Photo of the Day: Going Down Memory Lane ... er, Um, I Mean Memory Dirt Road

Camera: Canon 5D | Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Setting: f/16, 1/100th sec, ISO 100
An early family photo with our old standby adventure vehicle

November, 2008.  This baby is straight from the Stephens Family Photo Archives.

That Jeep is the very same one that Brooke and I drove on our honeymoon 7 years ago this week.  Happy anniversary, darlin'.

That weekend in 2003, we embarked on a road trip through Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon.  But not before a time-honored traditional night in an overpriced hotel room complete with candles, a really big bed, and complimentary newlywed breakfast in the morning.

Then we also drove this Jeep down to Mexico for our first anniversary.  San Carlos, to be more precise.  Brooke just wrote about it earlier.

I swear, I remember the night I bought that Jeep.  I was living in a decent apartment with my Italian buddy, Tiamo, in south Phoenix. It was July 31, 2002. The first thing I did was let my old friend Russ talk me into flipping down the rag top before leaving the dealer lot. And we promptly drove to Brooke's apartment on Dorsey and Southern.  Russ hopped into the back seat and said, "The front's yours, Brooke."

Yep.  And she's been in that front seat for nearly 150,000 dusty miles now.

On our first wedding anniversary, we spent a long weekend in Mexico.  We rented kayaks and snorkeling gear -- paddled out to distant beach with a sweet spot for viewing the sealife underwater. I remember we paddled back to town, returned the kayaks, and then drove out of town to find a remote beach.  Which we found.  We parked, swam in the Sea of Cortés until the sun went down, then drove back to San Carlos for dinner.  Strolling mariachis sniffed us out and I'm damn certain I paid them cold, hard cash for a really bad version of Rocky Mountain High because I'd already had a few swills of Patron Silver.

The next morning Brooke drove the first leg home, as I recall.  We were driving north on the highway toward Hermosillo when a car just stopped on a dime without warning, right in front of us. Brooke jerked the wheel left, then over-corrected two times causing the Jeep to lose grip on one tire, evidenced by the squeal of rubber on concrete.  I just knew we were going to roll.  I grabbed the wheel and pointed it straight until the Jeep stopped rocking back and forth.  That was almost the demise of this Jeep.  We made it through.

Well, as you can see, full hearts and insurmountable love produced a third. Chloe was born in our fourth year of marriage. Depending on how you look at it, that was either really quick, or really slow.

I think it'd be cool if Chloe got to drive that Jeep when she turns 16. She could run around the back roads of Arizona with her friends making memories of their own.

They're worth every penny.