Snow Trip

Flagstaff was a three hour drive from our house. Not too far to go have a snowball fight! Joey bundled up in his coat and a couple pairs of socks over his hands. (gloves were hard to find in Phoenix). He had a blast getting cold and wet. We didn't get to stay more than half an hour though. Tim called, he was sick and needed a ride home from work.

This page started with the "Joey" embellishment. I know it's backwards, but I was playing with a stencil that I found in my stuff. I used sponged daubers to put the letters on and then doodled around 'em. I liked it so I used the ticket corner punch and matted it then added the brads and wire. A little more doodling with the Sigmo gel pen and I couldn't stop. So I use the same papers again and made the page. Finally, I looked through Joey's photos to find a couple that worked with the page.

Before you ask... "Why on earth would you drive three hours to let the kids play for 30 minutes?" Let me explain.

Phoenix is hot. Everybody knows this, but if you have never experienced 114° (or higher on some days) in a desert then let me try to help you imagine it. "It's a Dry heat." everyone says. Which is supposed to mean that it's not so bad. Yeah, don't fall for it. It's true, to a point of about 105°. After that it just doesn't matter anymore. Every breath is hot air going in and it feels like you are in an oven, or a blast furnace as Robert puts it. Sweat is sucked away as soon as it emits from your pores. I saw it raining one summer. The clouds were there, the dark haze underneath it proved the rain was falling. It never reached the ground though. Not a drop of it fell on my head.

In Winter it cools down to about 70°. Some days it got down to around 50° to 60°, but it would warm up again by noon. You could tell the newbies who had not adjusted yet. They swam in the winter or went without coats. That was us when we arrived there in December 1999. We were swimming that very night and every day that winter. No jackets needed. It was awesome. The heat of summer blasted that from us though. By the winter of 2002 we needed something to wash away the heat of two blasting summers.

To answer that question of who would drive three hours to play in the snow... Phoenicians would.. even if it was cut short they'd tell you the trip was worth it. I know Joey would!

Till next time,