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:
“Black creeps from root to root,
each leaf
cuts another leaf on the grass,
shadow seeks shadow,
then both leaf
and leaf-shadow are lost.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was still steadily raining, and harder than before; and, in that fresh, cool atmosphere, the hylodes were peeping and the toads ringing about the lake universally, as in the spring with us. It was as if the season had revolved backward two or three months, or I had arrived at the abode of perpetual spring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)