I stumbled across this cool photographic tribute to America on Zara.com and I thought it would be fitting with my upcoming departure from the U.S. to post what photos and memories I have from my travels through the states ...

Manana, AZ June 2007

Arizona

I think of Arizona each March, when I'm in the depths of cabin fever. I think of tumbleweeds and rainbow-colored sunsets, long and straight roads and a dry heat.

It was at the Grand Canyon I saw the clearest night sky, dotted with diamonds small and smaller. It was the most breathtaking thing I'd seen, and I promised I'd be back.

In 2007, I drove through and tried to capture the eerie twilight hour, though I wasn't too successful.

Since I first visited in 2000 or so, I've thought there was something very romantic about Arizona in its smoldering heat and earthiness. There is something about the Southwest that makes me feel closer to the earth and nature in an almost sensual way.

I remember prickly pear cactus, pink sand, startling landscapes, deep ravines, sherbet striations in rock, slow-moving dust storms ...

I definitely want to go back ... I've only seen Phoenix from the freeway, Tucson briefly, Scottsdale never.