Merrily Managing Our Mission Statement

Phoenix Area Part 2

Now for some of the fun stuff around Phoenix!  We spent two weeks in the vicinity and explored some exceptional regional parks, experienced new bourbon and chocolate, and boldly drove into places we shouldn’t have.  I already covered that last part, but a good friend of mine pointed out that scratches are the badges of adventure.  I love that and whereas I probably won’t shoot for more, it eases my mind a bit when I see them.

Arriving here instantly felt like home and so far this was our favorite set of stops on the trip.  The weather was perfect in the high 70’s to low 80’s, although our first outdoor lunch was met with a touch of wet stuff from the sky.  Just al li’l nod from Mother Nature.  If we could have found one place to stay here, this would have been a single two-week stop, but those darned snowbirds have all the good places filled up and we had to move around a bit.  That turned out great though staying in places we haven’t been yet.

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Apache Junction and Mesa

We stayed in our second 55+ resort and had real internet for the first time.  They actually gave us a cable modem to use!  You better believe I took advantage and caught up on all the downloads I was missing.  I was waiting for someone to knock on the door and tell me to stop it- but as I racked up the gigabytes the internet police never showed!  This area of Apache Junction seems to be built around either retired folks or snow-birds (who for that matter are also likely retired). Block after block consists of RV parks made up of the small ‘park model’ houses, interspersed with 5th Wheels and Motorhomes.  They are all completely full right now so the restaurants are also full by 4 pm.  

While staying here we spent an evening in Mesa where we met some friends for dinner at Steak and Stone, where the meat is severed raw on a 500+ degree stone.  You cook it to your liking at your table – it only takes a few minutes and a fun way to enjoy some ribeyes.  The only problem is conversation and cooking can be at odds and those steaks get done faster than you’d think just sitting on a rock!  

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Besides the old folks park, we camped at a regional park in Apache Junction.  Although close to town, it feels completely isolated.  The coyote calls at dusk and dark night skies easily convince you that you’re far from civilization.  Both here and Cave Creek have ‘cholla forests’ which are equally as odd as the Joshua trees.  The tall cholla (pronounce choya) cactus are known as ‘jumping cholla’ due their ability to lose their spines with a slight brush against them.  Not so much a defense mechanism as a way to pro-create, when animals brush the cactus a small piece can break off and stick to the animal.  When it eventually falls off somewhere else, a new cactus has the potential to spring up!  I remember during our first trip to AZ when I was 10, my dad stopped the old ‘66 Merc on the side of the road to take pictures of the cholla.  Minutes later he would learn of ‘jumping’ as it applies to cactus and he and my mom would spend the next 20 minutes picking spines from his clothing.  To my knowledge, no baby cactus ever took root in our car though.

Cave Creek and Scottsdale

Last time I mentioned we camped at Cave Creek Regional Park where the fire almost had us leaving early.  The park is a perfect little microcosm of the surrounding Sonoran Desert.  Huge 100+ year old saguaro (pronounce sawaro) cover the hillsides and at their base are the barrel and prickly pear cactus that together give the desert its signature post-card worthy landscape.  When the sun starts to set, the orange sky peppered with the silhouettes of these ancient desert flora is simply stunning.  

Cave Creek Regional Park is just off the Carefree Highway and as we traveled it several times to and from our camp spot, I probably haven’t sung Gordon Lightfoot lyrics this much since The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  The camp spaces in the park are huge by camping standards and we really had some room to spread out and take advantage of it.  We had been carrying a bike rack with us that we had purchased years ago when the kids were little.  Our old bikes long gone, I wanted to find some cheap ones along the way and with a Walmart not far from the park, we scored some bargain pedal power.  Back in the 90’s when we moved to Bellingham I started mountain biking, and like most things I get into, I go head over heels (literally, and several times) and it becomes a bit of an obsession.  Back then I’d hit the trails nearly every day.  It’s been a long time, but the paths leaving directly from this park allowed me to test my skills after all these years.  Winded and with shaky legs, I made it up my first fairly steep single track in over a decade.  A small mine and some sweeping vistas were the immediate reward, as well as the trip downhill!  Mentally it sure felt good.  The actual pain in the ass that ensued – not so much.

Fifteen minutes south of Cave Creek is Scottsdale – a town full of high end sports cars, expensive real estate, and numerous restaurants.  We drove down for a quick meet-up for lunch with my brother and his wife, and bought our little fake snow-covered tree to add some Christmas spirit to the Moho.  Also, while taking The Enterprise to a star-dock here that specializes in keeping the transition to warp speed smooth (and by all that nerd speak I mean no shaking on the freeway), we discovered a breakfast place called Butters that I would have been ‘butter off’ not knowing about.  And NOT because I didn’t like it!  Also – Firebird Tire did the job and we’re cruising smoothly on the freeway now.  Our new coach hasn’t done that since we bought it!

Bourbon and Chocolate

In Scottsdale I found a bourbon that holds a close second to my favorite Eagle Rare.  Maybe even equal.  Wilderness Trail Bourbon has all the things I love in my dram:  caramel, vanilla, a touch of spice, and no bitter aftertaste.  This wheated, bottled in bond single barrel bourbon is added to the barrel at 110 proof and ends up around 100 in the bottle after aging 5 to 6 years.  The mash bill is 64% corn, 24% wheat, and 12% malted barley, which is one of the highest levels of wheat in any Kentucky bourbon.  What that produces in my opinion is a premium sipper!

South of Scottsdale in Chandler we found a distillery/brewery offering tours and just had to take advantage.  SanTan distills about every type of spirit, but is also a microbrewery.  It was interesting to learn how the ‘beer’ before it’s actually beer can become either the microbrew or a whiskey depending on what they do with it.  I couldn’t try the brew as I’m allergic to a lot of it, but the spirits were fantastic.  We tasted a gin that is colored with beetles making it pink, a citrus vodka heavy with lime, and of course their bourbon.  I DO NOT like sweet or flavored bourbons, but here we found an exception.  SanTan’s Caramellow Bourbon is sweet like an old fashioned with a hint of marshmallow and graham cracker – like the perfect liquid s’more!

Our first real chocolatier on the journey turned out to be in Fountain Hills of all places! Chocofin is just down the road from our house on the way to the fountain, and although we’ve driven past countless times, we’d never visited, so this was the perfect opportunity.  All of their chocolate is made on site.  After ooh-ing and ah-ing at the display case, you pick a box and fill it with what entices your taste buds.

Here’s the box we filled.  I’m sorry I can’t share the ridiculously creamy, sometimes crunchy, mouth watering rich chocolate flavor from these morsels.  But trust me, they were fantastic.  

Despite our daily activities keeping us busy, we do really miss our friends and family back home.  Last week we had a FaceTime session with the kids.  They were all gathered at Erica’s house and were carrying on our tradition of trimming the tree while listening to TSO.  This was the hardest occasion so far to not be directly involved with, but our tears were not as much from sadness as much as from being filled with a sense of pride that we have left a legacy and tradition that will be carried on to our future generations.  We also know we’ll all be together again for the Posel Family Christmas, and it will be the “hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f***ing Kaye.”

Onward and Eastward!  -G&T

Here’s a little hijinx from the pool in Fountain Hills – just because it’s a great way to end the post!

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