Takin' a Road Trip to the Past

This summer, my little sister Wendy Jo Smith lived in my basement. But, she had to get back down to Eastern Arizona College for work and school and she didn't want to drive back by her little self SO I volunteered myself for a little road trip back to EAC- my favorite little school in my favorite little town of Thatcher, Arizona. I had some of the best times of my life at that little school but it has been almost nine years since I've been there. The last time I drove through on a road trip with Emily Spencer during the Salt Lake City Olympics... yep, that was a while back! Anyway, we packed all her stuff in her little car, googled a map and headed off. We took the 191 route which is my favorite because it is little traffic and lots of scenery- that also means the Reservations and HOGANS! I just took pictures of hogans because Zach loves them. :)

These were some good ones- though I missed the Barbie hogan, a pink house and hogan all together!

Here's little Wendy driving and her tongue after eating a million starbursts... We did eat at a Mickey D's in Round Valley and then drove through the mountains 'watching' for animals, trucks, cows, horses, deer, and rocks... We saw ALL of them, the animals including rabbits, owls, bats, and some big black bear or wolf or something running into the bushes. We even saw the arrow tree! It was too dark to take a picture but it is still an impressive site- imagine coming around the bend of a mountain road to see a single dead pine tree pointing heaven-ward with no branches, but ARROWS up and down it's length! Did you get that visual? After a good 14 hours, Wendy was ready to cry tears of joy at arriving in the long awaited Gila Valley!

And we finally made it! Here's me and the lovely sign- if you look closely you can see the Gila Monster with the cowboy hat and guns. That's Gila Hank, yo!

Here are my dorms- first year in the fancy new dorms, second in the cheapies. I loved those old dorms with their orange carpet and orange velvet drapes! Plus the fact that I didn't have to clean bathrooms or kitchens and the cafeteria was across the sidewalk... Yum, the cafeteria! (I am NOT a picky eater :)

And this is the new part of campus- the bell tower, the humanities building and the administration building. I even saw Heston Welker working there...

The day after Wendy and I arrived, my original FAMILY came! Mom, Dad and Cindy brought the rest of Wendy's school stuff and we did a little tour of campus, swam at the hotel pool and went to dinner with a family friend, Leah McMullin. I used to babysit her when she was 2... Yep, I'm still getting older!

To conclude the trip, we took a little drive past the new GILA VALLEY TEMPLE which already has walls up. I'm so excited, I'm already planning another trip to come back for the open house!

I also waved my hellos to beautiful Mt. Graham. I love this perfect little mountain!

Then, we said good bye to Wendy and left her in the FIRE HOUSE by Goodmans, and Cindy and my parents drove me to El Paso to catch a plane home. Sadly, they made it home before I did!

This is a view of Mexico from the freeway- tiny little box houses of all different colors...and a HUGE cross on top of the mountain.

The first flight to Phoenix was horribly bumpy and it took the whole 45 min. layover for me to not be nauseous anymore. Then second flight was in a bigger plane and not half as bad, besides I had a window and could see the fabulous GRAND CANYON as we flew over it. It is amazing! But, descending into Salt Lake, we hit all kinds of turbulence and, I found out later, there were fires burning all around the air port... Here is the picture of the sky from my plane window:

I was SO glad to get on the ground and, after hours of mis-communication, to find my sweet boys! I missed them SO much and I am stickin' around for a while now! (Though, tonight, Hyrum said he doesn't mind it when I leave because then he doesn't have to do his jobs...hmm, that needs to be fixed!) And that is the end of the road trip story!