Originally published on March 3, 2018
February 2018. A few times a year I have the opportunity to travel to some of the Arizona Native American Reservations to provide training. This past week I have the privilege of spending the week teaching at Whiteriver Indian Hospital, about a 20-minute drive south from my hotel in Pinetop. As you can see from the title image, there was just a bit of that white stuff laying and blowing around–the snow that those of us who live in the AZ Central Valley don’t get at our residences.
On the drive north, I started to see the mysterious white powder blowing in the air.
Climbing up into the higher elevations, it began to get a bit colder, of course, but it was not until about 10 minutes after getting my things loaded into the hotel room that it really started blowing frozen snow…a preview of what most of the night would be.
The rest of the trip only included one additional snow storm, although I stayed ahead of the new one coming into town for the weekend when I drove home on Friday.Â
Brrrrr. Come to AZ, they said. AZ is warm, they said…
On the way home, the drive was a bit more Arizona-like. As I mentioned above, I could see the next incoming snow storm in my rearview mirror as I drove southwest toward home. And then, when I got closer to home and out of the higher elevations, I ran into rain coming from the southeast. Sometimes, you’re just going to get wet! but at least it was in the upper 50’s when I got home…
Pinetop-Lakeside is a nice little community with good people. They have a lot of cabins and similar-type resort areas that people frequent in the summer months, and there are skiing and other outdoor winter options in the area as well.
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This used to be the place for our favorite Thai restaurant–the Thai Promise Cafe–but it closed a couple years ago when the family who owned it moved to West Virginia…and then opened it again up there (they have family in that area). A bit too far of a commute, even though it was the best Thai food I had eaten since I was in Thailand! The restaurant is now a breakfast and lunch place, but does not seem to be heavily patronized.