State Route 88

Lately we have wanted to get out of the city for a day and get some fresh air... and yesterday seemed like a great day to do it! So we jumped in the car and picked a spot on the map...we decided to head North to Payson, AZ (located in the Tonto National FOREST) because we have flown in there before but never ventured around the city much. Away we went... and 2 hours later found ourselves sorely disappointed. There were no nice forested areas to take a drive in, as we had hoped for (the airport is kind of forested, but that was it), and in fact, Jeremy and I agreed that the folks of Payson looked scarier than some that we would see in Phoenix. I'm not joking! So with Rebekah questioning what our knowledge of a forest was, and Me jumping at the car locks every time someone would walk by the car- we decided to head back in the direction we came. Jeremy suggested instead of taking the highway we traveled up on, that we take the State Route 88 back down south... so that is what we did- and it turned out to be such a fun day! First we stopped at Lake Roosevelt and went to the visitor center were Rebekah made instant friends with the nice ladies at the front desk... we also stopped and enjoyed learning about the dam. As we continued the journey past the dam, the road turned into dirt and became narrow. The dirt road took us along the bank of the river, through Fish Creek Canyon (gorgeous!), through Tortilla Flat, AZ (population: 6), and past a really neat ghost town. We have heard that the drive through the canyon is not for the faint of heart, and it is true. As we were at the bottom of the canyon checking out the sites, Jeremy was showing me the road going up the canyon that we would be driving out on and he noticed that there was a wrecked vehicle still on the side of the canyon- it had previously gone off the road and I guess they didn't find it necessary to pull it out. (thanks honey, for pointing that out to me!) HA HA! But anyway- we really enjoyed smelling the wild flowers and the dead skunk on our journey... and almost felt like we were back home in Idaho!