Fresh Mountain Air

We left Gilbert Tuesday afternoon and decided to drive through Globe to get up to Lakeside since Jeff had never driven that way. We usually go through Payson since it's a wider road and doesn't wind around as much. However, Jeff was complaining about his eyes hurting so I took over driving and immediately he and the boys were asleep until we reached the Salt River Canyon so he missed most of the drive anyway.
We were about an hour away from Lakeside when it clouded over and we saw huge bolts of lightning. Then we hit a huge downpour of wonderful, refreshing mountain rain! That smell, that wonderful smell of rain here that is so unlike Oregon. I think it's from the rain falling on actual dirt, not like in Oregon when it rains on lush undergrowth. That smell brought back so many memories and I really felt like I was coming home. I wish I could bottle the smell of fresh rain and keep it with me.

This picture was taken at the Mogollon Rim overlook near my parents house.
We got in just before 7pm and my mom was rushing out the door to a Relief Society meeting where they were learning how to use digital cameras. I decided to go since we just got a Cannon Digital Rebel and I really don't know how to do anything but use the auto mode. It turned out to be really informative and I learned a lot about my camera. I did struggle to stay focused (and awake!) after an hour of sitting since I was so tired.