Weekend!

Mr C and I got up early Saturday and drove down to my Dad's house in East Texas. We took the TSD with us, as we didn't have any other choice. Jaffa, as usual, enhanced the drama of our trip with his carsickess.
Repeatedly.

We arrived just past noon, and I helped my Moms (Mom Rose and Step-Mom Kathie) with the final bits of preparartion for the meal.
My SIL Ruby and brother Robbie were there from Tennessee, as well as my youngest brother Roger. There were no kids at all... which was really sort of sad. We were joined by my Dad and Kathie's friends Ellen and Arnie.

We sat around visiting after the meal was cleaned up. Got up Sunday, had breakfast, and visited awhile longer before heading down the road home. (This time with the TSD well drugged. No horking on the return trip!)

Not once in the time we were there did I think to take out my camera and take pictures. However.... I did think to look at Dad's road atlas... since we didn't bring ours along.
Every trip, we drive by a sign that says "OK Scenic Hwy 1". I wanted to see where it went.
I saw it intersected with a road we would eventually cross anyway... so Mr C agreed we could take the long way home!

We stayed on Hwy 271 out of Gilmer, up through Hugo and Antlers. What  beautiful stretches of road there are along 271 on both sides of Antlers!
I thought we had surely missed the turn-off for HWY 1 (we were approaching from the opposite end we normally see). Satisfied with the beauty of 271, we just continued towards home... and then there it was! The Hwy 1 turnoff.

I remembered I had the camera!

The white blaze in the middle of the hill is the road.

To fully appreciate the picture, stand in the freezer and turn a fan on "high".

The road continued climbing and winding- we drove along the ridge of the far mountain that appears ahead  as dark blue in this picture.

You can't fully appreciate the sheer majesty of the views through pictures. Just impossible. we WILL be taking this route again.
These are part of the Kiamichi  (Kie-uh-mee-chee) Mountains, a sub range of the Ouachita (Wah-shit-tah)  Mountains. Yes, Oklahoma has REAL mountains!

We saw where the Winding Stairs Trail crossed the highway, as well as the back packers camp. Daniel wants to someday hike the Appalachain Trail... so Tom and I are thinking this would be a good starter trail. We decided to try to hike it late this spring or early in the summer.

I would of enjoyed it much more if we had taken a picnic lunch... or any lunch at all... and had not had a sinus infection which is screaming through my teeth. High altitudes and blocked sinuses are a painful combination.

Have a wonderful afternoon!