Leaf peeping is an informal term, commonly used in the United States, for people who travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where foliage changes colors, particularly New England. The origin of the term "leaf peeping" is not well known. A similar custom in Japan is called momijigari.
The term "Leaf Peeper" is used both with appreciation (for those businesses that benefit from the millions that pour into New England each fall) and with disdain (from those who have to use the roads that are popular with leaf peepers). Hobbyists who get together for leaf peeping commonly refer to their gatherings as Leaf Peepshows.
Read more about Leaf Peeping: In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words leaf and/or peeping:
“Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle, curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what’s going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)
“I remember, I remember,
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn.”
—Thomas Hood (1799–1845)