I went to college in Flagstaff, Arizona, and I really wish my penchant for photography had blossomed when I was there. I developed a curiosity for it during my Black and White Photography class (pun intended!), but that was in my Sophomore year and was back in the day before digital cameras.

Now that I have a strong passion for photography, I really want to go back! Most of these were shot with my Ricoh, the SLR my mom bought me for my photography class, and scanned in, so the quality is not anywhere near what I wish it were. Which is why I want to go back ;-) That and I miss the west side.

This is a shot from my dorm room window my freshman year. Miss those mountains!

Snowbowl – Yes, it snows in Arizona. Campus was around 7k ft up and I think Snowbowl, at the top, was around 11k.

Lake Mary

Lots of Aspen trees in Flagstaff.

Sedona is about an hour south of Flagstaff. I spent many Saturdays driving down there and enjoying the scenery. It has the most amazing colors you will ever find in nature. These pictures in no way shape or form do it any justice. MUST GO BACK!

Bell Rock – probably the most recognizable formation in Sedona. This is maybe the only shot I have that actually comes close to the awesomeness that is Sedona.

Slide Rock – exactly like it sounds, a free, natural water park ;-)

Grasshopper Point – a popular place to go cliff diving. That was one of my roommates jumping. It’s exhilarating, to say the least!

Also nearby Flagstaff is the Grand Canyon. I would have gone more often, but the $20 entrance fee was a little steep for a poor college student. Again, NEED TO GO BACK AND TAKE BETTER PICTURES!

I went back to Arizona a couple of years after I graduated to go to a college roommates wedding (the jumper!) and a classmates’ baby shower. Even after living there for four years, I never made it to Lake Powell or Antelope Canyon, places I ended up driving to on a whim while I was back in town. WHY DIDN’T I SPEND MORE TIME EXPLORING WHEN I LIVED THERE?!?!

They are right on the border of Utah.

I’ve never seen a lake that color before.

There is an upper and a lower canyon. I don’t remember which I went to, but I do know it was the less popular of the two. The other one has the famous light streaming through it into a cave. Not.the.one.I.went.to! But the one I hiked was amazingly beautiful. Broken record; I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed to go back!

College would have been super boring had it not been for the beauty of Arizona.