The Many Faces of Arizona

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Jeremy and I decided we needed to get out of the house, so we loaded up the dogs and took a day trip on some scenic Arizona roads to find some snow. I haven't gotten to be in the snow since our trip to Iowa for Christmas in 2008 (Jeremy got snow in Afghanistan), so I was overdue for some slushy fun! We ended up doing a nice scenic drive. We found some snow, and we found some more of what Arizona has to offer. Unfortunately, our scenery was cut short due to a flat tire taking up the last bit of our sun. We were on the steep, curvy, portion of Hwy 89A between Jerome and Prescott when we stopped at a scenic overlook to snap a photo and walk the dogs when I heard the hissing coming from our rear passenger tire. Sure enough, there was a giant screw stuck in it. After much deliberation (and some help from a friendly stranger), Jeremy managed to get the spare from under the truck....just to find that the tire iron that came with the truck does not fit the lugs that are on the truck. Lucky for us, we were in a scenic outpost where the ground was flat, there was a lot of room, and many people were stopping to take some photos. A couple stopped that happened to have 3 different tire irons and, thankfully, one of them fit! Jeremy got the tire changed and we came out of the mountains just in time to see the last bit of sunset over Prescott Valley. The rest of the drive was curvy mountain roads, but in the dark all I could see was some rocks. We will have to take the trip backwards sometime to see what there is to see. We drove some roads that we have never been on in all our years in Arizona and were quite pleased at what we saw. Looks like some more scenic day trips will be in our future! If you wanted to replicate out trip, we took highway 87 out of Fountain Hills to Payson, and continued on 87 through Pine and Strawberry. We got onto Lake Mary road (or fire Rd 3 or Co Rd 209) and took it through Happy Jack and up to Flagstaff. In Flagstaff, we took Hwy 89A south through Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona, and continued on 89A through Cottonwood, Jerome, and finally into Prescott Valley. There, 89A ends and we had to get on Hwy 89 through Prescott, Peeples Valley, and Congress, and connected with Hwy 93 just north of Wickenburg. From there it is a strait shot into Phoenix...93 turns into US 60, which turns into Grand Ave.

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