would you believe ... arizona? {personal}
one of the greatest things i love about where i grew up is the amount of beautiful places you can visit that are completely different from the next, and the amount of places i still have yet to venture. the desert will always hold a very sacred place in my heart so i visit my home state about 6 or 7 times a year, mostly by car, lucky by air, but regardless i've travelled the road before. honestly, there is new light every time so it's never truly the same. these photos are from our last trip. our first stop was sedona, red rock surrealism and guru haven. we visited the sedona heritage museum and i fell in love with homesteading! man, if it were only that way today. {"this is MY 160 acres and here's my apple farm to prove it!"} beautiful. we set southwest to jerome, a city of mining ghost towns and acquired artists. on our hunt for the Gold King Mine, my giddiness began as we drove past a sign that read 'Where The Pavement Ends The OLd WesT Begins'. the rest of the hour long walk through the ancient mine ruins of a once bustling town and now residence and tourist attraction was like having my own personal willy wonka experience. a few days later a family outing and day picnic in payson along the Mogollon Rim was cool and heavenly and the perfect backdrop for some new family portraits. and yes, everyone present will give testimony that i cried when i looked at the photo of jc and marisa laughing while looking at each other with payton in the middle. to keep true to the feel of the places, the slide show photos are straight from the camera. the below images i just liked a lot.
