these leaves. Photo: Jordan Whitt/Unsplash

Try looking up any fall foliage recommendations, and the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee will inevitably be on the list.

According to the 2017 National Park Service Fall Color Report for the region, while some leaves are beginning to drop, the Great Smoky Mountains are still awash with a multitude of fall colors.

Check out more Camping and Travel stories from GrindTV

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© Layne Lawson From any angle, fall foliage is breathtaking."

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Groom Has The Most Powerful, Emotional Reaction To Seeing His Bride

Groom Has The Most Powerful, Emotional Reaction To Seeing His Bride

"Groom Quintin Reed had a powerful reaction to seeing his bride Ashleigh for the first time on their wedding day, and it might make you feel emotional too.

On Oct. 7, the couple married at Cottleville Wine Cellar in Cottleville, Missouri. When Quintin saw Ashleigh making her way down the aisle, he was so blown away by seeing her in her dress that he broke down in tears and went weak in the knees. Watch his emotional reaction below:

“My uncle, who was the officiant, told me to look down at my watch until the moment was right. My heart was pounding so incredibly fast,” Quintin told HuffPost. “Then the moment came. She walks around the corner and when she was about 50 feet from me, my uncle told me to look up at my bride. And when I did, my heart became overwhelmed with joy and my entire body just became numb as I witnessed the most beautiful woman ever in front of me.”

Even Quintin was surprised by just how emotional he became. 

“I knew I would be blown away to see her in her dress, but it all hit so fast and all my emotion just took control of me.”

Witnessing Quintin’s reaction made Ashleigh emotional too:

The couple of three years, who first met at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, called their wedding day “perfect.”

“The foundation of our relationship has been trust, communication, respect, love, kindness, laughter, hugs and high-fives,” the groom told HuffPost. “Our wedding day was perfect!”"

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Plutonium Shortage Threatens NASA’s Missions to Deep Space, U.S. Government Warns

Plutonium Shortage Threatens NASA’s Missions to Deep Space, U.S. Government Warns

"The U.S. government has warned NASA that its future missions to explore deep space are at risk because of a shortage of plutonium.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a report October 4 saying the break in production of plutonium 238 (Pu-238) between 1988 and 2015 could result in a bottleneck situation, where there is not enough of this scarce resource to power spacecraft during long-duration missions.

Radioisotope power systems (RPS) provide electrical power and heat energy to spacecraft at times when solar panels and batteries cannot be used—for example, in deep space where there is no sunlight, or if the spacecraft were operating in the shadow of an object. RPS work by converting heat from the natural radioactive decay of Pu-238.

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The production problems of Pu-238 and subsequent risks to NASA have been known for several years. The Department of Energy has provided Pu-238 to the space agency for over 50 years. However, domestic production ceased in 1988, only restarting in 2015 when the DOE initiated the Pu-238 Supply Project—to make its own plutonium.

Plutonium 238 pellet. Department of Energy

Between 1992 and 2010, the U.S. bought it from Russia. After receiving its last shipment, NASA started using its own, dwindling stocks. DOE documents show that the agency currently has about 35kg of Pu-238 isotope set aside for NASA missions, only half of which meets the standards required for spacetravel.

“Given NASA’s current plans for solar system exploration, this supply could be exhausted within the next decade,” the GOA report said. “Specifically, NASA plans to use about 3.5kg of Pu-238 isotope for one RPS to power the Mars 2020 mission. NASA may also use an additional 10.5kg of Pu-238 isotope for its New Frontiers #4 mission if three RPS are used.

“If DOE’s existing Pu-238 supply is used for these two missions, NASA would be forced to eliminate or delay future missions requiring RPS until DOE produces or acquires more Pu-238.”

Future NASA missions will require Pu-238, but at the moment there is not enough being produced to meet demand. NASA

The GOA looked at documents relating to how NASA plans to use RPS as a power source in future missions. It also reviewed production of Pu-238 by the DOE to see if supply could meet demand. Their findings showed it would not—while the DOE has made progress, the report said it still faces challenges in meeting production goals.

