A picture riddled post.
FRIDAY -
It all started Friday after work. DaNece wanted to meet me for dinner in town, which meant that I had 2 hours to kill before going to the restaurant. So I decided to run around downtown and take a bunch of pictures (a bunch = 323 if you want to be exact).
Most of the pictures are the same things that tourists like to take pictures of, like Hotel St. Michael:
I also meandered through all the levels of the parking garage on Granite street:
Finally, DaNece made it to town so we opted to head over the to Firehouse Kitchen in the Old FIrehouse Plaza downtown. While waiting for a table, I happily snapped away:
Dinner was awesome. DaNece had barbecue chicken, and I had the brisket. Both were very tasty. We will be going back there again.
Saturday -
The true weekend started with skinny pancakes and a late at Cuppers with DaNece. She went to Bowl for BBBS, before going down to Phoenix with friends, and I went home to change the oil in my truck.
Scrappy was looking a little restless when I was done, so I took him out for a 2 1/2 hour walk through the state land again. Great weather made it a joy to be outside, and I was so caught up in enjoying myself I didn't take very many pictures.
I got irritated by trash left on public land, and Scrappy made friends with an older shepherd that was was all bark and no bite:
Post-Hike I got myself all cleaned up and went into town to have dinner with Chris. We opted for sushi at my favorite restaurant; Esoji! Chris ordered his usual (boring in my opinion) California and Salmon rolls. I did something I have never done before. I ordered Omakase, which is basically the Chef's choice of what he thinks is best.
9 orders of deliciousness passed my lips; shrimp, 2 preparations of japanese scallop, albacore tuna, white fish, uni, as well as 3 cooked items; whole sweet shrimp (yes you eat the head too), spicy clams, and salmon with fried pork in a red chile broth. I was in hog heaven. I finished it off with some ginger ice cream, and still made it out of there for under $75!!!
After dinner we went to Plaza Bowl where they turn on the black lights. I have to say - I haven't bowled in a long time. I really suck at bowling (best game? 127!), but we had a good time which is what really matters.
Sunday -
DaNece was still in Phoenix, so me and Scrappy drove the Perkinsville loop.
It took a little longer than anticipated (6 hours). The reason? I have a disease. It is the wandering disease. I see a little side road, and I'll see how far it goes. This allows for cool scenery, but rarely is kind to my schedule.
The first thing we came upon on our drive was Hells Canyon. There is an old concrete bridge down in the valley that is inaccessible by vehicle (I think it might be Old Highway 89??). There is also the railroad bridge that spans the full width of the canyon:
And then the doozie: one of the little side roads that I turned out not to be such a little road. It turned out that it was the 'Great Western Trail.' I had never heard of this trail until yesterday, but apparently it has some historic significance. All I know is that it is one rough bit of road.
1 1/2 hours I spent bouncing around, often wondering why the hell I was following this stupid road. At some points I had to drop the truck into 4-lo to go further. I made it about 15 miles up this trail before hitting lots of snow and ice. After one slip left me in a few feet of snow I decided I had had enough. I managed to get the truck out of the white fluffy stuff and turned around and spent another 90 minutes working my way back to Perkinsville Rd. I did find a nice little waterfall along with way though!:
A little further on, and the road crosses over the Verde River, which has made this pretty little canyon:
Finally we made it to the steel truss bridge that allows motorized traffic over the river:
Then it was a quick skip back to Chino, for lunch and a rest.
At least I can't wonder where my weekend went! :)
2 comments:
Great pictures Tombo. It's always fun to go out wandering to see what you can find.
My wife and I did that a year or so ago in Utah. Turned out we ended up taking a pass over a mountain that even the locals avoid. It was scary, but my God was it ever beautiful. I'm just thankful that we didn't meet an oncoming car on that narrow mountain road.
Also sorry that I didn't have my camera, although I am sure my pictures wouldn't have turned out as nice as yours.
Mike - Yeah, when I told my buddy who used to go up there all the time his response was 'Wow, I wouldn't even take my quad up that (Great Western) Trail!'. The nice thing about drives like this are that getting bumped around non-stop means lots of breaks and just enjoying the beauty of it all.
The pictures - it's the law of averages. If you take 10 pictures of something, at least one of those pictures has to be somewhat decent. That's why I love digital!
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