BeBa

Early last week we made a somewhat last-minute decision to getaway in the mountains with the kids for their spring break weekend. We found really great accommodations at this quaint little cabin resort in Strawberry, AZ (Is that not the CUTEST town name ever??) – a teensy little wide spot in the road bordering Tonto National Forest (part of the breathtaking Mogollon Rim country). Plus it's only a little over an hour away! We arrived rather late Friday evening and went straight to bed.

Got up early on Saturday for some hiking and geocache adventuring. Before we met, Scott had logged some 40 caches (some of them with A), but this was a first for the girls and me. They were pretty excited by the idea of hunting for a goodie box in the middle of a wilderness hike. (Not that they whined any less about having to hike, of course.)

We chose the Fossil Creek (Lover's) Leap cache, thinking that it looked like a pretty easy hike. Well, it was… kinda. The trail/road that was supposed to be there was basically nonexistent, so the terrain was rather rougher than we were expecting – rocky and lots of fallen limbs/trees to navigate. Normally? NO big deal. For a pregnant lady used to an elevation of around 1200 feet? Well, this elevation was 6600 feet and that combined with pregnancy made the whole thing a little more strenuous than I was planning.

HM was SO solicitous during this hike. She insisted on hanging
back with me and if I faltered at all, she would pat my arm encouragingly. It was incredibly sweet. I'm really enjoying this golden mama-adoration stage she's going through right now. May it never end. She DID make me very nervous at the Rim, however. That girl was all about scrambling as close to the edge of an 800 foot drop (my heart, omg) as she possibly could.

Anyway, the hike was only 3 miles round trip, the weather was GORGEOUS and the view was completely amazing, amazing amazing and so completely worth the hassle of finding it.

In all, that adventure took several hours, after which we had a nice lunch at a local restaurant, visited the oldest standing schoolhouse in AZ as well as the Pine-Strawberry museum in Pine, AZ… before heading back to the cabin to crash (if you were 14 or older) and run shrieking wild outside with kids from the other cabins (if you were 11 or younger).

Then we had a simple sloppy joe dinner and an evening of board games before we called it a night. (I was completely wiped out by this time.)

Today we slept in a little, packed up and visited a neat ancient Indian ruin site (Shoo Fly Village) on the way home. We tried to log a geocache here, but it appeared the cache involved trudging for 3 miles roundtrip through some very high grass. Meh. Not interested, not this day. The site itself was fascinating, though, and – again – the views were just gorgeous.

Shoofly Village (managed by the U.S. Forest Service) was occupiedbetween A.D. 1000 and 1250 and consists of 79 surface rooms.  Itis thought the occupants were an "autonomous variant of theHohokam." 

We had a great time and in being there I discovered there's lots more I want to explore in the area: various trails and lakes, hot springs and swimming holes, the Tonto Natural Bridge (when I'm stronger and more fit again!).