Indian Center

Before leaving AZ, we stopped at the Painted Desert Indian Center off of the historic route 66. It was hard to resist the big dinosaur statues and promise of "free petrified wood." We guiltily took a piece of petrified wood from their free bin while contemplating the demise of humankind and all of its natural resources.

Tonto National Forest

We drove through Tonto National Forest and Payson, AZ, which were beautifully covered in snow. Ironically, Arizona was the only state with real snow that we saw in our three-day drive from AZ to OH.

Northern AZ was probably the most scenic part of our journey - curvy roads through tall, snowy, pine-covered mountains. There was a mist that hung at the treetops that made us feel like we were driving through a snow dome or photographer's idealized winter landscape. Our cell phone pictures do the beauty no justice whatsoever.

Below are a bunch of AZ photos of natural beauty as viewed from inside our car, including snowy landscapes of Tonto National Forest. It were so many it hard to choose which ones to exclude, so these are designed to be a very quick flip-through.

Motel Phone

Upon arriving at our motel, Stephen demonstrated his technical ability by promptly dismantling the room telephone.

Day 1: 9 Hours

We rolled out on our 3-day cross-country trek from Scottsdale, Arizona at 8am. Fifteen miles down the road, we realized that we had forgotten Mama's burritos, so we turned back. After topping off the gas tank, we were on the road again at about 9am. We kept on truckin' until nightfall, when Mama made it known that she did not like driving after dark, so we started looking for a place to stay. After passing on a "historic" and "american owned" hotel off of Route 66 that advertised a $24.99 nightly rate and smelled like curry, we settled into a room at a Motel 6 in Tucumcari, New Mexico, just shy of the Texas border.

Radio

You know, you might think that the in-between places in the US where there is only one radio station broadcasting would somehow play the very best music available. However, you would be wrong.

Don't Sing!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town was on the car radio, and Papa was singing along.

Sarah: Papa, don't sing!

Payson

You know, Payson kind of looks a lot like our corner of Ohio. Lots of trees, hills, curves, and even some pretty rocks.