(new post - travel, photos) two animals, rocks, and a bridge
here today to launch a new genre of post on my blog. i'm not a professional photographer by any means, but like millions of other creatures i do have a camera - and i like capturing things that look nice.
a couple months ago, my girlfriend and i planned a trip around northern arizona. having gotten a taste of the area the year previous with mutual friends, we always tossed around going back to sedona again as a little weekend getaway - the time finally felt right once the fall weather hit and existing outside no longer felt like a nightmare. this trip had the dual purpose for me as a send-off of sorts to this region; like i say on my now page, i'm moving to a different part of the US soon, and because i mostly came here out of desperation, i never really went out of my way to learn about the beauty and history here. i've been fortunate to have a couple of local friends who've educated me about the O'odham and nearby Tongva stewardships of these and those lands, and some of the ecological workings; it helped deepen my understanding of those parts of the southwest, and get an appreciation for a place i was forced to go that i couldn't stand to be.
this vacation was my first time planning one with a partner, and it went really well! we started by leaving phoenix for camp verde, which is where we would stick around for the first day.
day 1

the second day was a lot busier.
day 2








after that, we drove back to our hotel in the dark. because so much of northern arizona is a dark sky spot and we went long stretches without anyone else on the road, i could actually almost see the milky way and i spent a lot of that ride with the window down, trying to stick my head out far enough to look up, transfixed by the sky above. i tried to get a good picture, but this is all i ended up with:

day 3
the whole trip was pretty touch and go, but the last day we were even less sure of what we were gonna do. i found the tonto natural bridge on google maps and was delighted, and then subsequently devastated when i realized it would add an extra 2 hours of driving on the way home - in the mountains. my girlfriend (the designated driver of the relationship) was very gracious though, and wanted to see the bridge with me. this was my favourite stop of the entire trip, and it's all thanks to her.



i had a really good time on this trip.
northern arizona is odd - it doesn't seem to be rural in the way some other sparsely-populated places are, especially not where i'm from. it's way more affluent, sub-urby, more consumerist. the bigger municipalities are very chic; aesthetically cutting-edge. the surrounding beauty is "preserved", but the life inside is curated. it almost feels a little defensive of itself. in a psychic shop, a security guard ignored the other patrons and followed us very closely until we left. as an indigenous person, there's a bit of a rancid vibe that i can't shake while trying to enjoy the sights up there; but you really, really can't beat those views.
for completionism's sake, i'll post a couple photosets from our 2023 sedona and grand canyon trip, as well. the weather was much more dreary and even a tiny bit snowy when we went, which i actually really loved!







another thing i love taking photos of is the storms here in phoenix, so i'll probably do a best-of with those next time i wanna share some pictures. as tough as it is to live in this climate, there are some really wonderful sights to be had. i'm glad i learned to appreciate it before it was too late.

(leave a comment on the blog post if you like! thanks for reading 🧡)