May Comma The Very Merry Month of

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS MAY COMMA The Very Merry Month of

We have often been asked by many well-meaning and truly interested and serious askers what we feel is the most delightful month in Arizona. Our answer is a simple one but one that leaves us slightly out of breath. It is this: januaryfebruarymarchaprilmayjunejulyaugustseptember october novemberdecember. You can readily understand why such an utterance leaves one breathless. Months come and months go in our big land of so many fair colors, so delicately attuned and so responsive to a big sky of so many capricious, changeable, dramatic and elusive moods and whimseys. Each month wears many faces in our state, each face revealing itself to the viewer from the particular place and perspective from which he or she happens to be doing the viewing. In a big land embracing so many elevations, consisting of a terrain that changes its personality almost from mile to mile, it is hard to even sketch one of the month's many faces let alone paint an overall portrait that would do the whole subject justice. Each month has so much to offer, each month has something different to offer.

August is delightful, to us at least, when great, white, sky cloud castles drift lazily in over our hot and dry desert presaging rain, welcome rain. October, to us at least, is delightful when that Gorgeous Hussy, Autumn, wearing her golden slippers, comes dancing and frolicking through our higher forested areas leaving behind her great beauty and images never to be forgotten, to cherish forever.

May, whose dateline this issue carries, is a pleasant month in Arizona. Winter has left the higher elevations and summer has yet to arrive in desert lands. There is much to see and do in our fair land during May, but that is true of all the other months that drift by so leisurely year after year, year after year. Our May is a very, very merry month, indeed! But alas! So is januaryfebruarymarchapril mayjunejulyaugust september octobernovemberdecember! Phew...R.C.

COLOR CLASSICS FROM ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

35mm slides in 2" mounts, 1 to 15 slides 40 each; 16 to 49 slides, 35 each; 50 or more, 3 for $1.00. Catalog of previous slides issued made from photos used herein, available by writing to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, 2039 West Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85009.

"INVITATION FOR SUMMER FUN" BY WAYNE DAVIS. This photograph was taken at Sheep Crossing on the Little Colorado River in the White Mountains close to what is known as the Big Lake Road. This is a popular camping and recreation area and offers good trout fishing to summer vacationists. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f/16 at 1/25 sec.; 150mm Symmar lens; mid-morning on a beautiful day in mid-August.

PF-92 In the Long Logs Forest, cov. 1; WH-114 Invitation For Summer Fun, cov. 2; CC-59 Canyon Carving, cov. 3; L-239 Nelson Lake Near US 666, cov. 4; RI-61 Little Colorado In Mt. Baldy Area, p. 13; L-240 View of Shush Betou Lake, p. 14; L-241 Fall Comes to Christmas Tree Lake, p. 14; L-242 Invitation to Horseshoe Lake, p. 15; L-243 Morning At Earl Park Lake, p. 15; L-244 Lee Valley Lake, p. 16; L-245 Becker Lake, p. 16; L-246 Luna Lake Near Alpine, p. 16; L-247 Pine-Fringed Hawley Lake, p. 17; L-248 Summer Thunderhead, p. 17; L-249 Cloud-Filled Sky Over Crescent Lake, p. 17; IA-58 Apache Dancers At Whiteriver, p. 18; IA-59 Apache Maidens, p. 18; IA-60 Apache Roundup, p. 19; IA-61 Sprinkling Corn Pollen, p. 19; PF-93 In The Heart of Petrified Forest, p. 20-21; PF-94 View of Petrified Forest, p. 22; PF-95 Forest of Rock Logs, p. 22; PF-96 In Petrified Forest, p. 22; PF-97 Painted Tepees, p. 23; PF-98 Petrified Forest No Green Leaves, p. 23; PF-99 Jeweled Landscape, p. 23; TC-256 Portrait of a Sawmill, p. 24; WD-217 Lavish Floral Display Near Alpine, p. 25; RI-62 Little Colorado Near St. Johns, p. 25; RI-63 Lazy Little Colorado, p. 25; V-163 Standing Rocks in Chinle Valley, p. 26; L-250 Wheatfield Lake, p. 26; L-251 In Lyman Lake State Park, p. 26; V-164 In Beautiful Valley, p. 27; IN-168 Navajo Weavers, Canyon del Muerto, p. 27; IN-169 Navajo Family, p. 27; V-165 Gnarled Juniper and Slick Rock, p. 28.

"IN LONG LOGS FOREST - PETRIFIED FOREST NAT'L. PARK" BY WAYNE DAVIS. Petrified Forest National Park, which covers a considerable area in Navajo and Apache Counties, is one of Arizona's most spectacular scenic shrines. The story of the petrified logs shown here, according to geologists, began probably 150,000,000 years ago when earth upheavals and great floods washed huge living trees into a basin of water where they gradually became water-logged and covered with sand and gravel. Mineral laden waters turned what was once living wood into agate and carnelian. 4x5 Linhof camera; Ektachrome; f/32 at 1/25 sec.; 150mm Symmar lens; early afternoon in September; ASA reading 64.

ARIZONA'S HEARTLAND HIGHWAY