Cooling off in Pinetop, Arizona

I just got back from five days of cooling off in Pinetop-Lakeside up in the White Mountains about four hours northeast of Tucson's broiling heat. My friend Nancy and her husband used their timeshare points to get us into a beautiful condo in the pines.

The first morning we were having coffee on the deck and this well-rounded squirrel came up to welcome us and look for a handout. We didn't give it anything and it never came back. (Fair weather friend.)

 

We went for a walk in the woods behind the condo, crossing a spring and traipsing alongside a meadow. The altitude of 7,200 feet took a little adjusting to when we hiked but it wasn't too bad. It's a ski area in the winter.

Another day we walked around the lake at Woodland Lake Park. The highs were in the 70s, which felt glorious after the 90s in Tucson. 

And of course we looked up quilt shops. We found two, and this one was our favorite. Lots of fabric that we loved and there was even a display of award-winning quilts for sale upstairs, but the lighting was too dark to get good pictures. I bought a jelly roll of Christmas fabric to make a couch throw.

At the quilt shop we asked for recommendations for bakeries and were told about Baked In Pinetop. It was fabulous! The Danishes were to die for, but everything we tried was really good.

We also went to a raptor training show at White Mountain Nature Center. The trainers gave an excellent  entertaining and educational talk while they showed us how they trained various raptors. This one is a Eurasian Eagle Owl, which can have a wing span of up to six feet and flies silently.

One evening we went to a free outdoor concert with our music from the 60s and 70s. I took a video of the line dancers, but I can't figure out how to get it onto the blog. After that was dinner at Charlie Clark's, which has been there since 1938. I had salmon and -- since I was on vacation -- loaded mashed potatoes! We were all too full for dessert.

Have a colorful day