DEAR EDITOR

Hungry, Grateful Winners

Last summer in your trivia contest, we won a week at the Kay El Bar Dude Ranch in Wickenburg. What an experience. From the moment we arrived, we were treated like old family friends. The horses were matched to our experience and temperament. Each time the dinner bell rang, the path we beat to the dining room would put their fastest horse to shame.Our thanks to Arizona Highways and the Kay El Bar staff and wranglers and, not the least, to Pioneer and Nip, our horses.

Awe: 1-Hamburger: 0

The last two paragraphs of your February 2006 "All Who Wander" ("The Wild Watches With Golden Eyes the Choices We Make") summed up succinctly, pragmatically and emotionally the beauty and awe of nature vs. the practicality of today's life. I'll take beauty and awe anytime.Of course, a person can't live on awe alone-gotta eat something. On the other hand, I definitely get more calories than awe in my daily routine. So thanks for the support.-Ed.

Fish Tale

I'm a wretched fisherman, but my friends still talk about "the bass" I caught at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. My buddies all snickered when I pulled out my reel, figuring a fish dinner was about as likely as a Big Mac.Sure enough, I was trudging back to camp empty-handed when I noticed a faded can lost on a float trip floating near shore. In the twilight gloom, I could just make out the letters: B-A-S-S A-L-E. That night my backpacker friends weren't laughing as I savored something even better than fresh fish-a cold beer.

My kind of fish story. As river rats can tell you, one of life's perfect moments is pulling a can of beer out of the bag dangling under a Colorado River raft, perfectly chilled by the 62-degree water off the bottom of Lake Powell. But maybe I'm not supposed to admit that, being the editor and all. -Ed.

What an Insensitive Editor

What is "old"? I ask that you think about the woman you met while "dreaming ofpurple hillsides and last year's poppies" ("All Who Wander," March '06).

You wrote, "I go back down the trail to thank the old woman. .. I hope she reads this." I hope that she does not. She is NOT old. She has gotten herself to Arizona, alone, to visit her son, traveled our crazy roads and hiked into the mountains, alone. She has reached out to help the BOY who stumbled. He repays her kindness and the gentle story she shared by calling her OLD. Your lovely acquaintance does not sound old to me in any manner at all. I'm sure that you've hurt her feelings with your words, whether she would admit that you have or not.

Oh, no-I hope I didn't offend her. That would be awful. Of course, "old" seems like much more of a compliment than it did when I was young and arrogant and ignorant (I'm still ignorant, but definitely not young). Seems to me now that the things I value most are old (except the kids). Still, thank you for the reminder of the power of words and the importance of picking each one carefully. -Ed.Page 42 of your February 2006 issue refers to something called "scat." I never saw this word used in this context, and while it seems to imply excrement, the definition of scat in my Oxford American Dictionary is: scat = to depart quickly. Have you invented a new word? I can see the new bumper stickers now: SCAT HAPPENS.

Scat Happens

That's a real honest-to-goodness field biologist word for animal excrement and one of my favorites right up there with crepuscular. But if you see that bumper sticker, buy me one. Ed.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Arizona Highways magazine has inspired an independent weekly television series, hosted by Phoenix TV news anchor Robin Sewell. For channels and show times, log on to arizonahighways.com; click on "DISCOVER ARIZONA"; then click on the "Arizona Highways goes to television!" link on the right-hand side.