Procrastagram ( Arizona & California winter get-away 2012 )

Some people think the world is going to end in 2012. I'm glad to say I don't share that opinion, for if I did then it would mean the end of annual trips to the southern United States in the winter months. Nah son. I'm going again and again.

This year I met up with my re-occurring skate travel crew ( Andrew, Willy, Suskibeatz etc... )and followed them to over 10 backyard pools in Tucson and Phoenix. You can't stick around for long at each pool, so except for a few timid carves here and there, I mostly shot photos of the homies who knew what they were doing. Willy just turned pro for 5BORO and he was all-in at every spot... the proof is in the photos below.

Above : Drew gets a bite of gold dust.

Above : Willy gets a crail in the deep.

Early in the trip I drove 9 hours up to Santa Barbara to meet up with no other than Frank Tanklin and Cam Wisehorse for the premiere of the new Bones Brigade documentary.... we even got a personal tour of the Powell factory by George Powell himself, a great experience all around.

Above, left to right : Mike McGill, Alan Gelfand, Tommy Guererro, Rodney Mullen, Stacy Peralta, Steve Caballero, Craig Stecyk and Lance Mountain at the Santa Barbara premiere of The Bones Brigade Documentary. ( Photo: Daniello ... on the G-Nizzy )

Above : Quick stop to buy records in L.A. and I got a chance to see the Hollywood sign.

Below: This sign was right behind me when I shot the other photo above.

Above : Rolled into San Diego for a day on the way back to Tucson and met up with brother Hoffart for a quick skate and hang.... he's got some cute pups lurking around.

Below : This school was sick. There were perfect Cali tables in back that were set up after a nice bump, and this ramp to rail that Jordan easily heel flipped out front. Wish I had more time there...

Above : Foundation trooper Dakota Servold came out for a shred and was hopping up on this classic spot like it was ankle high. I hit the road for Tucson after he TCB'd that jam.

Above: Our good friend in Tucson and gracious host on many occasions, Jesse, has made some progress on his back yard concrete dreamland. Time trials went down...something like 8 seconds around the yard without pushing.

Below: The only photo of me from the trip is a pivot fakie on the smallest thing in the yard. Balls.

Above and below: It's hard to do pools justice in photos and video. These 2 photos can at least give you an idea of the steepness. JD was grinding off the 1st drop in.

Above: Willy, backside tailslide.

I may have been gone for 2 weeks, but it flew by. Next year I plan to stay for a month. There's some solid homies down in Arizona... big thanks to my folks, Suski, Jesse, Andrew, Willy, Steve, Brad, Jason, Jordan and everyone else for making it a memorable trip ! .... and can't forget Tula Faye !

WOOF !