The University of Arizona Press
February 11, 2025
In Arizona Friend Trips, authors Lisa Schnebly Heidinger and Julie Morrison invite readers to explore the state’s most cherished places through a blend of poetry, prose, and photography. From the iconic landmarks to hidden gems, each chapter of this captivating travelogue provides a rich tapestry of historical insight, personal anecdotes, and emotional reflections, painting a vivid portrait of Arizona’s diverse landscapes and vibrant culture. Be part of this unique journey as Lisa and Julie embark on an unforgettable adventure, filled with laughter, nostalgia, and a deep appreciation for the beauty of the Grand Canyon State. Check out a few trip snapshots and stories from the book below.
Julie talks to tractor driver Jimmy Lewis who prepares the Sonoita Fairgrounds for quarter horse racing. Lisa observes, “Julie, as I know her, lives in my world but speaks the lingua franca and talks about sires and hands and races easily. I see for the first time the little girl who came down with her mother and got nervous before events and had ice cream afterward.”
Julie and Lisa replenish calories and liquids after a long hike in Navajo National Monument. Lisa writes, “Fortunately, while I stumble and melt down, Julie stays calm and encouraging, sharing her water, and resourcefully finding shade for rests that she calls with calm authority. I’m a dazed obeying mess.”
The authors walked the streets of Tombstone just like U.S. Marshall Wyatt Earp and Sheriff John Behan did in the 1880s. Lisa remembers, “We come here to feel. We want to absorb some sense of what it was like to watch the Earps and the Cowboys exchange about thirty gunshots in as many breathless seconds. We want to walk where the jingle of outlaw spurs seems just out of hearing.”
This storm made for a challenging drive on I-10, just east of Willcox. Lisa writes, “Streams spring up on each side of the road with standing water on the asphalt, so fast does the sky release the water. Driving gingerly, not because of bad road, but in fear of hydroplaning, we are at least not too nervous to appreciate the utterly transformed scenery we behold.”
At Tumacácori National Monument, Lisa reflects on who is missing from the narrative, “Written history of such a site tends to focus on the mission’s managers, Jesuits, but we are also aware that one man’s success comes at another’s cost. In the burial ground behind the mission, graves of the Natives, which far outnumber those of the padres, are unmarked. That makes the holiness harder to find.”
Lisa Schnebly Heidinger inherited her father’s “red-setter gene,” gladly jumping into any open car door regardless of destination in Arizona. Television, newspaper, and magazine reporting from all areas of the state, she’s authored twelve books on aspects of Arizona, including the official Centennial book, which was voted OneBookAZ. This led to speaking in libraries from Concho to Humboldt as well as the Tucson Festival of Books. She loves visiting Arizona’s iconic lodges and inns and says she’s never had a bad cup of coffee, although a pot brewed at Two Gray Hills Trading Post in the morning and consumed in the afternoon came closest.
Julie Morrison has an irrepressible need to know what’s around the next corner, even if she gets easily carsick. She is the author of Barbed: A Memoir as well as published short stories and essays. She’s had individual poems performed live and published, but this is her first collection. Still grappling with a travel bug, she has resided in four states outside and five cities inside Arizona, and has visited thirty-eight other states and twelve countries. She is a former transportation planner, rancher, and investments analyst, and current dog person, coffee drinker, and hat enthusiast.
