Escape the Heat in the White Mountains!

At the end of June, Vince and I had an opportunity to get out of town for 3 nights.  We shared a 2 bedroom, 2 bath cabin in Pinetop with good friends, Debbie and Bob McMillan.  They are fairly new transplants from Michigan to Arizona living, and had not seen the northeastern section of our state.  We were glad to spend a few days with them.

 
Each couple brought along some snacks, beverages and lunch food to share, and we planned to eat dinner out each evening. We left Gilbert by 6:00 a.m. on June 27, and were eating breakfast at the Beeline Cafe in Payson by 8:00.  By 10:30 we were cruising the aisles of the local Safeway in Pinetop to pick up last-minute supplies before checking in at the cabin.  The cabin was clean, comfortable, and had some unique furnishings...

On Friday we headed to Lee Valley Reservoir, a favorite spot for fly-fishing in past years.  Not much luck for the guys here, but some good practice learning to fly-cast for Bob.

Stopped at Sheeps Crossing next, along the Little Colorado River...and Bob had success landing a trout here (unfortunately, the little guy escaped from the net before the picture was taken.

Saturday we headed out early to eat breakfast at Darbi's, a favorite place for Vince.  We enjoyed eating on their outdoor deck..

Found the trailhead for the Rim Trail, and had a fun "hike" and enjoying the outdoors before it was too warm...

We then headed to Greer to show them the quaintness of that area...and we all enjoyed the beauty of the area....walking along the Little Colorado enjoying the wildflowers and wildlife!

This little hummingbird entertained us at "The Rendezvous" in Greer where we stopped for a cold beverage...you can see the fire damage from a few years ago on the mountain.

Vince drove us to the Greer Lakes for our picnic lunch...and we experienced a monsoon storm; thunder, wind and rain included.  We were dry under the ramada, but were able to witness an osprey in action as it dove into the lake and came up with the prized trout for his dinner...amazing to see that up close and personal!  (No photos because I wasn't fast enough to grab the camera in time.) The storm brought such a wonderful drop in the temperature...it was in the 70's in Greer after the rain (and in the Valley, the temperature had soared to 119 on that same day!)

We enjoyed playing cards and "Sequence" on the deck in the evenings when it cooled off.  Lots of life and family stories were shared on the weekend.  It was hard to come back to the heat, but we are grateful for the short escape we did enjoy!