ARIZONA ROADTRIP

ARIZONA ROADTRIP

For Thanksgiving 2017 my family and I decided to do a road trip beginning in Phoenix and ending in Las Vegas over six days.

We flew into Phoenix first and stayed at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn for our first night. The Inn sits nestled into the mountains and the grounds are covered in succulents and cacti, while the rooms blend with the natural landscape. One of my favorite things to do when going on a trip is to wake up before the sun rises, get a cup of coffee, and wait outside for the sun to rise. It’s such a relaxing, fresh start to the day and often when I get some of my favorite shots of the first morning light.

Once awake, we hiked the nearby mountain trail at Camelback overlooking Phoenix. The hike takes a few hours especially if you like to stop and take pictures of every single rock like I do. That evening we went to explore the botanical gardens (a family favorite of ours) and had dinner once the sun sank down.

The next day consisted of driving from Flagstaff to Sedona, which is where I took that beautiful shot of the sunset and mountains through the car window. Typically when we drive for a few hours to the next place I use the time to edit the photos taken in the previous place. Sometimes I’ll forget to look up for a while, but some of my favorite shots have come from the moment I look up from the computer and see something incredible. This was one of those. I can still remember the feeling I had when looking at the golden light melting over the mountains in awe, hearing the radio playing the background.

We stayed in the little town of Sedona and wandered the little shops and restaurants the first night we arrived. For the next entire day we spent our time hiking around the Red Rock State Park.

Once leaving Sedona, we knew we wanted to head to Monument Valley next but wanted to see what we could find along the way. We ended up hearing about an old Gold Mine Ghost Town up in the hills of Jerome and decided to make a stop. The owner for years loved to collect old cars and old mining equipment from places all over the US. I LOVED this place. You’re in the middle of nowhere in the mountains and all of a sudden you come across this lot filled with so many old cars tucked around every corner and hill. It felt like a place that was tucked away from another time.

The next stop was to Monument Valley. Another one of my favorite moments and shots was the capture of the sunset with the moon. We were leaving the Valley and were all in chumming moods content with another great day, singing to music with my feet up on the dash watching the sun begin to set. The colors continued to get even more vibrant across the sky like they were painted and the moon began to shine through. I took the photos thinking there was no possible way I was able to capture what I actually saw, but to my surprise when I was pulling the photos later that night I was able to capture every ounce of that moment.

The next few days we explored Antelope Canyon (those middle three photos aren’t filtered whatsoever by the way), Lake Mead, Horseshoe Bend, and the Grand Canyon National Park. We finished by arriving in Las Vegas the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day. We hiked the Red Rock Canyon Thanksgiving morning and visited Seven Magic Mountains. It truly was a trip I will never forget.

-MAE