Family Foliage Tours

John Hendricks, a '74 Heavener grad, lives on the Ridge Road above Long Lake Hill, and he runs the Long Lake Resort. (Our e-traveling friends, John and Cynthia Inman, stayed there on the first leg of journey.) John takes the most awesome photos of our home land, some you can enjoy on their website: http://www.longlakeresort.com/
The picture above is one John sent to show me the first leaves that are turning on Cypress trees there at Long Lake. We are all anticipating a beautiful fall down at home this year! We have fabulous memories of the annual family pilgrimage, a foliage tour down by Three Sticks and over the mountain. I remember stopping every year at a place with a natural spring coming out the side of the mountain. I even have pictures of my boys at that special spot, but I can't remember where it was or what it was called. Harry thinks he could still find it. We also drove a bit out of the way to a place called Horse Thief Springs. That is where Mo and June fell in love, or at least that was what Mom told! We have pictures of them as teenagers at Horse Thief Springs on a double date with Jane Freeman and J. T. Teeter.

As we drove, Mother would count the number of different shades of red and orange and gold that we saw. Daddy would teach us what kind of trees we saw on the mountain, and we would vote for which kind was the prettiest. I remember the year that Judy was pretty restless about the family pilgrimage. She was really anxious to get it over and back home so she could hang out with friends. My parents didn't want to give up the annual family foliage tour, so they offered Judy the keys. I thought that was so cool!! Daddy had bought an old Falcon station wagon, so I loaded myself into the back of the wagon with all kinds of books because I was in first grade and Miss Betty had taught me to read that year!

It was probably not the year my parents remembered most fondly in all the years of our pilgrimage, but it is definitely the year that I remember the best!! Judy drove 60 miles an hour around those mountain curves. Daddy sat with white knuckles grasping the dashboard and didn't say a word for miles. Mother gasped every once in a while, and I laid in the back of the station wagon reading my books! I honestly thought this day was going to turn into a very bad scene - either the wagon would tumble off the side of the mountain or Judy would get grounded for the rest of her life! But what I remember most was one of my favorite memories of my Daddy, and one that probably helped shape my own child-raising years. Daddy yelled out, "If you look real quick, there's a pretty red one up here on the right. Zoom!!! It was there alright! I caught a glimpse of it. Look on the bright side, June, it's a great year for us. Judy can drive, and Kathy can read! We have so much to be thankful for!"

Well, just hearing Daddy say those words made Judy slow down a little bit, and I climbed over the seat to sit with Mother and count the different colors of the leaves. Neither of us ever balked about going on the family foliage tour again. It remained a tradition that we shared with our own kids for many, many years. Gosh, I think even now of all the things Dad could have said or done, but he said just the right thing that drew his family right back around him. I wonder how many colors we will count this year?!?!