Words and Light

This is kind of an awkward post, because there are only three photos and they’re not the most stunning from this trip. But the next post will be all about the Grand Canyon… and it would be even more awkward to include these three with photos of that big hole in the ground.

Hence, this post.

• DAY 2 (Tuesday, March 24) — cont’d.

We continued on I-40 after being too late to enter Petrified Forest National Park. At this point, we were driving through what would have been some really pretty desert, but the sun was setting rapidly and we couldn’t really see.

So we drove on.

Winslow, Ariz. Everyone knows that refrain by the Eagles:

Well, I’m a-standin’ on a corner

In Winslow, Arizona

And such a fine sight to see:

It’s a girl, my lord

In a flatbed Ford

Slowin’ down to take a look at me

Somehow, we found that corner.

We wanted to, but only if we could find it within 10 minutes or so. But we had no map of Winslow on us, so here’s what we did:

1. We chose a random exit off of I-40.
2. We kept going down that street, even though it seemed pretty residential for a while.
3. We turned left off that street onto another road.
4. Miraculously, that street turned into downtown.
5. Jeff spotted The Corner, which was on the lefthand side of that street.

Another miracle on Day 2: We did make it to Flagstaff. Somehow, we’d gone from the middle of the Texas panhandle, through New Mexico and halfway across Arizona in one day, and had a lunch stop and a two-hour photo break at Sky City.

• DAY 3 (Wednesday, March 25)

After breakfasting in downtown Flagstaff and loading up on snackable goods at a grocery store, we headed north on Hwy 180 toward the Grand Canyon. Those photos will be in the next spring break blog post. But in the meantime, the area north of Flagstaff was nothing short of astoundingly pretty.

Another shot taken out of the car window. Aspens are my favorite kinds of tree - and there was snow sitting on the ground!

Humphreys Mountain, whose peak is 12,400 feet above sea level. This was our first time seeing mountains up close on the trip, and it was a wonderful sight.

Then the woods quickly became desert. And then woods again.

Arizona is a very strange place.

• COMING NEXT: The Grand Canyon is pretty damn grand