As a result, the GOA made several recommendations to the DOE and NASA to improve planning relating to Pu-238 requirements. “NASA may not have adequate information to plan for future missions using RPS,” the report said. In its recommendations, the GOA said the DOE should assess the long-term challenges that may affect the production of Pu-238. “DOE agreed with our recommendations and outlined actions it planned to take to address them,” the report concluded."

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Ministry leader lifted by hope following damage to camp that welcomes Ukrainian orphans

Ministry leader lifted by hope following damage to camp that welcomes Ukrainian orphans

"The Ukrainian Orphan Project, a program of the Bridges of Faith International Children’s Fund (BOF), introduces children to American culture, and shares with them Alabama life and culture through camping, touring educational sites, teaching settings. Albert Cesare / Advertiser

The gymnatorium at Bridgestone Prayer and Retreat Center in Billingsley collapsed after Tropical Storm Nate came through the region on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017.(Photo: contributed)

A partly constructed gymnatorium built at Bridges of Faith Prayer and Retreat Center collapsed to the ground after Tropical Storm Nate swept through the region.

Bridges of Faith International, a Millbrook-based ministry that has done mission work in Ukraine since 1995, has sponsored Ukrainian orphans at the retreat center in Billingsley for the past seven years.

Its 5,000-square-foot gymnatorium, a multipurpose building, collapsed on Saturday.

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Tom Benz stands outside the construction of a new building at Bridges of Faith in Billingsley, Ala., on Aug. 11, 2017. The Ukrainian Orphan Project, a program of the Bridges of Faith International Children’s Fund (BOF), introduces children to American culture, and shares with them Alabama life and culture through camping, touring educational sites, teaching settings and visiting homes and families. (Photo: Albert Cesare / Advertiser)

"This was a devastating, staggering blow," said Tom Benz, the ministry's founder. "I really think that this thing that is so terrible will be a wonderful blessing. Some people are hearing about us for the first time, and it has awakened people who already know about us."

The ministry seeks three things: prayer, Benz said, volunteers, and also financial assistance to help replace materials that could not be salvaged. That total comes to about $40,000.

"We were at the most vulnerable time because we hadn't poured concrete to hold the posts down," Benz said. "The wind lifted it up and when it came down, it just collapsed. The overwhelming majority of the material is salvageable and reusable. As we continue to get the word out, I think the swell will continue to rise."

The ministry originally planned to have the building completed by December. And now Benz does not know if that is possible.

Ukrainian orphans find a sweet home in Alabama

"Of course, we are devastated," he said. "So many people have put so much time, sweat and resources into building a gymnatorium to better serve the orphans and potential families.

"I am calling for as many volunteers to come as can. We need to disassemble the collapsed building. I hope to have this finished very quickly so that we can start the rebuild process.

Can you help?"

If you can volunteer, call 334-221-0385 or email benz@bridgesoffaith.com. 

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Popular Tokyo governor decides against running in Japanese election, a boon for Abe

"TOKYO — Japanese political leaders focused on the economy as campaigning for this month’s snap election began Tuesday, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urging voters to give him more time to work on the recovery while a new rival party vowed to scrap a planned consumption tax increase.

But the Oct. 22 election is shaping up to be much less of a competition than many had hoped — or feared — as Yuriko Koike, head of the new party and the populist governor of Tokyo, decided against running for parliament, effectively taking herself out of the race to become prime minister. 

Koike, a former defense minister in Abe’s government, started the Party of Hope last month specifically to compete against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, although there are few policy differences between them.  

“It’s a politician’s job to give people hope and dreams. We will restore people’s trust in politics,” Koike told potential voters outside a Tokyo train station Tuesday. She urged voters to help her party end “Abe-dominant politics.”

[Japan’s push to revise its constitution isn’t a bid to deny history, Abe ally says]

Even as campaigning began Tuesday, some analysts thought Koike would still throw her hat in the ring as a candidate for parliament before the 5 p.m. deadline. 

But she did not, instead urging voters to back her party even without her. The hastily formed Party of Hope, which incorporates some lawmakers from the flailing opposition Democratic Party, now appears leaderless, without an obvious candidate for prime minister.

A poll by public broadcaster NHK published Tuesday offered a devastating prognosis for Koike’s party, putting support for it at 4.8 percent, compared with 31.2 percent for Abe’s LDP.

