Arizona Highways Outdoes Itself

It seems like I've never been without Arizona Highways. When my parents and I lived in Florida all those years, oh so long ago, my Aunt Iola down in Phoenix started a gift subscription -- and I've been on the mailing list ever since.

The pictures are always beautiful, in an Arizona Highways sort of way that one begins to expect. That's why I was blown away by the January issue that just arrived. The theme: Arizona from the air, with articles about soaring over the desert in sail planes ... Charles Lindbergh selling the idea of archeological prospecting from the air...

... plus some of the most smashing photographs I've seen in years -- aerial views taken from a homebrew aircraft by one Adriel Heisey. This is the first time I've been tempted to take advantage of the magazine's offer to sell selected prints of photos that appear in its pages.

In particular, there is a view of Paria Canyon taken from straight overhead that looks like no photo you've ever seen of Paria Canyon. Yes, I am saying to go out and buy a copy of the magazine if you don't already receive it!

(That picture explains why I always choose a window seat when I fly -- in the years that I accompanied my Mom up to Victoria each summer, I got to know the Arizona/Nevada/ Oregon basin and range country from the air. Fascinating!)

All of this excitement led me to the magazine's website, where I found all kinds of goodies, including a photo portfolio, from which I borrowed the snippet above, as well as articles, trail guides and photography tips. Give it a whirl. And, if the sky is where you'd like to be, AH gave the URL for Venture Flight, a local hang-glider outfit. Me? I'm chicken. I'll settle for watching the hang glider pilots jump off Mingus or peering out the window of an Alaska Airlines plane six miles above the lonely, empty valleys and mountains of the Great Basin.