Road Tripping

On the entire road trip in Arizona, I couldn’t stop marveling at the vast landscape.

Hitting the open road!

I usually hate long car rides but this one was pretty short.  And for the first time in a long time I completely understood that very American sensibility, to hop into a car and hit the road.  A full tank of gas and a world of possibility!

There is so much open space here, stretching out as far as the eye can see.

In the distance lie long, solid mountain ranges.  The sun and the stone play against each other, creating vivid bands of purple, red, orange and even bluish purple Southwestern color.  It’s really stark and really pretty.

 The elevation changes dramatically from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon, with the landscape shifting abruptly to correspond with the elevation.  One minute you are driving in low flatlands with red dusty rocks and dirt with low, flat cactus and desert plants.  The next minute you are driving in rolling hills with grass and tall pine trees. Then before you have even really registered it your ears are popping and you are back down in another elevation zone.

I also love saguaro – what cool cactus!  Apparently they take forever to grow, so they are protected and no one can chop them down.  My favorite views from the road trip were mountains with blankets of flat, low-lying scrubby brush, peppered with saguaro popping up at random points with their funny silhouettes.  Can you see them in the picture above?