#WeekendCoffeeShare Elevation

June 24, 2017 — #weekendcoffeeshare, Arizona, AZ, tourism, White Mountains

soda pop crash

soda on the road

Globe, AZ

If we were having coffee this morning I would have to serve you motel breakfast….I am on my third cup of coffee because I had to come to the lobby to make contact with the WiFi this morning. I don’t bother with the food at motel breakfast because powdered eggs and Danish pastry is not my style. In a couple of hours we will proceed to the Show Low, AZ farmer’s market when it opens at 9 am. I will find some tasty cuisine that suits my vegetarian fresh food habit.

Motel Coffee Today

We left the heat in Tucson for a couple of days of relief.  The drive up here included two detours/delays caused by traffic accidents.  In Oracle, AZ the road had been blocked to clear a crash, so we had to drive around the incident.  The route took us through San Manuel. a deserted town that used to have an underground copper mine.  These copper towns belong to the companies, so when the mine closes, the entire town closes.  It is eerie to see the remains of what was once a center of industry.  I was particularly struck by the “country club”, an 18 hole golf course that has been abandoned for about 10 years.  Large dying trees and expanses of dust where there once were golf greens are a strange echo of the past.  There is still an airport in San Manuel, which only existed so copper executives could fly in and out of the place.  From that ghost town the winding roads we traveled took us through several copper mining towns with open pit mines still in operation. These isolated towns owned completely by copper companies are the present day versions of Tombstone and Bisbee.  The abundance and wealth produced in them does not tarry very long in that place.  Miners do dangerous hard work and have to live in a town where the company owns the only place they can even buy groceries.

When we started to leave Globe, AZ we were advised that the road to Show Low, our destination, had been closed to clear a crash.  We decided to drive back to town and discover Globe rather than get stuck in a line of cars waiting for a wreck to be cleared.  That was extra fun.  We cruised the neighborhoods on our way to the old downtown.  I loved the old homes and the old downtown is in good shape.  There are chain restaurants and stores on the main hi way, but individual shops, galleries and eateries are thriving in the downtown.  We ate a really good lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and lingered trying to wait out the problem on the road.  It was a good call because we did have to wait about 20 minutes at the site of two semis that were scattered on the road and the mountain.  It was not clear how it happened, but both large trucks were full of soda pop, which has been collected.  We saw the giant tow truck pull the overturned semi back onto the road.  The crew was expert, and still had hours of work ahead of them when they let our lane of cars drive through to Show Low. I was happy I had neither been in the soda pop truck or the cars stuck in the beginning of this wreck.  Compared to what..right? A few minutes delay on a day with no plans is not a big deal.

We will drive to Snowflake, AZ later this morning to discover a new part of the White Mountains.  The lavender festival awaits.  I have read that the area contains sinkholes and unusual geological shapes.  The sinkholes have been use by Native Americans as well as the Mormons for amphitheaters.  The Petrified Forrest is close, but I refuse to go back down in elevation because the heat actually followed us up here.  All the days last week and next week have been and will be a high of 85, which is dreamy .  However, both of our days up here the temperature will reach 97….There is air conditioning, and we will use it.  We are still very pleased to get out of Tucson and see all the amazing geology and botany on this drive. It is gorgeous, if a little bit too hot.

If we were having coffee at the Best Western Pony Paint Motel in Show Low, AZ, I would invite you to come along with us today.  If you are too busy to tag along I will update you next weekend about the events of this weekend. My writing is going well.  I am really enjoying the tea review posts more than I expected.  I now have infinite material for my Tuesday posts.  I will never run out of teas.  I am listening to a book Bread, Wine, Chocolate, The Slow Loss of Foods We Love, which is fascinating.  I am being influenced heavily by what I am learning about our lack of biodiversity.  I recommend it to anyone who eats or drinks. We all have a part to play in saving biodiversity on earth.  Some of us do it by careful consumption of the foods we want to save.  The author’s detailed and accurate descriptions of flavors have inspired me to expand both my vocabulary and my sensitivity.  This is helpful in developing my tea language.  I am enjoying it.

Bread, Wine, Chocolate

If we are having motel coffee this morning I would promise a much more gourmet selection of digital beverages next week.  Coffee is one of the subjects covered in this book.  If you are a real coffee lover you might like to learn more about it by reading ( or listening to ) Simran Sethi’s discoveries, who traveled all over the world to research this book.

#WeekednCoffeeShare

Thanks for joining me this morning.  Please visit our hostess, Emily, at Nerd in the Brain, for the full shebang.  Visit with writers for around the world and keep up with our movable feast here. Join the party every weekend on twitter using the hashtag #WeekendCoffeeShare.

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