play date...

in the past week and a half i've had only one day off. boo hoo me, i know. i was determined to spend that one day doing something outdoorsy though so i gave matt the task of planning an adventure. a road trip out of the HOT city was suggested and everything fell into place after that.

the destination we decided on was payson, az. neither of us had really been there so we figured it was as good a place as any to start. on the way we saw signs for Saguaro Lake so we took a short detour to check it out. we have been curious of the fishing situation in az for some time and this lake could be a possibility for us in the future. however we did not stay long and back on the road we enjoyed the vast desert scenery. before we knew it we were in payson and about five minutes later we were already gone because there was nothing there that we were interested in. ha! what a trip! not to worry though, the friendly visitor's center gave us a few different options so away we went.

a few miles up the road was the Tonto Natural Bridge. this was very cool. i definitely recommend checking it out if you're ever in the area. it was surrounded by several different hiking trails with great views from all angles.

they even let this pregnant chick in birkenstocks hike.

view of the bridge from the other side, complete with waterfall.

matt enjoying the views.

from there we drove north and visited the towns of pine and strawberry. they were smaller and even less interesting to us than payson. but we'd never been there so it was something to do. the best part of driving up there was the road side jerky we bought. :) yum! our afternoon wasn't quite over though so made the drive out to Roosevelt Lake. it was worth the drive too because who could ever imagine a lake so big in the middle of the desert? needless to say we've found another place to go fishing and perhaps even camp.

before we knew it it was time to head home...but who would have guessed that our choice in routes would be the biggest adventure of the day? certainly neither of us. we choose what we thought would be the shortest route. a short cut through the mountains on an unpaved road that stretched for twenty two miles. no, we didn't have a jeep (although that would have been awesome!!) no, it probably wasn't obgyn approved. yes, it took us much longer than the highway would have. and yes, we loved most of every second of it. the views were absolutely gorgeous and could have rivaled the grand canyon. it was that beautiful.

it was the best day off i've had in a long time.