I spent this past weekend at a friend’s cabin in Forest Lakes, Arizona. Forest Lakes is about 2 1/2 hours northeast of Phoenix and is a favorite area for many desert dwellers to take refuge from the heat in the cool mountain air. When we arrived on Friday morning it was rainy and so chilly that we lit a fire and put on our sweaters – a complete opposite of the stifling heat and humidity we had left behind at home.
The weekend was completely relaxed, especially as I had no phone or Internet service for the entirety of the stay. At first I felt a bit anxious about being disconnected from the world, but it really didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would and I enjoyed the sense of isolation. We hunted for geodes, which litter the ground around the cabin, took walks on the mountain roads, played darts, talked and, of course, read. I managed to finish my first book in over a month while there (March by Geraldine Brooks).
On Sunday afternoon we drove to Willow Springs Lake, about 15 miles from the cabin, and I took photos and read while my friends fished. They caught a few trout and a sunfish before storm clouds rolled in and we went back to the cabin for lunch before packing up and heading back to Phoenix.
Following are a few photos from the weekend:
I hope you all had a great weekend too. What are you reading this week?
A Certain Fondness 
That looks lovely! I’ve always thought of Arizona as so much desert, so it’s interesting to me to see that you have areas like this, too.
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Arizona has a lot of desert, but there are some really gorgeous mountain areas with pine trees and aspen in the northern part of the state. It’s very diverse!
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Beautiful photos! I’ve been through this region of Arizona once and thought it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. So how did you like “March?” I’m curious because I was never able to get into it. I am still in my reading slump, but am determined to finish “Middlemarch” if it’s the last thing I do.
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I think it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen too! I adore the pines. I really liked March. It did take me a few tries to get going with it, but it finally clicked. I thought it was beautiful and heartbreaking.
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It sounds like a lovely trip, and a good break! I’m so jealous that you could just find geodes on the ground. I’ve always wanted to find one. I’ll be curious too, to see what you made of March.I had mixed feelings, myself.
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The geodes were everywhere! They weren’t hard to find at all. And there were fossilized shells also. I was fascinated.
I liked March. I think the writing was outstanding and the story really punched me in the gut. We’re discussing it in my book club on Tuesday and I can’t wait to see what everyone else thought of it.
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I think we all need to go somewhere now and again without internet access, jus to remind ourselves that we can live with out it.
It looks a lovely place, I love the idea of fires and sweaters and curling up to read!
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It was nice not having access to social media for a few days. I love it, but I also enjoyed focusing on the natural world and the people in front of me.
I read on the porch while the rain dripped through the pine trees. It was heaven!
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Oh, it looks beautiful! It sounds like a lovely, restful trip.
This week I’ve been reading Sarah Waters’s new book, The Paying Guests, and loooooved it; and now I’m reading this delightful, jokey history of Germany, called Germania. The two books couldn’t be more different, but both wonderful in their separate ways.
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Very diverse reads for you this week! I started The Paying Guests, but though I love Sarah Waters, I’m having trouble getting into it. I really believe it’s because of the digital format – I think I’ll wait until it comes out in paper to finish it.
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I’m so pleased to hear you had a relaxing break. Forest Lakes looks so beautiful. I have just come back from a holiday in France where I went internet and blog free for the whole time. It was nice to be unconnected for a while.
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Your holiday in France sounds wonderful! I can’t imagine missing the Internet while in France.
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What a beautiful place to visit! I would love to do exactly what you did, go off the internet for a weekend. Must have been relaxing. Right now I am reading “The Secret History”by Donna Tartt and can’t put it down.
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I loved The Secret History for many reasons, but also had issues with it – kind of the same way I felt about The Goldfinch. She fascinates yet repels, I think.
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That is my idea of the perfect weekend, all those trees in Arizona are a surprise to me and I love hunting for special stones too. I’ll be internet free for a while soon too.
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Are you going on vacation to an isolated place? I think it is really good for us.
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Forest looks beautiful. Perfect holiday for catching up with reading. Fascinated by the crystal geode.
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Geodes are everywhere in this part of Arizona – I felt like a nerdy little kid hunting for them but it was so fun.
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