i heart ... middle-of-nowhere, arizona

while my aunt carol was in town
she asked my dad to take us on a road trip
to visit his property in middle-of-nowhere, arizona.

on our way we stopped to take in this beautiful view

from the mogollon rim.

when i got out of the car

look what i saw!

maybe the only snow i'll see this year!

and now,

middle-of-nowhere, arizona!

we just drove around the property.

there's nothing there.

but it's pretty!

oh wait,

there is something there.

there's this skull tied to a tree.

why do the boys in my family like dead things so much?

while we were driving, carol asked what kinds of animals live in the area.

i said i just hoped there were no mountain lions!

those things are scary!

they will silently stalk you and you don't know they are there until it's too late.

we didn't see any mountain lions (until later),

but we did see some cows (that had trespassed from another ranch)...

... and we also saw javelina

(see him on the other side of the water, running behind the tree?)

there were 5 of them, but my camera wasn't fast enough.

in town, we drove by this beautiful church.

there was a cemetery behind the church

which of course we had to explore.

i thought this was really pretty.

i guess they couldn't afford a proper headstone.

have you ever eaten lunch next to
a kodiak bear and a caribou.
dead ones?
well we did.

at the antler's cafe.

i don't know how i did it.

i should win some kind of award.

the food was actually good!

and what in the heck is this all about?

remember how i said earlier that i didn't want to see a mountain lion?

well, what do you know?
there he is.
sitting above the t.v.
of course!

driving around middle-of-nowhere
we saw some interesting signs.

this is my personal favorite:

umm... why is there a bicycle and a coffee pot on top of this sign?

"go away".

i thought cowboys were supposed to be friendly.



we left middle-of-nowhere, arizona

and drove to small town, arizona

to have a quick visit with my brother and his family.

but first we stopped by

my great-great grandfather's house

which is now a museum.

then we stopped by his statue

(that's him standing in front of the wagon.

his name is jesse n. smith

and in the wagon is ira hinckley

who is gordon b. hinckley's grandfather)

(umm, i don't know if i should tell you this,

but paris hilton is also a descendant of jesse n. smith,

but let's just keep that between you and me.

i'm not sure if he'd want you to know that!)

also there are statues of my great-great-great grandparents

lucy and william jordan flake.

on the right is erastus snow.

after our little diversions

we made it to my brother's house

where i smothered these little munchkins with kisses!!!

and finally,

on our way out of small town, arizona

we drove by the temple

(do you see the moon to the left of the temple?)

.