A Nice Morning for a Sunday Drivve

The hubby and I decided to head south to see my parents for the day. Since it was late fall, I figured we could stop at Holy Hill to see the fall colors. I couldn't tell exactly if the colors were past peak or not but I figured we would take a ride anyways.

As we cruised down 41, I noticed most of the trees lost their leaves already and figured we might be disappointed. The further south we drove, the leaves on the trees started to re-appear and had some color to them. By the time we reached Richfield and Holy Hill, fall was back on the trees.

Holy Hill is a Catholic Basilica and Shrine on a top of a hill overlooking the country side in Southwestern Washington County. Being Catholic, I don't know what I was thinking about visiting a church on a Sunday. People go to mass on Sundays therefore it probably will be quite busy. However, I didn't think this one through and was shocked at the number of cars that were there. We parked in a distant grass lot and had to walk up the hill to top... a week after I did serious damage to my foot (again I didn't think things through). You walk up a hill and then a set of winding stairs to reach the observation level. Goodness there is an elevator once you reach the top of the hill which we took down.

The Colors weren't quite popping yet. There was a lot of green still when we got to top of the hill. People flock to Holy Hill not only for religious reason but also to see the fall colors. I was slightly disappointed that the colors weren't quite there yet. There was plenty of golden hues at the bottom of the hill but once you got to the Shrine the colors weren't popping yet.

Besides the views, many visitors come to Holy Hill for religious reasons. There are two masses every day of the week except Sunday when there are four masses. This explained all the cars. Besides the masses, there is also the Station of the Cross, Vespers, Sunday Marian Devotions, and Confessions. As the hubby and I watched a stream of people being led from station to station trying to figure out what was going, another lady asked me what was happening below. I told I had no clue and she said she went to Catholic Schools and should know and I was like me too. My only guess is it might have been Stations of the Cross but that isn't usually done in October.

Again not paying attention to the day of the week or time of the day, I decided I wanted to check out the Basilica... until I opened the doors and realized mass was being said. We will leave that for another day.

So our time at Holy Hill did not go as planned. Next time we will not go on a Sunday and I will try to check the color forecast better. I really would love to see the colors pop from Holy Hill. Everyone, Catholic or not, should at least experience the fall colors from a top of Holy Hill. You can see for miles and it is supposed to be amazing.