Mountain Girl

I've always felt a bit guilty for not having more of an allegiance to my home state, Arizona. Everywhere I go people talk about their home state with pride, people from Colorado think their state is the coolest, Texans think their state is amazing, Californians don't understand why people would live anywhere else, people from Utah literally don't ever move away, Montana people miss their big skies, and folks from Idaho miss their potatoes. But I've never felt that way about AZ. I've never missed it or wanted to go back. But recently I've realized the one holdover I have from growing up in AZ is my love for the mountains. I grew up in the shadow of Mount Lemmon in Tucson, my family spent all the summer holidays at our cabin on Mount Graham. When I moved to Utah I fell in love with Flonette Mountain in Spanish Fork and Mapleton Mountain in Springville, Brian and I even took our engagement pics in the beautiful Aspen Groves at Sundance with the towering Mount Timpanogas in the background. I'm starting to think that part of the reason I didn't like living in CA was because there were no real mountains near where I lived. The mountains here in Utah are majestic, whether snow-capped and tinged pink in a winter sunset, or bright green on an early spring day, or a patchwork of yellow and red in the fall. And that mountain air. I love the smell of fresh pine and clean air. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into camping or roughing or anything like that. I like my showers and my nice comfy bed thank you very much. But I do love living in the city but I also love being able literally get away from it all in less than 15 minutes. I'm probably too much of city girl but I'm definitely a mountain girl at heart.

Here are some photos from our mountain drives these past few weeks.

How about you? City or country? Ocean or mountains?