You hear it ever year: Fall is the best season of the year.

Nature lovers who can’t wait for winter to end say it. Beach lovers who long all year for summer and waves and sun and umbrellas and sand between the toes say it.

You hear it almost every year in just about any season. People who really like another season will, as September fades and October with its cooler temperatures come on, will proclaim the glories of fall.

Why? In the American south, it will be the joy of those cooler temperatures after fighting heat for three or four months. For the northern US it will be the fall foliage. Other parts of the country will have foliage changes also, but not like the north and northeast.

What about the Virginia-North Carolina Piedmont area, you ask? Yes, the colors are spectacular there too. What about the Ozarks? Hmmm, let’s discuss that.

I remember a drive I took one fall day in the mid-1980s from Asheboro, NC thirty miles north to Greensboro. It was the peak of fall colors. The wide, clear right-of-way on the interstate allows for incredible views. The rolling hills were ablaze with solid oranges and reds. Just great to look at.

But I was reminded of my native New England. There, the fall colors are a little more muted but a lot more varied. I remember a trip to Vermont in October 2002. It was a little before peak foliage season. Lynda and I got out on some back roads, looking for beaver ponds and other wildlife. We found a secluded valley and sat for a couple of hours. I don’t remember much wildlife coming by, but the view there and coming and going to there were all very nice. The colors were a mix of yellow, purple, red, orange, and green. Evergreen trees dotted the mixed hardwood-softwood forest, creating a color palate mix that any artist would love to have.

Which is better, the Piedmont or upstate New England? That depends on if you want foliage like blazing fire or like an artist’s paints board. There’s no right or wrong.

What about the Ozarks? Well, for me, the foliage is not as good. In towns, you have a good mix of maples and other trees, not native to the Ozarks but brought in by people. Drive through most towns at peak season and the colors are great. But, out in the natural world, the forests are mostly oak. And the oaks we have here, the leaves just turn brown. They do so at least a week past the softwood tree peak. Brown after mixed colors. Hmmm. You would think the color mix would be better.

But, if you can catch the oaks on a sunny day, with the sun hitting the hillside just right, the brown oak leaves reflect back to you a wonderful orange-brown. It’s not as uniform in color as the Piedmont forests. It’s not quite as vibrant as the New England woods. But it’s a good sight to behold. If that’s all you see, it’s good enough for fall.

And, the mix of trees means you have a longer foliage season. The peak colors in town are around Oct 15-25 in our part of the Ozarks. The oaks tend to peak around Nov 1-10. I always like to drive a little on the first Sunday in November—provided it’s sunny. That is one drawback to oak foliage season. If you don’t have bright sun, all you’ll see is the dull brown. But, since this is generally a dry time of year, cloudless days abound during this time, and you have many good viewing days.

It helps that I’ve lived in four different areas of the country, and observed fall colors in towns and countryside, and saw the contrasts. I’d like to think God led me to these different places for me to enjoy fall in a number of different ways. Foliage variations is certainly one of them.