LETTERS & E-MAIL

December Issue Your December 2003 issue was the best ever! I cannot get to Arizona often enough, and the stories about the Grand Canyon were well worth the price of the magazine.

What a disappointment! In the 70-plus years of my life, the December issue of Arizona Highways has always been part of the Christmas tradition. Last week as I rotated magazines, I thought, Oh, I wonder when the Christmas Highways will get here to brighten this gloomy November weather in Ohio? Well, the December 2003 issue came and brightened nothing. Most pictures are misty or foggy. Nothing bright or sunny. Bright or sunny is Christmas for those of us who grew up in Arizona.

Every month I await the arrival of your magazine with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Anticipation because of the beautiful photographs and the interesting articles your magazine contains, and dread because of the homesickness I know each issue will provoke. My family and I lived on the Grand Canyon's South Rim for seven years, as well as a short time in Tucson. You outdid yourself with the amazing photographs of the Grand Canyon in your December 2003 issue, and also drove a knife of homesickness right through my heart.

For years I've wanted - prayed - to see the Grand Canyon. With this issue, I believe I'm seeing the Canyon as close-up as if I actually were there.

Your December 2003 issue is the best ever. When I first saw articles about orchid cacti in your magazine in the 1940s, I thought that you would

Arizona Highways Goes to Television

Each Saturday, a half-hour television show that takes its cue from Arizona Highways magazine, will air in both English and Spanish in Arizona. The TV shows, produced independently, will cover the same topics readers enjoy in the magazine, especially unique Arizona adventures and places off the beaten path.

The programs will air in English at 6:30 P.M. Saturdays on Channel 12 in Phoenix and Channel 2 in Flagstaff and at 4:30 P.M. Sundays. The Spanish broadcasts are at 10:30 A.M. Saturdays on Channel 33 in Phoenix, Channel 52 in Tucson and Channel 13 in Flagstaff. Robin Sewell, former news anchor for Channel 15 in Phoenix, will host the show.

I soon run out of material and have to close down. How wrong I was!

Visiting Snowflake I enjoyed your recent article on the town of Snowflake ("Christmas in Snowflake," December '03). It brought back fond memories. I was in the University of Arizona band in the spring of 1951 when we toured the state. We did a concert in Snowflake, and then stayed overnight in local homes. My friend and I stayed with Mr. Snow, grandson of one of the founders of the town. We had a delicious venison steak - for breakfast!

Urban Areas To the disappointed folks from Fort Bragg, California ("Letters & E-mail," December '03, about the crowded urban areas), I would suggest that they totally avoid Phoenix, and anywhere on an interstate highway. Visit Alpine, Payson (the Mogollon Rim), Williams, Flagstaff or even Tucson. We have loved and visited Arizona for more than 40 years. From the deserts to the forested green mountains of northern and eastern Arizona, there is much to see and love.

Harvey Butchart I was pleased to read Craig Childs' December 2003 article "Below the Rim," and the references to my friend of almost 40 years, Harvey Butchart. I hiked quite often with Harvey, and it was Harvey who introduced me to the art of running the river on an air mattress. My friends and I made many such runs during the 10 years prior to 1970, at which time the Park Service caught on to us.

I greatly enjoyed the article "Below the Rim" and its references to Dr. Harvey Butchart. I first met Butchart almost 40 years ago when I was a high school student in a National Science Foundation summer math program at Northern Arizona University. He met us at the airport, and to my mistaken 16-year-old eyes, I thought he looked too thin, small and weathered to carry my suitcase for me. As the summer went on and he led us (well, he ran ahead while we eagerly tried to catch up) on fantastic hikes in the canyons and mountains, I realized I had totally misjudged him.

Butchart became one of my most admired and most unforgettable characters. I was glad to hear he had a long life, and I pray that his heaven is not wispy clouds but exciting canyons, chess games and math puzzles.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS