I-17 North

Sunday we took a drive to Page with Mom, Bob, Anders, Clementine, and myself.  Our destination was Page Springs Vineyards for an afternoon of tasting and eating.

The I-17 connects Phoenix to Flagstaff (Page is a bit south of there) and I've done this drive approximately one million times.  I used to live in Flagstaff, for those of you who don't know, when I attended NAU.  It's been a few years for me so I took extra time to appreciate the vastness of the landscape.  If you go all the way to Flagstaff, you gain about 7,000 ft in elevation and the changes in the scenery can be dramatic.

We listened to classic rock the whole way which I feel is highly appropriate road trip music.  

Mom and Bob also did a healthy amount of squawkin' at each other and I felt very happy this drive would end with many glasses of wine.

Mom feels I have misrepresented Phoenix by calling it flat.  Phoenix is a valley and is surrounded by mountains on all sides, so unless you actually live on a mountain or are in the process of climbing one, it's flat.  As soon as you get out of the city though, the mountains are everywhere.

I never thought twice about a Saguaro being unusual, but now I've been gone long enough to see how strange they could be.

After a half hour we are much higher into the mountains.

This bit is my favorite part of the drive.  It's difficult to convey through a blog, but after you go through this mountainy little pass, the landscape is like BAM different.  It feels like climbing onto a roof.

Suddenly you are in a flat open grassland, surrounded by a dark canyon.

We always wonder how this one got its name, so if anyone knows, please tell us!

Beautiful

After the turn off to Page, one sees that yes, there is actually a vineyard in Arizona.  

I had my suspicions!

Edit:  We didn't go to Page, we went to Page Springs and Cornville.  It's different!