Koike’s decision not to run for parliament as the leader of her party shows that it “appears to be less a nascent second major party and more a vehicle for a Koike vendetta against Abe,” said Tobias Harris, an analyst at Teneo Intelligence, a consultancy. 

Abe, for his part, started campaigning in Fukushima, the prefecture that was the site of the 2011 nuclear disaster, where he said he was not interested in “political fads or slogans.”

“In this election, we will promote our policies honestly and earnestly,” he said, vowing to press ahead with a planned increase in the consumption tax from 8 percent to 10 percent but promising to use the money for child care and education.

Abe, who has been in power for almost five years, dissolved the lower house of the Diet, or parliament, last month and called the snap election, 14 months ahead of schedule, to capitalize on a sudden bounce in his poll numbers. 

The conservative prime minister had seen his ratings plummet at the beginning of the summer amid corruption allegations, but North Korea’s flurry of missile launches and its Sept. 3 nuclear test helped restore Abe’s fortunes.

[North Korea fires another missile over Japan, triggering warnings and condemnation]

Abe said he wanted a new mandate to crack down on North Korea, a point he repeated Tuesday. “This election will determine how we should deal with the threat,” he said in Fukushima. “We must continue to apply pressure.”

But some analysts say the hard-line prime minister’s real aim is to win a new mandate and use it to make progress on his top political goal: revising the U.S.-written postwar constitution to allow Japan to return to normal military footing after seven decades of imposed pacifism.

Although the Party of Hope had little chance of taking control of the lower house of the Diet, it had looked set to imperil Abe’s two-thirds majority, which he needs to push through constitutional changes.

The most important factor now, Harris wrote in a research note, is turnout. Record-low turnout in 2012 and 2014 helped Abe win landslide victories, so Koike’s party and other opposition parties will have to motivate voters if they want to thwart him.

Separately Tuesday, a district court in Fukushima ordered the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Co., the nuclear plant operator, to pay $4.4 million in damages over the 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 

The class-action suit was brought by about 3,800 plaintiffs and is the largest of about 30 suits filed against the authorities after the disaster, which was triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami that overwhelmed the plant.

Read more:

Abe accused of giving secret donation to far-right school

Japan’s prime minister pushes ahead with controversial ‘anti-conspiracy’ bill

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news"

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This Annapolis crab house is the 'most popular restaurant' in Maryland, according to People magazine

   "This Annapolis crab house is the 'most popular restaurant' in Maryland, according to People magazine

Cantler’s Riverside Inn is the most popular restaurant in Maryland, according to People magazine.

The magazine’s food section recently released a list of the most popular restaurants in each state and Washington, D.C. Cantler’s, a longtime Annapolis crab house, was named No. 1 for Maryland.

People’s food editors considered a range of factors to determine the most popular restaurants restaurant in every state, according to the list, including expert opinions from Zagat, diner ratings and Google scores. They paid “special attention to spots sourcing local ingredients and serving iconic or regionally inspired food,” the list said.

In Maryland, that meant looking for the best spots to crack open crabs.

“Marylanders say the sweet, Old Bay-crusted Chesapeake blue crabs are the best around — and Cantler’s is the most authentic place to enjoy them as you sit on the deck overlooking lovely Mill Creek,” the description on People’s website reads.

Cantler’s is located at 458 Forest Beach Road.

The full list is available here.

Read a 2015 review of Cantler’s here.

smeehan@baltsun.com

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The nature of learning is effective when used properly

   "She started closely observing the waiters taking orders, and noticed a obvious, but important pattern in their work.

The waiters were able to remember the orders to the last, small detail while they were still serving the table, but as soon as the customers had paid and left, they forgot it completely.

Your brain holds on to information and tasks that you have not yet finished. As soon as you are finished, you forget them, since nobody can possibly own the resources to hold on to every single piece of grocery list or finished work task.

The Zeigarnik effect is mostly known as an effective remover of earworms, but it can also be used in a more meaningful way.

If you work on a lengthy project or task, take a break at a point where you would really like to go on, and do something completely different.

Subconsciousness keeps on working and thinking about the task and finding ways to solve it.

Things will fall into place much easier than if you had just kept going without stopping."

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